Don’t Be Afraid to Speak Up About the Things You See When Visiting a Loved One in a Nursing Home

If you have been on the receiving end of less-than-courteous behavior from someone in the customer service field, you know how frustrating it can be. Now imagine that you are witnessing that same behavior firsthand, only this time the person at the receiving end is your elderly family member who is confined to a nursing home. One thing is certain: we all agree that rudeness from a nursing home staff member is unacceptable…but we may not know how to address it.

This topic is the focus of an advice column piece called “Should I Say Something? Nursing Home Nastiness” published in the Maplewood/Millburn/South Orange, NJ blog of the New York Times.

The writers of the blog advise that the best approach is to bring the incident to the attention of the administrator, the facility social workers, or the facility’s family council. It’s important to speak up. No one deserves to be treated in a discourteous way. And the only way to bring about a solution to the problem is to bring the issue to light.

But we recommend you read the article for yourself. You may find some helpful advice if you find yourself in a similar situation:

http://maplewood.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/should-i-say-something-nursing-home-nastiness/