What's Wrong With Our Nursing Homes?

A lot actually, says a Reader’s Digest report from around Europe

- Lisa Fitterman

Petite, soft-spoken, white hair freshly coiffed, Suzanne Sastourne-Arrey does not look like a rabble rouser...

The 99-year-old spends most of her time in her little room at Les Oyats, a seniors’ residence in the picturesque French seaside town of Notre-Damede-Monts. During the day she sits on her single, black office chair, reading, doing crossword puzzles and receiving the rare visitor.

But a rabble rouser she is. A military widow who has lived at the publicly-run Les Oyats for eight years, on July 12, 2019 she put pen to paper, writing a letter to town mayor Raoul Grondin, who chairs the regional organisation responsible for the residence’s funding.

In no uncertain terms it detailed the deteriorating conditions in the home due to funding cuts, questionable management decisions and staff members so stressed that 15 out of 55 full-time were on medical leave. The rest were trying to respond to the needs of the 80odd residents, many of whom ended up spending days in bed. Showers were rare, and there were accidents, among them, a resident who broke her collarbone when a lone nursing aide tried to move her in her bed, a job which previously took two to do.

“This is not acceptable,” Suzanne wrote. “Sick seniors are the ones suffering the consequences.”

For her, the issue is about more than just money. Rather, it is about fundamental respect and the fact that seniors living in nursing homes throughout the continent have been discounted for years due to their age and infirmities.

“Despite my age, my mind is sharp,” she says steadily. “The staff were crying on my shoulder. I had to do what I could to make it stop.”