[speaker001:] um do you have any elderly parents or grandparents that have ever had to go in a nursing home
[speaker002:] uh yes my uh mother was in a nursing home for five years before she passed away in nineteen seventy seven
[speaker001:] oh oh now was it how did you feel about that was it a good nursing home and you felt good about her being there or
[speaker002:] it was a fair nursing home
[speaker001:] a fair one
[speaker002:] uh it it was a matter uh she reached the point where she couldn't stay by herself during the daytime she and my sister who never married lived together
[speaker001:] um-hum oh
[speaker002:] and my sister couldn't retire at the time so my uh mother's physician recommended that uh she go into a nursing home
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and fortunately my sister was able to go visit her twice a day
[speaker001:] oh wow that is good
[speaker002:] and uh
[speaker001:] boy I'll say that is good
[speaker002:] she she just reached the point where she had to have professional care she was eighty two at the time
[speaker001:] um-hum my word so she couldn't take care of herself at all
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] did how did she feel about it did she how did your mother feel about it
[speaker002:] well I don't think she ever really adjusted
[speaker001:] didn't she
[speaker002:] uh my mother was very very shy she never joined anything
[speaker001:] oh oh
[speaker002:] and uh she realized that it was something that had to be done
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but she had begun to lose a great deal of of her memory capacity at the time
[speaker001:] oh um-hum
[speaker002:] and finally about uh oh say about a year before she died my sister was the only person that she ever really recognized and could call by name
[speaker001:] my word oh oh boy now what about the expense part of it was it an expensive one or did her did she have health insurance or Medicaid
[speaker002:] uh no uh oh several years before well it's a long thirty minute story but uh when my father died in nineteen fifty eight uh I uh transferred the title to my sister
[speaker001:] um-hum oh
[speaker002:] uh which was an internal family deal I I knew that if something happened and my sister couldn't take care of her I would
[speaker001:] uh-huh  oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] but uh uh we had fixed it for her uh oh many years before she went into the nursing home like about fifteen so that she had no assets so as it turned out Medicaid paid for all of it
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh oh oh great
[speaker002:] uh
[speaker001:] well that helps because I know that it can take a person's whole life life savings I
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah
[speaker001:] um my parents are not quite that old yet but my grandmother um right now is in this situation where she cannot stay alone at home either and so um her she has four daughters and one son and the four daughters rotate and keep her for three months at a time and they are all in a position where they can do that right now and then my husband's grandmother about oh probably two years ago she fell and broke her hip
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] and of course she had to go into the nursing home there and and it was a fairly nice one in fact she got to where she enjoyed it there she knew the staff and knew the other people that were there and and in fact when she came home she was able to get better and come home she really missed the association with the people there
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and I but I don't know I I whenever I go into a nursing home I uh for some reason it it makes me feel sad I because I a lot of people I know are there just because um you know their families want them there and and they don't they aren't willing to take care of them and I I think that's a sad situation
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] my my uh other sister
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] uh who was married at the time and was still working
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] worked for several years in a nursing home and she said roughly half
[speaker001:] oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] of the people don't have anybody
[speaker001:] oh no
[speaker002:] and nobody ever comes to see them
[speaker001:] my word that many of them
[speaker002:] yeah that's too bad
[speaker001:] oh boy I it is I I don't know a nursing home seems to be such a a non personal environment the ones that I've been to um I have been to one that seemed really you know warm and cozy but for the most part they've seemed you know no carpet on the floors and just kind of cold and I I
[speaker002:] yeah I know and they all seem understaffed and the staff's overworked
[speaker001:] right that's right yeah so
[speaker002:] well let's face it there there for the most part well there's one exception that I'll tell you about in a minute uh for the most part they're profit centers
[speaker001:] uh-huh that's right
[speaker002:] uh but uh my my sister who looked after my mother
[speaker001:] that's right
[speaker002:] uh let's see she died in ninety so this would have been the first of the year in nineteen eighty nine she made
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh