I Pledge To Fulfill My Mother’s Wish to Age and Die In Place
Prompt #49: She’ll forever haunt me if I allow her to end up in a nursing home
My 82-year-old mother’s greatest fear is to end up in a nursing home. Losing the freedom to live in her own home is her second.
My mom’s very Venezuelan perspective is that older people should remain in their homes and be provided care there, with close family oversight. Maybe, in some circumstances, it would be okay to move in with a son, daughter or other relative.
However, as my mother sees it, it should be a matter of extreme last resort for an older person to live in a nursing home. And by “extreme” she means never.
This view is changing, what with hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans now living in the United States and all over the world. As a result, the way Venezuelan people who need care are living in their later years is changing as well.
Still, to my mom and many of her peers, moving into a nursing home is equivalent to being abandoned, banished, neglected, and possibly abused.
My mother’s fear and views come through loud and clear when she comments on her friends’ living arrangements as they’ve gotten older.
