Question

Student Activity 6-4

Discussion Questions

The following are suggested discussion questions for chapter 6 Long Term Care Services - BASICS OF THE U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM - Nancy J.Niles. 4th edition

Do you know anyone who uses long-term care services? Why do they need them?

Do you think the Village Movement is a good idea? Provide statistics to support your answer.

Pick two historical events that you think influenced the development of long-term care in the United States.

Discuss the Green House project and its impact on the elderly population.

Discuss the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision. Do you support this decision? Why or why not?

Answer 1

1. Yes, I know an elderly person from my neighbourhood who initially served in US military but spend the whole time alone after retirement as his family shifted to a different state. The person is very old and can not do most of things on his and that is why he uses a long-term care services from Continuing care retirement communities as they provide him with a full range of services and care for all his needs right from cooking, eating, showering, dressing, assistance in using washroom, medication on time, mobility and transportation, laundry service as well as housekeeping.

2. As we know that the village movement is a very good initiative in order to provide support services for community-dwelling older adults. I strongly believe that village movement is a very good idea as it gives an older person a chance to age in their homes. The effectiveness of the program can be understood from the fact that today there are more than 250 such villages while 100 more are in the development stage. If we go 15 years back in time, we will find that there was only one village in the Beacon Hill section of Boston. The number only shows how much good the program is bringing to older people where they can live on their own with dignity.

3. I think the introduction, implementation and later added ammendments in the Social Security Act of 1935 as well as Older American Act of 1965 were the two prime historical events that influenced the development of long-term care in the United States.

4. The Green House Project is an non-profit organization of United States that helped in the development of better residential service and living space as compared to the previous design of nursing home facilities.

The project provides better feeling of independence and privacy to the elderly recidents by providing individual rooms, washrooms, freedom to roam around in their places, cook for themselves and develop good relationships with one another. It eliminates the previuos idea of enforced dependency. It has been found that this program is well received and welcomed by the elderly population as these group of people have shown good signs of social interaction, physical movement and mobility, improvement in health condition and very less cases of depression in comparison to the older nursing home facilities.

5. Olmstead is a civil rights decision for people with disabilities in the United States on the basis of Disabilities Act, 1990. This decision was taken on June 22, 1999 in the U.S Supreme Court held in Olmstead that "unjustified segregation of persons with disabilities constitutes discrimination in violation of title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act"

I strongly support this decision of the court since the individuals with mental disabilities are also humans and United State's citizen just like us and that is why they should also have the full right to live in the community without discrimination and should not be forced into some institutions against their will.