Old Folks’ Home Confusions

The lady in the next apartment is active, friendly and an especially helpful soul.  She also recently took on a job when she took on the presidency of the apartment building residents’ association.  Before she became president many people hunted her up for some reason or another.  Many of the people looking for her never established exactly what apartment she occupied so came knocking at the doors of a few others around, the one underfoot in particular.  That situation is bad.  One woman showed up three times in the last few months.  One mistake might be understandable.  A person with a concern might be in a rush. 

Obviously action needed to be taken.  The bright idea for the moment was a fairly good sized note on the door, with an arrow pointing in her direction.  It messes up the big bow used as a door decoration, but if it saves on trouble going to the door it’s a price to pay.  And, well, it may work, but sometimes it doesn’t.  It seems some folks will not go farther down the hall – her door is between lights in the hall and it’s a kind of darkish place.  It is like that probably on all the other floors, so why there is no going farther, especially with the sign displayed, is not really understandable beyond lack of comprehension. 

There are many reasons why old people might be “confused” a lot.  If they have ailments, the mind is pre-occupied a lot with whatever the problem is.  Walking with some kind of support like a walker or cane needs attention to it or it goes astray.  And, there are everyday happenings to be sorted out.  The rest of the world isn’t immune to things that interfere with clear thinking, but it seems there is more interference with the elderly, which often causes an inordinate amount of nonsensical activity.  The inability to comprehend a three-word sign in big letters and act on what is written there seems to fit that description. 

It can take a while to get into gear. 

 

Old Folks’ Home New Staff

There’s been a lot of discussion in these pages about how things are “different” in an old folks’ home, which these days is often called a “retirement community.”  There’s a new property manager in the one underfoot, so it is again a somewhat timely topic.  As has been (surely) noted some place here, some of the places are privately owned.  It’s a business of real estate specialty.  Often the ownership is with a giant land company that hires assorted staff to run the place.  That includes property managers.  Many of those are probably fairly well paid, but there’s a lot of responsibility in running a big apartment house. 

In about the last five years there have been three former property managers.  There probably isn’t that much change everywhere, but the thing is a resident may manage to get along well with a property manager only to suddenly learn that person is gone, replaced by a different attitude and approach to the way the place operates.  It’s not a great idea to try to build (and depend on) a great relationship with the people running such places.  One does need to be getting along well with the staff, but substantial change can take place almost overnight leaving one hanging.  The best approach includes remembering it is a business. 

The business depends largely on what residents need, want or maybe think up, but variables still exist and things a person thinks are permanent may very well change not only according to who else lives in the place but according to what someone new (and probably ambitious) wants to try to achieve some corporate goal.  Residents’ associations can provide some input (or opposition) to something, but that is not something on which to put much reliance.  It’s the owner who has the final say on anything, and it has to be assumed that property managers speak for owners, who just might unexpectedly change course. 

Life is uncertain in many ways.