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FROM THE MAY 2005 ISSUE 
OF KENTUCKY LIVING MAGAZINE 
www.KentuckyLiving.com 

Nursing homes: where Kentucky's forgotten live 
by Bernie Vonderheide 
Guest Opinion

Among the most forgotten people in Kentucky are the residents of nursing homes.

Unless one has a family member in a nursing home, the tendency is to forget the more than 30,000 people in Kentucky's long-term care facilities. This is why problems in nursing homes largely go unnoticed.

Between 2010 and 2020, Kentucky's entire population growth will be in the 65 and older category. Such data show that there will always be growing numbers of people needing quality care in nursing homes.

Nursing homes are no longer the mom-and-pop, old-folks homes our grandparents knew. Many are now owned by big, wealthy corporations. Sadly, some of these companies often put profit ahead of quality care.

A new organization, Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform, is being started to educate the public about the problems in nursing homes and promote corrective legislation. 

The main problem in nursing homes is staffing, particularly front-line staffing. These are the nurses' aides who help nursing home residents on a day-to-day basis. There are not enough of them. A federal survey showed that more than 90 percent of the nursing homes in the United States are understaffed.

When there are too few front-line caregivers, the nursing home residents are often neglected and suffer from malnutrition, broken bones, painful bedsores, and dehydration.

Kentucky has no state regulations on staffing. Kentucky regulates nursing homes but goes by the federal standards that say only that there must be “sufficient” staff to provide quality care. “Sufficient” is interpreted by the nursing homes widely and wildly, and in many cases in deference to the profit margin. Fewer caregivers, higher profits. 

Some 37 states have regulations on staffing. But not Kentucky.

Most residents of nursing homes cannot speak for themselves. More than half of them have some kind of dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The others are too weak and frail. And their families often fear retribution. 

We must speak out for them. Won't you join the crusade by becoming a member of Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform?  --  www.KyNursingHomeReform.org.


Bernie Vonderheide of Lexington is a former editor of the Rural Kentuckian (now Kentucky Living), who retired after 23 years as director of public relations at the University of Kentucky. In his retirement he has been an advocate for nursing home reform, and he is the president and founder of Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform. You can reach him at KyNursingHome Reform@yahoo.com .