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All of this discussion about nursing homes has occurred on this list before. The reality is, as long as workers are paid a minimum wage and nursing home owners can maintain low patient to staff ratios without consequence, the most vulnerable among us are going to die miserably. As an RN, I know about the degree of difficulty involved in caring for those who need 'complete care' - that is bathing, toileting, positioning in bed and tranferring. I would wager that few on this list have had to work as hard as the CNAs who work against incredible odds to complete the their daily tasks - at a minimum wage. It is no mystery to me that the turnover rate in such jobs is extremely high. There are alternatives. Here in Michigan we have Adult Day Services. Such services are not licensed in this State, but are licensed elsewhere. Adult Day Services allows caregivers time off while clients are afforded all sorts of activities, meals and the opportunity for socialization. Folks can stay in such facilities for 12 hours or 1 hour. My daughter runs an Adult Day Service (I am the intake RN there). We offer showering and will even wash and dry the clothes the client came in with (clients bring in fresh clothes for their showers). If you are interested in more information about Adult Day Services, feel free to contact the Adult Day Service Association in your state. There may even be grants available through your state's Parkinson's foundation to help defray the cost of services. Incidentally, it would behoove all spouses to visit a disability lawyer so that a trust can be established so that the cost of medical care will not impoverish the caregiver spouse. An advanced directive should also be drawn up so that the end-of-life wishes of the PD victim will be written in stone when hospitalization occurs. My husband has an advanced directive (I'm his DPOA) that demands that everything be done *unless* he sustains terminal brain damage. That advanced directive came in real handy when he recently underwent quintuple bypass surgery - the surgeon was shocked that I so easily made a decision that the surgery should be done despite my husband's advanced PD. It was his request that everything be done to sustain his ife - and I had the papers to prove it. --------- God bless Mary Ann (CG Jamie 63/23) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn