|
Introduction:
It seems
like an idea that many nursing homes have overlooked -- having a
drop-off child care center within the walls of the nursing facility.
Most senior
citizens love kids, and kids love senior citizens. Senior
citizens are reminiscent of "grandma" and
"grandpa", and kids tend to "lookup" to them.
After all, it's the parents that usually discipline the kids, and the
"grandmas" and the "grandpas" that are always
loving and fun. As a bonus, kids learn a lot from senior citizens
and visa versa. So why not provide a much needed service that helps
everybody out. The parents of the children, the children, the
nursing home, and maybe
most of all the senior residents -- who would undoubtedly enjoy a
strong feeling of self-worth and satisfaction.
Many
times both parents of children have to work to make ends meet and
would benefit highly from this type of service. They may also trust
leaving their children in the care of residents of a nursing home
instead of with someone they know little to nothing about. The
senior residents who have volunteered for this program will most
likely look forward to each day they spend time with the children
with great pleasure -- especially if they have no grandchildren of
their own, or if their grandchildren live too far away to visit on a
regular basis. The nursing home would enjoy the possibility of
happier residents and benefit from the good publicity this sort of
program would create.
Each
nursing home would be responsible for working out the details of the
child-care program in accordance to the local laws and other
important considerations -- e.g. health laws; insurance
considerations; the age range of the children; where the children
will be cared for; the length of time the children will be cared
for; whether or not, or how much to charge for the service; whether
or not, or how much to pay the senior citizens; whether or not to
provide the service to employees as well as outsiders; and other foreseeable
situations.
One
of the reasons employees of a nursing facilities call-off coming
to work is because they cannot find anyone to baby-sit their
children (nurses, nursing aides, and sometimes other staff members).
This makes a good argument to allow employees and their children to
participate in this sort of program.
|
Help insure
that people with disabilities get adapted computers: contact your congressperson online in a few simple steps. 
fcbh