The F Word

Let’s all agree that it is time for the long term care community as well as the general public to retire the “F” word. The use of the term facility to describe nursing homes has been around a long time, at least as long as Title XVIII that gave us Medicare and the term Skilled Nursing Facility. But is it the best way to describe the setting that provides care for our elders. Ask the man on the street what comes to mind when he hears the term “facility” and he will most likely say an institution, school, jail, or bathroom as in “I need to use the facilities”.

The public has come to know that CCRCs and their ilk are “communities”. Even assisted living settings are generally referred to as “residences” now. Although in the press you may occasionally see “assisted living facility”.

I say, let’s return to the term nursing “home”. Granted, many of those admitted to nursing homes are there for rehab and return to their previous setting within a month, but many stay longer and are cared for by people who are like family. Is this not home? In the 1980s and 1990s, some SNFs tried to get away from the use of the term nursing home, opting instead for Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and the like. Today, with the progress made by the culture change movement, most are now more homelike than ever. Let’s bring the word home home again. I’m a nursing home administrator and not ashamed to admit it. Let’s not make our elders leave home because they need nursing care, bring them home.