Seniors who are severely overweight not only face health problems — it becomes challenging to place them in nursing homes. Because of the rising rates of obese seniors, nursing homes are unable to adequately care for them.
Many seniors are obese because of health-related chronic illnesses like diabetes or high blood pressure. Nursing homes are struggling to have the proper equipment to transport them and enough staff to handle their numerous health issues.
From The New York Times:
The percentage of those entering American nursing homes who are moderate and severely obese — with a body mass index of 35 or greater — has risen sharply, to nearly 25 percent in 2010 from 14.7 percent in 2000, according to a recent study, and many signs suggest the upward trend is continuing.
But as demand from severely obese patients surges, nursing home administrators say they cannot afford to care for them, because Medicaid, which covers more than 60 percent of all nursing home residents, does not reimburse them for the specialized equipment required: motorized lifts; larger wheelchairs, bedside commodes and shower chairs; and longer intramuscular needles and blood pressure cuffs. The devices are expensive: $10,000 for a mechanical lift, for instance, and $5,000 for an extra-wide bed.
“It’s really not a moneymaker,” said Aundrea Fuller, an owner of Generations of Red Bay, the private, for-profit facility that cares for Ms. Chism in a specially outfitted wing that can accommodate 10 obese patients. Ms. Fuller’s decision to open the unit, which frequently has a waiting list, fulfills her personal mission to aid obese people, who are often ostracized and forgotten. But it makes little business sense.
“You’ve got to do it because you have a heart for it,” she said.
Misssissippi is the state with the highest senior obesity rate with 29 percent of obese seniors.
Photo by Robert Hruzek via Flickr CC License
