Over the years, I’ve heard many people say things such as: “Growing older is an enriching experience; you become wiser, and it is something that you should embrace.”

While aging is inevitable, I can tell you right now- it is something I am not looking forward to; not for myself, my family members, or anyone really.

As someone who has grown up around elderly people, I have had opportunities to experience different types of care in the nursing home, assisted living, and memory care settings.

Every time I go into work, I have to remind myself that it is just a job and try not to get too emotionally involved.

My mom was an activity director at a nursing home for more than ten years, and I spent a decent amount of my time there after school.

As I would wait for her to get off work, I interacted with the residents.

Once I was sixteen, I got a job in the dining room serving meals.

After I started college, I became a resident assistant, similar to a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), which amounts to the same job, but without official certification and less pay.

In the Saint Peter area alone, there are a total of six different elderly care facilities, and there are about 25 different job openings currently for CNA, RA, RN or LPN’s.

The understaffing, turnover, and overworked employees in these facilities is unacceptable and unsafe for both employees and residents, which should be our main priority.

With caretakers and nurses being treated roughly in this work environment, it becomes almost impossible to provide the care that these residents deserve and are paying for.

The average price for a private room in a nursing home facility in the Mankato MN area is $8,000 a month, semi-private $7,451, and assisted living $2,995, according to a Genworth 2016 Cost of Care Survey.

While doing this research, I looked into what these prices cover for certain facilities in the area.

Some of them include things such as daily activities, monthly vital checks, laundry and linen change services, cleaning, and assistance with meals.

These, of course, are all basic needs that you would want your loved one to receive.

However, when one single RA or CNA is supposed to get all of that done, as well as other necessary cares such as medication passes, assistance to the bathroom, showers and baths, and safety checks, it can be nearly impossible to complete everything for the twenty residents that you could be responsible for.

Every time I go into work, I have to remind myself that it is just a job and try not to get too emotionally involved.

Otherwise, I will go crazy.

I shouldn’t worry about whether or not the residents in memory care, who can’t speak for themselves, will get taken to the bathroom on a regular basis.

I shouldn’t worry about the residents who have a UTI every month because they aren’t getting nearly enough fluids.

I also shouldn’t stress about the residents who sit in the same chair most of the day because there aren’t activities scheduled for them.

What about the resident who hasn’t had a shower in a week because there isn’t enough time on the schedule?

I shouldn’t worry about anything, including the resident who is hardly recognizable anymore because they are on so many medications.

We need more people who are willing to get involved in the care of the elderly.

We need more caretakers, nurses, housekeepers, cooks, activity people.

The fact is, these people need your help.

This can’t be just anybody; they need to be people with strong and open hearts; people who are willing to talk about everything that is wrong with the facilities that we have today and help look for some sort of solution.

I’m sure that there isn’t just one easy fix to this huge problem, but if we don’t start worrying about our elderly people now, who is going to care about us when we are in their shoes?

These are all things that people don’t want to talk or think about because they are unpleasant.

Because they don’t know anyone with dementia or Alzheimer’s.

The fact is, these people need your help.

It’s time to stop pushing these issues under the rug.

Stop being afraid to talk about getting older.

Find out what you can do to help the elderly.