A Long Island nursing home planning lawyer provides help to people in planning ahead in case they need nursing home care. Making advanced plans is important because nursing home care is expensive and you need to know how you will pay for this type of care if it becomes necessary for you. Nursing home planning is also important because the facility where a senior ends up living is going to become home and can often become the senior’s whole world. 
An elderly or disabled person’s quality of life, or lack therefore, is going to largely be determined by the social opportunities and level of care received in a nursing home facility. Eghrari Wealth Training Law Firm helps seniors to find facilities where they will receive appropriate care, and provides assistance in making sure the costs of those facilities can be covered.
Because many nursing home residents build a life for themselves within their nursing homes, the closure of a nursing home can have very serious consequences. Long Island Press reported recently on one nursing home which closed, and on the implications of that closure.
The Consequences of Long Island Nursing Homes Closing
Long Island Press reported on the closure of the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility, which was located in Yaphank. The facility was a public facility which had 264 beds, but over the course of a summer, the residents were slowly transferred out to new facilities and around 310 workers were let go from their positions on the staff of the skilled nursing facility.
The facility had to close as a result of costs and budget shortfalls. Suffolk faced a substantial budget shortfall of around $250 million and the facility was losing in excess of $1 million a month. Keeping it open become impractical and local lawmakers were no longer able to justify the expense of keeping it open.
For residents, however, the closure meant the loss of their home and their social connections. One example of a resident who was affected was a 51-year-old with cerebral palsy who have lived in the facility for 20 years. He enjoyed taking his wheelchair to the nearby 7-Eleven and going to visit the Suffolk County Police headquarters which were located right down the road. When the nursing home closed, he was discharged to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital. His discharge occurred in March, and he died in April.
The Republican minority leader of the Suffolk County legislature blamed his death on the loss of his home. The minority leader said: “He was told by one of the staff at John J. that he wasn’t coming back to the only place he’s known as his home for the last 20 years. You don’t have to be Marie Curie to figure out that if you give somebody no reason to live, he’s not going to live.”
Another man, who is 62 and who came to the facility four years before its closure, credited the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility with saving his life. He had arrived with severe emphysema and weighed just 98 pounds, despite being over six feet tall. He has now gained wight and he believes that the facility was responsible for his turnaround and improved health.
Many of the patients who were transferred out of the facility complained not only about the loss of their current home, but also about the facilities they were being transferred to. Patients complained that the new facilities which they were being shown smelled like urine. Still others said they were simply being taken to unknown destinations, and even feeling as if they were just being sent to random places because no one else wanted them.
Unfortunately, this loss of a sense of home and this feeling of helplessness and being unwanted are common among residents when nursing care facilities shut their doors. This is partly why finding the right nursing facility is so important. In addition to the other criteria to look for, you want to make sure you select a facility that has a long history and that hopefully will continue to remain in business for a long time.
Getting Help from A Long Island Nursing Home Planning Lawyer
A Long Island nursing home planning lawyer can provide assistance to seniors and their families in researching nursing homes to try to find the right one. An attorney can also help seniors when their nursing facility is closing.
Eghrari Wealth Training Law Firm cares deeply about our clients and we work hard to help make sure your golden years are as comfortable as possible. Give us a call at (631) 265-0599 or contact us online to find out more about how we can help.
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