All about dolphins

LETTERS FALLS, MOST HAPPEN issues, and has given new depth to A L L A B O U T D O L P H I N S IN THE AFTERNOON my understanding of these problems. B y June 15, Virginia Thomas, auI was especially interested in Kath- Congratulations, and thanks for the thor o f "'You're a WHAT?. What's a ryn Riffle's article "Falls: Kinds, help. Dolphin?" (Mar./Apr., p. 118), had Causes, and Prevention" ( M a y / MARK ALLEN KLEIMAN, received more than 40 enthusiastic Wash., D.C. requests f o r f u r t h e r details about June, p. 165) because of my 1980 retrospective study of falls in a nursher one-on-one visting program. ing home. Here are excerpts f r o m some o f The occurrence of falls in 1979 " W H A T N E G A T I V I S M ! " these letters. was noted for the residents as a 9 T h e editorial " A H o m e Is not a Hoswhole, and further examined in pital" ( J a n . / F e b . , p. 25) raised a The Dolphin program sounds like terms of age, sex, level of care, time banner of hope by addressing a criti- the program we are looking for here of day, and treatment required. cal concern of many caring and shar- in Madison County. In a population of 255 with an av- ing professionals. We find many people who are willerage age of 85, there were 263 falls S 0 I read with dismay the response ing to visit in hospitals and homes (0.72 falls/day). The most likely entitled "Editorial Creates Spurious but fear making a commitment to times for falls were, in descending Issues" ( J u l y / A u g u s t , p. 216) signed our residents in nursing care faciliorder: 3 to 6 P.M., 9 A.M. to noon, and by four readers who are, themselves, ties. M a y b e theDolphins will appeal 6 to 9 P.M. health care providers. Their letter to them. Residents in the 90 to 100 age stated in part, " O f course we all subSISTER GABRIELLA, CSC, Ind. group, residents in the intermediate scribe to the idea of teaching 'plealevel of care, and female residents surable living in old age.' W e only fell more often than younger resi- wish we knew what it meant. Most Of dents, those at other levels of care, or our . p a t i e n t s . . . are ravaged by male residents. deep-rooted fears of illness and Severity o f the falls was reflected death in a society not yet committed \ in the treatment required: treatment to the survival of the ill aged. The in a hospital, 8 percent; treatment by teaching of pleasurable living under an R N at the nursing home, 15 per- those circumstances might trigger cent; no treatment, 77 percent. distrust even if standards of pleasurMYRA AUD, RN, Mo. able living for the 80- to 90-year-old existed." W h a t negativism and lack of perGN SPANS BREADTH ception! N o wonder the elderly have OF CONCERNS deep-rooted fears! I confess that having been close to I find it difficult to agree with the the nursing profession in the early letter writers' premise that patients 1970s I was accustomed to "jour- with cognitive faculties " a r e distinctnals" that included a bit more puff ly aware that the nursing home is not I would love to start this program in than punch, more rumination than their home and will never be." I sub- my 52-bed nursing home. research. I am very pleasantly sur- mit that it is their home while they GWEN WILLIAMS, RN, Tex. prised by GN. are in residence, and they should be Your journal does a very good job encouraged to feel that this is so. of spanning the breadth of concerns Positive acceptance and, above all, I was feeling discouraged because that anyone, consumer or provider, caring engender emotions which we had lost a volunteer from our must face when working with a geri- play a large part in the rehabilitative " S o m e o n e Just For M e " visiting proatric population. I was impressed by process. gram. The article about Dolphins the timeliness and accuracy of your T h e r e is no standard for pleasur- caused me to look more positively at coverage of professional develop- able living, nor should there be. W e what we had been doing. One of our ments, and by the excellent blend of all have our individual dreams. " S o m e o n e s " is learning Italian from research, news analysis, and practiIf we have the will and knowledge the old f a r m e r who is her friend; ancal clinical suggestions to keep spe- to conquer outer space, is it too much other takes her baby along on visits cialists from developing an undue to ask that we meet the problems of to her 87-year-old friend, who dotes case of tunnel vision. our elderly people? W e will be join- on both of them although she's blind Perhaps most importantly, the in- ing them sooner than we think, and and hard of hearing. I've discovered formation in G N has improved my I, for one, hope to find it pleasur- a S i n a t r a fan is my friend and have own practice in communicating with able. taped records for her to listen to. professionals concerned with aging MARY H. WITTNER, R.N., Fla. CAROLE SOMERS, RN, N.J.