um do you have any elderly parents or grandparents that have ever had to go in a nursing home
 	
 	
 		uh yes my uh mother was in a nursing home for five years before she passed away in nineteen seventy seven
 	
 	
 		oh
 		oh now was it how did you feel about that was it a good nursing home and you felt good about her being there or
 	
 	
 		it was a fair nursing home
 	
 	
 		a fair one
 	
 	
 		uh
 		it it was a matter uh she reached the point where she couldn't stay by herself during the daytime she and my sister who never married lived together
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		oh
 	
 	
 		and my sister couldn't retire at the time so my uh mother's physician recommended that uh she go into a nursing home
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 		uh-huh
 		oh uh-huh
 	
 	
 		and fortunately my sister was able to go visit her twice a day
 	
 	
 		oh wow that is good
 	
 	
 		and uh
 	
 	
 		boy i'll say that is good
 	
 	
 		she she just reached the point where she had to have professional care she was eighty two at the time
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		my word so she couldn't take care of herself at all
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		did how did she feel about it did she how did your mother feel about it
 	
 	
 		well
 		i don't think she ever really adjusted
 	
 	
 		didn't she
 	
 	
 		uh my mother was very very shy she never joined anything
 	
 	
 		oh
 		oh
 	
 	
 		and uh she realized that it was something that had to be done
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		but she had begun to lose a great deal of of her memory capacity at the time
 	
 	
 		oh
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		and finally about uh
 		oh say about a year before she died my sister was the only person that she ever really recognized and could call by name
 	
 	
 		my word
 		oh oh boy now what about the expense part of it was it an expensive one or did her did she have health insurance or Medicaid
 	
 	
 		uh no uh
 		oh several years before well it's a long thirty minute story but uh when my father died in nineteen fifty eight uh i uh transferred the title to my sister
 	
 	
 		
 
 		um-hum
 		oh
 	
 	
 		uh which was an internal family deal i i knew that if something happened and my sister couldn't take care of her i would
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 		
 
 		oh uh-huh
 	
 	
 		but uh uh
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		we had fixed it for her uh
 		oh many years before she went into the nursing home like about fifteen so that she had no assets so as it turned out Medicaid paid for all of it
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 		oh
 		oh
 		oh great
 	
 	
 		uh
 	
 	
 		well that helps because i know that it can take a person's whole life life savings i
 	
 	
 		yeah
 		yeah
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		um my parents are not quite that old yet but my grandmother um right now is in this situation where she cannot stay alone at home either and so
 		um her she has four daughters and one son and the four daughters
 		rotate and keep her for three months at a time and they are all in a position where they can do that right now and then my husband's grandmother about oh probably two years ago she fell and broke her hip
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		um-hum
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		and of course she had to go into the nursing home there and and it was a fairly nice one in fact she got to where she enjoyed it there she knew the staff and knew the other people that were there and and in fact when she came home
 		she was able to get better and come home she really missed the association with the people there
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		and i but i don't know i i whenever i go into a nursing home i
 		uh for some reason it it makes me feel sad i because i a lot of people i know are there just because
 		um you know their families want them there and and they don't
 		they aren't willing to take care of them and i i think that's a sad situation
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		um
 	
 	
 		my my uh other sister
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		uh who was married at the time and was still working
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		worked for several years in a nursing home and she said roughly half
 	
 	
 		oh
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		of the people don't have anybody
 	
 	
 		oh no
 	
 	
 		and nobody ever comes to see them
 	
 	
 		my word that many of them
 	
 	
 		yeah that's too bad
 	
 	
 		oh boy i it is i i don't know a nursing home seems to be such a
 		a non personal environment the ones that i've been to um i have been to one that seemed really you know warm and cozy but for the most part they've seemed you know no carpet on the floors and
 		just kind of cold and  i i
 	
 	
 		yeah i know and they all seem understaffed and the staff's overworked
 	
 	
 		right that's right yeah so
 	
 	
 		well let's face it there there for the most part well
 		there's one exception that i'll tell you about in a minute uh for the most part they're profit centers
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 		that's right
 	
 	
 		uh but uh my my sister who looked after my mother
 	
 	
 		that's right
 	
 	
 		uh
 		let's see
 		she died in ninety so this would have been the first of the year in nineteen eighty nine she made
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 		uh-huh