- Published: September 27, 2022
- Updated: September 27, 2022
- Level: Intermediate School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 43
The paper ” Nobody’s Home: Candid Reflections of a Nursing Home Aide by Thomas Edward Gass” is a marvelous example of a book review on sociology.
Work as a social worker anywhere in the world always demands great energies and sacrifices. The book “ Nobody’s Home” is a great work, which very clearly and briefly explains life in a nursing home. The author of this book also experienced working as an aide in a nursing home in Midwest USA as an aide for about three and a half year. The author says that due to low income and demanding nature, at present the most fast growing job in the USA is “ health care aide”. This book in detail deals with the problems and hardships faced by an aide while rendering nursing services to patients in a nursing home.
The author in this book briefly explains the problems faced by a social worker as the job demands high standards of care and sacrifices. An aide has to pass through an unpleasant daily routine of feeding, cleaning, conversing and dressing the patient on a daily basis. Besides this care, aides are very less paid and there is no career in this field. To fulfill basic needs and remain connected to a patient until death requires thankless physical and mental endurance. An aging person who is creeping towards death is always mentally away and confused because in the most terrible time of his life he is living away from his home. Deteriorating health, a decline in understanding, frustration, and a sense of dependency on someone who is not very well known, makes it more difficult for the caretaker to discharge his duties with commitment and dedication.
The author titles the book “ Nobody’s Home”. This title is given to this book because of a few obvious reasons. Firstly, there is a lot of sense of deprivation amongst the patients when they are asked to live the last days of their life away from beloved ones in isolation. They live in a small room emotionally isolated and hardly visited by relatives. Nursing Homes are never accepted as a permanent living place by aging people due to low standards. Patient likes to stay with the family and also wants one of the family member to be a caretaker instead of an aide in a nursing home.
One should also keep in mind that everyone is aging. This natural process has to remain continued. Therefore, the government and policymakers should make every effort to improve the standards of nursing homes. Secondly, it is also very imperative to make the job of a caretaker very attractive and full of respect. They should also foresee a bright future with a very handsome amount of earning. These measures if taken will slowly improve the quality of nursing institutes as well as caretaking.