HOME ALONE: Ingrid wants to live in a nursing home, where she can feel safe and socialize with other people. Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / VG
STOVNER (VG) She has fallen and injured herself several times. The last time she was hospitalized, she was sent home, even though the doctors advised against it.
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In a terraced house on Stovner, 94-year-old Ingrid has lived for more than half her life.
For a long time it was fine to live here alone. The family did not want her to be forced to move.
– I have enjoyed myself very well here, says Ingrid.
She got up and down the steep stairs without problems, and went to Stovner Senter almost every day.
Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / VG
But in the last two years she has become weaker.
In the spring of 2022, Ingrid was diagnosed with dementia. After several falls, the family realized that she could no longer live at home.
– It feels unsafe to be here alone. That staircase is becoming difficult, says Ingrid.
Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / VG
The son Jon Terje Lian has fought for his mother to have a safe place to live.
– She has taken care of her family and everyone around her all her life. She has never been a burden to society. It is sad that she will not get help now, says Jon Terje.
At the end of May this year, she applied for a long-term stay in a nursing home. After just over two months, on 2 August, she was refused.
– It feels unfair. I want to get into a safe place, says Ingrid.
RELATIVES: Son Jon Terje Lian has done everything he can to give his mother the care she needs. Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / VG
VG has asked the district of Stovner why Ingrid does not get a place in a nursing home.
– The application for a place in a nursing home was refused because it was considered that she can receive proper health and care services at home with the help of the home service. In this case, she has also received information about the security department’s offer, which she can make use of if necessary, says communications manager Thomas Wrigglesworth.
The district does not wish to comment further on the matter.
The family does not agree with how the district has assessed her care needs.
“Not a candidate for living alone at home”
In autumn 2022, Ingrid was admitted to Diakonhjemmet hospital twice, after she fell at home.
Both times the doctors at the hospital assessed that there was a high risk that she could fall again.
Earlier in August this year, she fell and injured her head and hand.
She was admitted to the Municipal acute day care unit (KAD) in the district of Aker. Here she lay for a few days, until she was finished being treated on 10 August.
The doctors at the hospital did not want to send her home:
“She is not considered a candidate to live alone at home due to the risk of falling and needs round-the-clock supervision,” reads the epicrisis that VG has read.
Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / VG
VG has also asked the district of Stovner about why Ingrid does not get a place in a nursing home, when KAD believes she should not live at home, and the concerns from the Diakonhjemmet hospital, but does not wish to comment on this information.
Not prepared for the elderly wave
Despite the fact that the population is getting older, there have not been more nursing home places in Norway in recent years, according to figures from Statistics Norway (SSB).
In 2015, there were 39,674 available nursing home places in Norway. Last year there were 39,065. By 2040, the number of people over 80 will double.
– There is no doubt that we lack nursing home places. In the last 20 years, there has been no growth, even though we have long known about the increase in the number of elderly people, says the head of the National Association for Public Health, the National Association for Public Health is a voluntary, humanitarian organization with health teams and dementia associations across the country . Mina Gerhardsen.
She says that there are no good figures that show how many nursing home places are missing.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: Leader Mina Gerhardsen. Photo: Ilja C. Hendel / © Ilja C. Hendel
The association often talks to relatives who are in despair and exhausted in the struggle to get their loved ones a place in a nursing home.
– The limit for when people get a place in a nursing home has changed a lot. Before we talked about old people’s homes and people packed their suitcases and strolled in. Now they are very sick and are being rolled in. The threshold for getting a place in a nursing home is higher, and in some cases too high. We sometimes move on the border of the indefensible, says Gerhardsen.
Nursing home places are available
So far in 2023, the district of Stovner has received 77 applications for a place in a long-term nursing home. 58 of them have been granted, and 11 have been refused. The latter are still being processed.
Last year, the entire municipality of Oslo received 1,920 applications from elderly people who want a place in a nursing home. 465 of these were refused.
At the same time that Ingrid is refused a place in a nursing home, approximately 70 long-term places are available in Oslo.
The municipality states that they have not had major problems with many elderly people so far, but that this trend is about to reverse.
Oslo is working to build up capacity and next year there are plans for 362 new nursing home places.
– Unworthy
Ingrid is alone at home a lot. Three to four times a day the home help comes by.
She is clear that the help she receives is good, but that she would prefer to live in a nursing home where she feels safe.
It is difficult for her to get enough nutritious food and drink. As a rule, the domestic worker or the family heats up ready meals for her.
Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / VG
When she fell and broke her femur in 2022, she was undergoing rehabilitation in the municipality.
She lived here with several others, and says that she enjoyed herself very much.
– That was nice. We sat together in the living room and talked, says Ingrid, who wishes she didn’t have to be alone so much.
Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / VG
For son Jon Terje, it is sad to see that his mother is not getting the help she wants.
He himself has done everything he can to help her. Now he doesn’t know what else he can do.
– I feel that she will have an undignified end to her life, says Jon Terje.
Published:
Published: 03.09.23 at 19:25
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2023-09-03 17:25:00
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