Being Mortal

The job of making it work fell to Lois Greising, the directorofnursing.Shewasinhersixtiesandhadbeen workinginnursinghomesforyear ...

Thatfall,theymovedin agreyhound namedTarget, a lapdognamedGinger,thefourcats,andthebirds.They threwoutalltheirartificialplantsan ...

tohelpout.Itwasakindofgloriouschaos—or,inthe diplomatic words of Greising, “a heightened environment.” Theyhadtosolvenumerouspro ...

nursingstaffandnoonewaspayingthemextraforit.In fact, they’d hardly had a raise in two or three years because of state budget cut ...

Theresidentsarereallymakingmyjobeasier;manyof themgivemeadailyreportontheirbirds(e.g.,“singsall day,” “doesn’t eat,” “seems perk ...

Rodin and Ellen Langer performed an experiment in whichtheygotaConnecticutnursinghometogiveeach ofitsresidentsa plant.Half ofthe ...

“Heagreed,withtheindifferenceofapersonwhoknows he willsoonbe gone,” Thomassaid. But he beganto change.“Thechangesweresubtleatfir ...

IN1908,AHarvardphilosophernamedJosiahRoycewrote abookwiththetitleThePhilosophyof Loyalty.Royce wasnotconcernedwiththetrialsofagi ...

necessarilyproducehappiness,andcanevenbepainful, but we all require devotion to something more than ourselves forourlivesto been ...

transcendentdesiretoseeandhelpotherbeingsachieve their potential. Asourtimewindsdown,weallseekcomfortinsimple pleasures—companio ...

sustenance of the soul. Yet—and this is the painful paradox—wehavedecidedthattheyshouldbetheones wholargelydefinehowweliveinourw ...

father, she had no inkling of this ferment. The vast majority of places that existed for someone like him remaineddepressinglype ...

watching people, I could see the action spill over boundariesthewayitdoesinrealhomes.Twomenwere playingcardsinthediningroom.Anur ...

“Oh thank God I can go myself to the bathroom,” Makovertoldme.“Youwouldthinkit’snothing.You’re young.You’llunderstandwhenyou’reo ...

relationships with those around them. “Here it’s like living in my own home,” Makover said. Aroundthecorner,ImetAnneBraveman,sev ...

become deeplyintertwined. Residentswhodidn’tneed significant assistance worked as tutors and school librarians.Whenclassesstudie ...

schoolguidancecounselor.AnneBravemanhadbeena MassachusettsGeneralHospitalnurse,andherhusband wasintheofficesupplybusiness.RhodaM ...

homecareagenciesstartedtellingherthatsheneededto move her residents into nursing homes, she remained defiant.Shelaunchedherownag ...

because of complications from arthritis and her brittle diabetes. “I walk,” Barrett objected from her motorized wheelchair. Cars ...

alwaysordereda margarita—rocks,nosalt—despiteits being technically forbidden for a diabetic. “Theyliveliketheywouldliveintheirne ...