Letter: Disagrees with column

Dear Editor

One of the many things that I learned as a student was to never generalize from a specific case, even though that specific case may be entirely valid on its own. It’s now been almost six years since I entered my wife in the memory care unit at the Comforts of Home here in Hudson. Before entering her there, I scoped out seven other such facilities that I considered to be within driving distance of our home in Prescott.

The two qualities at the top of my list that I was looking for were the physical features of the care unit itself (each resident at the Comforts has his or her own bedroom with a handicapped accessible bathroom), and the quality of the care provided. After almost six years during which I’ve visited my wife at the Comforts on an almost daily basis, I have never once second-guessed my original decision. To observe those employees at Comforts as they care for all those people who are totally incapable of doing anything themselves is truly a spectacle in itself. For anyone to refer to these people as “healthier seniors” is difficult if not impossible for me to accept. 

Yet, in the Jan. 26, 2012, edition of the Star-Observer, Randy Hanson concludes on the basis of information obtained from his sister that the Comforts of Home has “siphoned off the healthier seniors.” I entered my wife in that same facility almost six years ago simply because I felt that physically it was the best facility available, and that the care provided was at least as good as any of the others that I scoped out at the time. Nothing has happened in the intervening six years to cause me to change my mind.

Tags: opinion, letters, health