By Rick Banas of BMA Management, Ltd.
Is this what we can expect as government takes more and more control of our health care system?
A hospital in Wales has been asking elderly patients to shake a tambourine to alert staff in an emergency.
According to the press reports published in London media today, the room where patients at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary (CRI) gather to relax and watch television does not have a “proper alarm system” so patients were provided tambourines.
Now, having grown up in the 1960s, I love the sound of tambourines. I remember well the songs Mr. Tambourine Man and Green Tambourine. The Bryds debut single of Bob Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man reached #1 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Green Tambourine, a song recorded by The Lemon Pipers, a pop band from Oxford, Ohio, reached #1 in the US in 1968.
But I strongly echo the comments of a representative from Age Cymru, a charity dedicated to helping older adults avoid poverty, isolation, neglect, and age discrimination. The representative labeled the use of tambourines as “inappropriate and patronizing.” It certainly does deny them the dignity they so richly deserve.
It so refreshing to hear that managers apologized and are replacing the tambourines with lightweight hand bells.
| Bob Dylan → Mr. Tambourine Man |
The Lemon Pipers → Green Tambourine |
Click play on the audio players above ↑ to hear each song.
All affordable assisted living communities managed by BMA Management, Ltd. are certified and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. All assisted living communities are licensed and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“BMA Management, Ltd. is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
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