The Importance of the Decision-Making Process

Decision-Making

(Many Residents)
 

---Decision-Making is a very important function of the growth of the human being. We make choices all-the-time. When we find ourselves in that ''choiceless awareness'' where ‘’BEING HERE’’ is the buzzword...that's great. When we are being in the present moment and, basically, going with that...we feel like we are on top-of-the world. This, UNFORTUNATELY, doesn't happen all too often.

---Another form of being WITHOUT decisions is in an institutional setting.  It is militaristic in its way. All of the decisions are made by the higher-ups…and it is our job (as the underling)…to follow them. Much of the time it is ‘’NO questions asked.’’ This has a very controlling element.

--The second scenario is the one that LHH uses. As much as there is a claim to being resident-centered and a shift to a ‘’Resident-First’’ and ‘’Individualized Care’’ mindset…it is only lipservice and NOT put into practice…to any great extent.

---The long and the short of it is that LHH, DPH, OSHPD and the fire Marshall and everyone else seems to have a say in our living situation EXCEPT those who, actually, inhabit the facility.
---It is written in the literature that making decisions is an important thing. It opens the door to self-knowledge and self-awareness. That begins the journey that is most important to good mental acuity which seems necessary for seniors... especially.

---He then has increased self-knowledge (self-esteem) and is on his way to actually make more sound decisions that lead to self - confidence, self-reliance and more autonomy in ones life. All he has to do (for the most part) is to learn to make decisions. Over time he gets better at it and is more able to think for himself and he will be more wholly rehabilitated than just a mere physical fix-up and sent upon his way. He is more able to live in a place that ''spit'' him out...originally, if that be the case.

---There is some kind of mindset in the whole DPH system that says, ‘’if the resident gets too comfortable living in a/the facility…that is in someway wrong.’’ In my way of thinking, if a resident finally feels comfortable with who he is and can make positive life affirming decisions that promote life and betters living, he will find himself in a better way to recover. He will probably choose NOT to live in a nursing facility when there is so much of life to be lived. But, alas…we find LHH still going in another direction. Someday, I hope that it learns that its residents have to be properly rehabbed where growth of the whole person is its main concern. I thought the class on Coping Skills of a few years ago was the beginning of a new era. Though it needed much tweaking...I was HOPING. That has gone by the wayside in its way, also.
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(Another Paul H-Passive-Aggressive RANT)