Abstract:
Elderly Americans represent one of the fastest growing demographic groups in our country. Millions of baby boomers will soon be in their sunset years. With longer life spans, many of the elderly will require assisted living or care of some kind. Are the nursing home industries ready to handle this approaching tidal wave?Studies find that there are serious problems in nursing homes in regard to the issue of staffing. Staffing is the fundamental key to providing quality care to nursing home residents.My thesis is a creative video project that outlines the problems in Indiana regarding nursing home staffing. The purpose of the project was to create an informational video that could be used to educate the public on the issue of nursing home staffing. The hope is that the video will also be able to function as a lobbying tool as viewers encourage our state lawmakers to legislate for reform in nursing home standards across Indiana.The project consists of a DVD, which includes an introduction to the project and a seventeen-minute video about the issue of nursing home staffing. Additionally, I have written this companion text in the pages that follow, to explain the process and creationof the video.
