This is my kind of nursing home

[SOPi_Jawbreaker]

How to cheer up a nursing home? Install a bar
‘Patients aren’t bored to death,’ official says at St. Mary's in Ireland

DUBLIN, Ireland - A nursing home in Ireland has hit on a cheering way to keep up the spirits of its elderly patients -- by providing its own pub.

St Mary’s Hospital in County Monaghan, near the Irish border with Northern Ireland, believes ready access to a good pint may help its patients -- average age 85 -- actually live longer.

“We would say the whole social aspect of life does extend the years -- it means the patients aren’t bored to death,” Rose Mooney, assistant director of nursing told Reuters

The pub, which opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. and charges normal bar prices, had also led to an increase in the number of visitors, she said.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10035233/

[33girl]

One of the nursing homes (it's actually a nursing home/retirement community) who is a client of ours has its own bar. Some of my coworkers have been there during "happy hour." They say it's a scream.

[UofISigKap]

Getting relatives to visit is probably significantly easier... "Hey everyone, time to go see grandma and grab a pint!" That would be so great. I would have zero problems in moving to a home when it's time if that was what I could look forward to.

[JennRN]

Haha! I love this! My husband and I always say that our kids better stick us in a nursing home with a bar next door to it. Because we'll still want martini's when we're 90, even if it takes us half the day to get there.

[honeychile]

Several of the better Personal Care or Nursing Homes around here have a pub in them; those that don't usually have "field trips" to various places that have a pub in them. I have mixed feelings about them, as so many residents don't realize how their medication interacts with the alcohol - drunken geriatrics are just so pathetic looking!

[aephi alum]

When my mother was in medical school in Scotland, doctors would often prescribe Guinness or whiskey (or possibly sherry). You would see, written on a patient's chart, "One pint Guinness, hours of sleep" - meaning, give the patient a pint just before bedtime. I'll bet the patients got "hours of sleep" !

I would hope that the bar staff would be given a heads-up as to which residents shouldn't drink alcohol because of their meds. This would work in a small facility, but maybe not in a large one.

[lifesaver]

Originally posted by aephi alum
When my mother was in medical school in Scotland, doctors would often prescribe Guinness or whiskey (or possibly sherry). You would see, written on a patient's chart, "One pint Guinness, hours of sleep" - meaning, give the patient a pint just before bedtime. I'll bet the patients got "hours of sleep" !

I would hope that the bar staff would be given a heads-up as to which residents shouldn't drink alcohol because of their meds. This would work in a small facility, but maybe not in a large one.

On the osbornes, when Sharon was going through chemo, Ozzy was insistant about her having a pint of Guinness.

I'd be concerned about being on Chemo and then having a beer.

-Had Bangers and Mash for lunch today.