The Case for not Closing Armenian Nursing Home

The Case for not Closing Armenian Nursing Home,

Vahe H. Apelian

Several years ago Viken L. Attarian in Canada had penned a guest-editorial in Keghart.com about the need of having a demographic database for the Armenian community. To bolster the creation of such a data base he had noted the following  “for example, there have been several attempts in the past and even recently to create Armenian retirement homes or homes for the elderly, the argument being that our elderly do not speak English or French and prefer to be with other Armenians (services to include Armenian cooking, church services and Armenian traditional activities). While this might have been the case 30-40 years ago, there is no scientific evidence that suggests that this is true today, i.e. that 10 years from now we would actually have a group of retirees who would want, need and be ready to finance such an effort. We could be wasting a lot of resources raising the funds to build such an institution but it could be simply another enormous waste of our resources.”

Recently I read a posting by Jerry Bezdikian, whom I met on Face book. Jerry has been entertaining the residents of the NY Armenian Home regularly by playing qanon. . The very logic espoused by Viken, might have been the very reason the governing board of this venerable institution espoused for closing the NY Armenian Home that offered residential care for the elderly. That is to say assisted the elderly who are not bed bound and do not need round the clock skilled nursing care, the other “wing” of a typical nursing home. The Ararat Nursing Facility in Mission Hills, CA, has two distinct wings, housed in different building located on the opposite sides of the main road that crosses the facility, one for residential care and the other for nursing care. 

To give some structure to my ensuing train of thoughts I would like to note the following. I served on the board of trustees of the Home for the Armenian Aged, Inc. in Emerson, NJ for a decade. My last board meeting was the evening prior to my departure day, as the company I would work for relocated me first to be followed by my family. That makes my last board meeting in March 1995, 22 years ago. I was 35 years old when I joined the board, at an age when one does not give much thought of getting old. Those ten years became an education for me. Eventual need for a nursing home looms for each one of us. My parents and my mother-in-law passed away in nursing homes. My father-in-law passed away at home.

I would also like to note that there was a time in my youth when I considered Diaspora transient on our way to settle in Armenia. I admit I had utopian and euphoric notions of a homeland and was not prepared for the stark reality of the past 25 years. I am now ever more convinced that Diaspora will be my lasting place and also for most Diaspora Armenians. Therefore, we do have an obligation to attend to matters pertaining to our long-term stay in the Diaspora. A nursing home in Armenia for Diaspora Armenians is not a viable option. Who among us would want to leave family and friends behind and move to Armenia to spend the twilight of his or her later years there?

It would be a wrong notion to visualize that an Armenian staff all throughout run an Armenian nursing or assisted living home. It is very likely, while some of the professionals such as doctors, nurses, administrators etc. may be Armenian, the majority of the staff, be it nurses’ aides, dietary workers, activities assistants, housekeeping will very well be non Armenians. Even then, in an Armenian nursing home, you need to be conversant in English. Proficiency of the English language is not relevant to the issue of having or not having an Armenian nursing home.

Why then the case for Armenian community nursing homes, when language is not a consideration? In my view community sponsored nursing homes render better quality care. They are by nature under the watchful eye of the community. Our national and religious holidays are observed there. School children, as well as artists such as Jerry, entertain the residents. Armenian priests go to render mass and observe Armenian holidays. Visiting dignitaries make a point of visiting it. Under such watchful eyes, the administration and the staff become much more cognizant to render round the clock quality care. The Ararat Nursing Facility in CA and the Home For The Armenian Aged in NJ, have been enjoying the highest rating, year after year. 

Many auxiliary support groups also congregate around the ethnic nursing homes and there is a better pool of volunteers. Even though an Armenian nursing home houses our elderly, the home becomes a vibrant part of the community. First Tuesday of every month, the women’s guild of the Ararat Nursing Facility in Los Angeles holds a mid day social function which is well attended by hundreds. Armenian organizations take turn in sponsoring it. There are real life advantages for having community nursing homes.

The Home for the Armenian Aged, Inc. in Emerson, NJ was founded in 1938. At its 50th anniversary, in 1993, I researched and wrote the story of its founding and progress the community had made from maintaining a chicken house and growing their own vegetables on its premises in its formative years to the veritable institution it had become fifty years later. I had concluded my history of the Home thus.  Twenty-fours years later I stand by that conclusion and I believe it pertains not only to the Armenian nursing home in Emerson but also to any Armenian nursing home.

I quote: “The sociologist claim that we are heading towards a graying society and statistical projections predict that an increasing number of the population will need the care of a nursing home in the twilight of their later years. Also there was a large influx of Armenians in the mid-seventies from Middle East and what was the former Soviet Union, who in case of need, most likely will seek the familiarity of their ethnic nursing homes. Such trends indicate that the Home will continue to function as a viable institution well into the twenty first century. However, members of the community need to continue to assume responsibility of managing the Home prudently and soundly. The ever escalating cost of healthcare, and the dwindling financial resources, paradoxically couples with increasing compliance standards, ever so more will require the continual community management and support to keep the spirit and the purpose of its Founders alive and viable, to meet the needs of the once productive citizens of this nation”.

I wish the governing board of the NY Armenian Home had not taken such a drastic step and put in motion the closing of the only residential care Armenian nursing home in the state of New York.