Paula Barton
Rochester, New York

My name is Paula Barton. I am a 28 year old, disabled female. After going to emergency with chest pain, I was sent to a nursing home. They told me I could not return to my apartment because I could not get any Nurses Aide service to get me in and out of bed. I was there for four months.

During my stay in the nursing home, the experience was not good. Here are some of the reasons why. The hospital was not geared for a young person. I could not move freely and I had to be signed out by a person who was not in a nursing home. I had no independence.

I did have one good experience. The social worker was a young woman. She understood what I was going through. She started a month after I arrived there. Together we found an agency that would give me aide service. I am now home after 4 months. I have 20 hours of aide service and I’m doing very, very well.