As we begin to cautiously open up more in New Jersey, there is the disheartening news that two old nonprofit nursing homes in our state are closing. They are places most of us have never hear of, but as nonprofit care centers, they offered good quality care at rates below profit-making nursing homes.
The Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Emerson (Bergen County) closed Easter Sunday after 83 years and the Villa in Florham Park (Morris County) will close in the weeks to come. Over the past year Complete Care with its purchase of several centers has become New Jersey’s largest nursing home owner.
I saw a billboard on Route 35 near Middletown about home care services by a for-profit company. The pandemic told us it was well past the time to rethink how we as a society care for the aged and infirm. We need quality care for those people who made a prosperous America possible at a cost that does not impoverish them or their families.
Prayer for the Day
Eternal wisdom, source of our being, we remember our youth,
May the phase which we now enter bear the marks of your spirit;
Grant to us understanding as we still walk this earth
So we may pass it on to the next generation.
Bestow on us the power and strength we can give in care
And help us to show those who will follow the essence of love.
In the name of him who shows us how to love,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.
Robert Frost, American poet (1874-1963)
The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.
Madeleine L”Engle, writer (1918-2007)
O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I proclaim our might to all generations to come.
Your power and your bounty, O God, for you have done great things.
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again;
From the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
Psalm 71: 17-20