Discuss the idea of home—how is it defined? What does it mean to you? Would you consider an institution your home if you one day resided in one? Why or why not?

Critical Analysis Prompt:

First, write about how total institutions position themselves as “homes” or try to make themselves “home-like”. Do confined people experience them as homes? Why or why not?

Then, examine how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the problems within institutions.  What could institutions, the government, and other stakeholders have done differently? 

Institutions try to make themselves home like by not showing everyone the everyday things that go on in those institutions. At first it may not be that bad but the longer you are there the more bad stuff you going within the institutions.For example, during covid a group of prisoners sued for access to soap, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper amid the pandemic (Dylan Matthews Americas covid 19 hotspots ). This incident put a light on how prisoners were being treated while they're incarcerated.What they could've done differently is give them soap and all the cleaning supplies that they needed in order to reduce the amount people getting covid within the institutions.

As most institutional care facilities are for-profit, they have to “sell themselves” to potential clients. That whole concept just sounds wrong but alas it is the way things are. In an attempt to make themselves more appealing, institutions will often portray themselves as “home-like” to potential residents and their families. In the reading by Monique Lanoix, the physical element of the institutions was altered to provide a “homelikeness” to the residents. Despite the appearance potentially feeling “homelike” to residents, Lanoix also states that the manner in which the workers interact with the residents is not changed by the desire to appear more like a home. Despite the efforts of the institutions to appear as if they are a new home for their residents, this is often not the feeling the residents have about their living arrangements and care. Lanoix describes the rooms as being small and there being no real “permanent” rooms as residents are constantly moved. Lanoix also describes how there is often another resident in a room so it seems as though in some institutions, residents don’t even have their own rooms. Residents are also only permitted to see visitors at certain times. To me it seems like the institutions are not a place that seems like permanent residence.

During the covid-19 pandemic, many of the already somewhat obvious problems with institutions were exposed and many more hidden problems were also exposed. Problems like the extremely cramped conditions in prisons and the sheer lack of resources for prisoners were revealed. Despite this, very little if nothing was done to correct any deficiencies. In How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration, it is revealed that thirty of the top fifty outbreaks including the largest four were in prisons and jails. Instead of taking inspiration from other countries and releasing various prisoners to ease the strain on the sheer amount of prisoners inside the walls, the U.S. took no inspiration and released no one. It is also detailed that from the start of the pandemic, public health and medical officials were warned that incarcerated people were extremely vulnerable to covid and its most severe complications. Despite this, nothing was done. If something like this were to happen again, I would hope we would have learned from our mistakes and made necessary changes to save lives.

2.)     Total institutions position themselves as home, so people feel better about leaving their loved ones in them. If they look more like homes it’ll be easier to sell people on them. After all, you want the best for your loved ones, so if they look like the best option, they seem like the best option. However, it isn’t until these people are forced to live in them, that they see that they aren’t home like at all. They’re the opposite of home. “Some of them are so confused and depressed, crying and roaming the halls,”(Nursing Home Residents Moved Out To Make For COVID-19 Patients) says one woman, who specifically asked to not have her name be mentioned because she feared that her new nursing home would retaliate against her. Obviously if you are fearing mistreatment for simply speaking the truth, it isn’t a home. COVID-19 brought to light many issues in both prisons and nursing homes, let alone how many issues resided in our country at the time. The biggest issue COVID-19 brought up was overcrowding. It was nearly impossible to not catch the disease while having to live in close proximity every day. “At Mabel Bassett, women remained confined to their cells or, if they were unlucky to be in a dormitory, on their beds.” (Corridors of Contagion, 4). As you can see given that example, it was impossible for the women to walk freely without being confined solely to their rooms. However, nursing homes also felt the brunt of the pandemic. COVID-19 patients needed places to be treated and so what did they do, moved these people into nursing homes, kicking its current residents out. “My Concern was there would be those in the industry who saw an opportunity to trade low-paying Medicaid residents for high-paying COVID patients, says Dr. Michael Wasserman (Nursing Home Residents Moved Out To Make For COVID-19 Patients). This was sadly a reality as some couldn’t cut the move like Ruby Hamilton, who sadly succumbed to transfer trauma. “Nursing home patients are victims not just of density but of a broader societal disregard toward older people and those with disabilities.” (America’s Covid-19 hot spots shed a light on our moral failures, 5). What could have been done differently was to limit the mass crowding or even institute more measure to keep these places and people safe. It wasn’t just nursing homes it was prisons. It was these hot spots that faced extreme issues during Covid-19. Instead, we let these people face trauma after trauma, and also get sick. “The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that in the 23 states for which data exists, 27 percent of deaths from Covid-19 have occurred in nursing homes. In several states, like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, most deaths have occurred in nursing homes.” (America’s Covid-19 hot spots shed a light on our moral failures,2). We let these people die because we hide them in these places because they are the “undesirables of society”. Instead we should’ve had more nurses and healthcare workers in these places helping, and also designate not already populated buildings as home for those with covid.

Institutions try to make themselves home-like in many ways. “The rooms were painted and some of the offices were changed into larger living rooms with television sets and communal tables.” (Lanoix, 46). Institutions have changed their interiors, so they appear more home-like. It’s an important first step to make the residents more comfortable, but they have not changed anything else. Confined people don’t experience institutions as homes. “Furthermore, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 70% of nursing homes are for-profit. These facilities are more likely than nonprofits to be understaffed, overcrowded, and to invest fewer resources in caring for residents.” (Miles & Yoshizaki-Gibbons) People in for-profit institutions are often neglected and their needs are not met. These people can’t call a place a home if they are degraded. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many of these problems were revealed to the public. Healthcare systems became overwhelmed with Covid-19 very quickly. “In that prison, up to fourteen women share a single cell, sleeping in bunk beds less than three feet apart. In early December 2020, Sarah and six of her roommates tested positive.” (Law, 7). Institutions, like prisons and jails, were overcrowded and caused COVID to spread extremely quickly. According to Matthews, in 2020 Ohio carceral facilities had 78 percent of inmates test positive for COVID-19. Institutions, the government, and stakeholders could have done a lot differently. Governments should have responded faster to the crisis of the pandemic. Healthcare systems should have received more funding for caring for the patients. Institutions also needed more workers and medical care

To me personally, I would not consider an institution home. First because of my definition, I do not believe that my entire family and pets would be in the same institute as me at the same time unless there were some crazy circumstances. Second, I do not think I would ever feel comfortable enough, free enough and all that other stuff. I would hate to live in a place where I was constantly being monitored and checked on. I feel like the video Not Home can show that too. As soon as Michael was placed in the nursing home and given a speaking aid, he was saying he wanted out of there. When Michael was able to get all of his needs met, such as the right aids and support, Michael was able to leave the nursing home and go live with his friends and family!

It seems like institutions will try to make themselves more homey by furnishing and decorations and letting residents have certain personal items and such, however those facilities will just never ever have that “home” feel. These institutions often enforce strict rules, routines, and limit one's freedom and control (Lanoix). I do not think I read a single thing where someone genuinely called their institution “home”. The article COVID-19 Demonstrates Need for Expanded Home and Community Based Services says that in Illinois, over 4000 residents and staff in these nursing homes passed away from COVID-19. Nursing homes were often overcrowded and understaffed and their main priority was not really the residents at the end of the day, it was a profit.

These institutions definitely could have gone about planning better and using looser policies that can better cater to each resident. I think that these institutions need to give residents more control, access to care, regardless of who they are getting it from, and the correct aids and supports, and whatever else the residents need to thrive and feel more at home (COVID-19 HCBS; Nursing Home Residence Moved Out). 

If I ever had to be placed in an institution one day and had to call it by home, I would not feel like I am human because I don’t have the family, love, and support that we need to feel like a whole person. It’s nice to be around other people and your older age, but there is nothing like someone who you raised helping you out the same way that you helped them. I believe that if I was placed in a home that no one did not want to take care of me and didn’t see a reason for me to be around. That is not what I envisioned for myself.

The COVID-19 pandemic made these issues even worse. Overcrowded spaces, limited testing, and shortages of PPE increased risks of infection, while lockdowns and restricted visitation worsened mental health of families trying to keep it together. Marginalized populations were affected the most due to there being limited spaces for elderly people to go after getting kicked out out of homes they considered their home.

Institutions could have improved safety and well-being by reducing overcrowding, offering mental health support, and enforcing stricter infection control. The government could have provided more resources and alternatives to incarceration such as utilizing abandoned buildings to make safe and comfortable, living, all while community organizations could have helped residents stay connected and advocated for their rights. The pandemic highlighted that without meaningful reform, these “homes” can quickly become unsafe and isolating environments.

Total institutions will try to position themeselves as homes by remodeling or decorating their faculties as more ‘home’ like or inviting. ”The rooms were painted and some of the offices were changed into larger living rooms with television sets and communal tables. The effort was commendable and seemed to make some residents and family members happy” (Lanoix, Pg 8). There have been a couple of cases were residents in an institution have not felt like it is a home. For example, in “Not Home: The Struggle to Get Kids Out of Institutions and into Real Families”, Matthew’s situation was very much heartbreaking. Matthew had wanted to get out of an institution and live with his friends family. He did not feel as if he was really cared for and in a sense it did not feel like home compared to being at his friends house.

According to this source it states, ”Nationwide, deaths connected to nursing facilities account for at least a third of COVID-19 related deaths” (Miles & Yoshizaki-Gibbons, 2020). This means that there are internal problems that are happening within these institutions and it makes you wonder if they are following COVID-19 procedures. Another issue that was happening within institutions is that they would kick out residents to replace with positive COVID-19 patients since they brought in more money. According to a source,”The suddenly in March, Oliver recieved a phone call saying that Westpark would be receiving corona-virus positive patients and therefore her mother and other residents would be transferred to another facility in the same chain” (Jaffe, 2020). What they could have done differently is make facilities for COVID-19 positive patients instead of kicking out nursing home residents. The government could have also funded for more spaces to be opened instead of taking spaces from individuals that needed care.

Home is defined by Monique Lanoi as, “…home is about being close to love ones; it is about sharing space where one feels relaxed with close others” (p. 45). A comfortable home to me involves comfort, stability, privacy, and family. If I ever resided in a institution or was incarcerated, I would never consider an institution my home, just a tempory residence. The environment by design is hostile and “homelike” but can never be home because you can never be around your family members.. Lanoi describes how she dislikes care facilities and states, “this place appears temporary in a permanent way; ive heard it called, “gods waiting room”” (p. 40). Another reason I believe an institution can never be seen as a home to me is because there is no privacy and youre always being watched or observed over. 

Analysis Prompt:

Total institutions, more prevalently nursing homes, try to make themselves seem more “home-like”. They are places where people are intended to spend the rest of their lives, so the institutions want to make it feel as close to home as it can get. They color the walls differently, have the nurses and staff treat the patients differently than “normal people”, and the general architecture and design of the facilities differ when they want them to be more “home-like”. However, it can never feel like home as it lacks the presence of family and loved ones, and as much as people want them to be permanent, some people still see nursing homes as temporary institutions until someone dies. People confined in these institutions do not view these facilities as homes. They miss their loved ones, and thus these places can never feel like homes. During COVID-19, prisons became isolated to which Dylan Matthews states to his readers, “they are institutiotns optomised for neglect” (p. 3). This revealed that they would shove people into institutions because they did not want to deal with them and “forget” that they had shoved them in there so that they were out of the way. This caused many issues when covid happened as many people didnt even think about anyone but themselves during this time. Institutions, the government, and other stakeholders could have according to Matthews, “the us can shrink its prisons…create housing laws, social supports, and other structures that enable older people to live with their families whenever possible” (p. 5). 

Reflection/Opinion

To me, home is more than just a place where you live. It’s where you feel safe, comfortable, and cared for. Home means belonging, being around people you trust, and having some control over your life. If I ever had to live in an institution, I don’t think I would see it as my true home. Even if the building tried to look like one, it wouldn’t feel the same because the freedom and closeness of family would be missing.

Critical Analysis

Institutions often call themselves “homes” or try to make the environment feel “home-like” by adding decorations, shared spaces, or family-style meals. But for many people who live there, it doesn’t feel like home because they don’t have the same freedom or privacy. Rules, schedules, and lack of control can make it feel more like a facility than a true home.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the problems inside institutions became very clear. Many residents were isolated from their families, and infections spread quickly because so many people lived close together. This showed that institutions were not fully prepared to protect the people inside.

The government, institutions, and other stakeholders could have done more, like providing better safety equipment, testing, and staff support. They also could have found safer ways for residents to connect with their families instead of cutting them off completely.

Discuss the idea of home—how is it defined? What does it mean to you? Would you consider an institution your home if you one day resided in one? Why or why not?

            The idea of a home is an environment that is worth more than a sense of property. Having a home means being able to go through daily life and being around society even if dealing with an injury or elderly age. To most in society being non-disabled also means that you should also have a job and be willing to do competent aims (drive, work, own a home) to seem normal in societies standards and having a home. However, if I had been in a home as a disabled person then I would not agree with the standards of an institution also being known as a home. For example, Lanoix elaborates on this environment of a particular institution after suffering from an accident with her husband. She describes it as “They encouraged me to think of my husband as finding a place where he would be met, and that I could be relieved of any worry or burden of taking care for him” (Lanoix, 2017). Furthermore, Dylan Matthews also give us some statistical facts about nursing homes during Covid-19. He claims that 1 in 10 nursing homes in the United States reported Covid-19 resulting in 27% of deaths during this time (Matthew’s, 2020). Regardless of how disabled a person may or may not be, there should be no reason we allow people to turn into a liability by simply neglecting care upon another person if needed. It is too risky especially during a time like this.

Critical Analysis Prompt:

First, write about how total institutions position themselves as “homes” or try to make themselves “home-like”. Do confined people experience them as homes? Why or why not? Then, examine how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the problems within institutions.  What could institutions, the government, and other stakeholders have done differently?

Total institutions have never proved themselves as homes, especially if that person was disabled or incarcerated. For example, Lanoix also elaborates her side of dealing with a rehabilitation institution after dealing with an accident. She describes the experience by saying “The rehabilitation centre was not meant to be homelike environment; it was deliberate attempt to simulate home in order to prepare patients for their return to their original abodes” (Lanoix, 2017). Furthermore, Jaffe claims before Covid-19 Federal law allows nursing home residents to receive up to a 30-day notice before involuntary transfer, however during Covid-19 the government has waived that right due to these facilities in more use for Covid-19 patients and got more profit and demand for the ill rather than all who needed care (Jaffe I., 2020). However, J. Clark Kelso gives us a eye view while overseeing prisons in California and elaborating on Mary Fishes experience. He reports saying “The virus was deadly, particularly for elderly people he explained. At home, he wasn’t letting his mother leave the house except to take walks in their backyard, and even those were brief. And inside Mabel Bassett, he cautioned, prison officials were using the SHU to quarantine women who had recently arrived from county jails” (J. Clark Kelso, 2024). This shows that incarceration not only showed more care for both the elderly but also the general population; this also can the difficulty that most elderly or disabled people have experienced if they did not have Covid-19. Even though these people may not have a extreme life or death illness does not mean we should neglect their needs or force them out of the environment they. Have already been in for a certain period of time.

The idea of home is a permanently place where one lives, that is how it is typically defined. Home to me is a place that can be associated with positive memories and personalized to you. (Lanoix p.g. 46) I would not consider an institution to be my home, and Lanoix puts it in a good way with the two-home syndrome. Where one's “home” is never home when they leave the place, they consider their home to be put into a place that is not home. (Lanoix, p.g. 45) How I understood this, was that it like there is a middle space between two homes. One that is your real home that you truly love and know, then one that you are just staying there and just exist. I do not think I could ever consider an institution to be home if was to ever be put into one. Along with home being associated to positive emotions and memories, there is also privacy. While a second home like an institution can be a “homelike” environment, it will have the institutional structure/schedule and a lack of privacy. (Lanoix, p.g. 45)

Critical Analysis

“Total” institutions try to make themselves seem “home-like” by changing the interior appearance, especially in nursing homes. Changed like adding televisions or sitting at simple table are small changed made to anchor everyday life from a home. (Lanoix, p.g. 47). With the emphasis on pleasant surroundings tend to erase one of the negative connections of moving into a long-term care facility. (Lanoix p.g. 47) However, because the institution structure is still there despite trying to change the physical environment. Centers are typically regulated by a clock and schedules. (Lanoix p.g. 47) Another thing I that, the care that is one in these institutions are done by strangers could also make the experience les home like. Workers must remain professional and detected from their patients which causes a boundary, that distance just continues the not-home like environment. (Lanoix, p.g. 49) Due to how institutions are set up, it does not allow for a strong home-like environment.

However, with COVID-19 a lot of changed had occurred with the pandemic and problems had raised. Every institution had to react differently, like nursing homes often had to displace people due to voluntarily treating COVID-19 patients. Ruby Hamilton, a lady who was in her 90s and need full time care was someone who had to be transferred to another nursing facility due to the original place was receiving Covid patients. (Jaffe, p.g. 1-2) There were also instances where a nursing home had closed for emergency repairs, just to become a facility for only COVID-19 patients, which left other residents having to be displaced. (Jaffe, p.g. 5) On another hand, in nursing homes almost a third of Covid-19 related deaths. (Nursing Home Crisis). This is due to short-term patients like Covid patients that are paid for by Medicare brings in up to 4x more money than long-term patients. (Jaffe p.g. 5) According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention roughly 70% of nursing homes are for-profit. (Nursing Home Crisis). However, with prisons it had opened up different issues that were not brought into light until Covid. Decades of large-scale neglect over the hidden conditions and the willful ignorance on the tough on crime policies that have led to overcrowding and other issues, made prisons a hot bed for Covid. (Law, p.g. 9) With this, states like Ohio had reported that 78% of inmates tested positive for Covid. (Matthews, p.g. 2). However, all theses different institutions are very similar in simple ways, for one things people are confined to facilities don’t think much about. (Matthews, p.g.3). I think that the government, institutions, and stakeholders could have all reacted differently. For example, using these facilities to increase profit by moving residents, instead of the original purpose, just to make some extra money. The government could have made it to where there was not a change in profit by who/what is being cared for because the institutions and stakeholders are going to at once change their policies just for the money. Which is not an ethical thing to do, but it happens.

Would you consider an institution your home , for me any place that feels like home is about connection , such as safety acceptance and comfortability , so if it completes those tasks then it is my home and residence

Often institutions only position themselves as homes by creating environments that evoke feelings of safety , belonging and care , for an example schools and hospitals

Confined individuals perceive institutions as homes depends on the environment ,relationships and there personal experiences