Nobody's Home: Candid Reflections of a Nursing Home Aide

I read this book at the point where we moved my mother-in-law from assisted living and into our home under hospice care. I then became her full time at-home CNA. I always appreciated the CNA's who are the first line care givers. I appreciated them even more after reading Nobody's Home, and especially when I had to perform their role at home. I shared the book with several aides who also seemed to enjoy it and confirmed that it captured and represented aspects of their work and experiences. Most importantly, this book gave me the knowledge and courage to perform the mundane caring and hygiene tasks that my mother-in-law required. Gass's accounts of his own experiences helped me get passed these issues, and provide the care my mother-in-law needed and deserved. In effect, Nobody's Home served as an operating manual for me as I learned how to be an aide. It helped me get through an extra-ordinarily difficult time. If you have a loved one in assisted living, a nursing home, in home care, or on hospice, consider reading this book.

I added this book to my library while preparing a "reading list" of sorts for my entry into the world of managing assisted living. Although Mr. Gass' residents are skilled nursing folks, there is strong overlap if you're dealing with a high care needs population and the caregivers who work with them. For my situation - turning around a badly run facility and getting perspective on the CNA's position, it's ideal. Tom Gass is clearly an "in the trenches" story teller - but do NOT be put off by that and assume he's naive or unanalytical. Sure, the book is full of stories of coping with incontinence (aka the "poop factor"), but he has outstanding perspective on the health care and labor practices that lie behind the "incontinent war zone" he's writing about. If I have any criticism at all it's that the author could have written a bit more on the "big picture" while discussing the minute. He clearly has the mind and writing talent to tackle it. Buy this book for anyone who is underpaying a caregiver for an elder. Buy this for yourself if you are working with elders in residential care. And let's hope Mr. Gass writes some more. Honestly, there are so many learned writers out there who write badly! It's a pleasure just to read his prose. I put the book down feeling touched, energized, politicized, and in love with Tom Gass' writing style. Come on, buddy - time to write another! He belongs on the same shelf with Anne Lamott probably - although book sellers would never do that. Wry, irreverant, but ultimately in love with his subject - old people. I'm not sure what the book is doing relegated to the arcane category of "culture and politics of healthcare work." It should be sold with books on aging for non-professional readers, healthcare practice etc.. Those readers need to hear these stories - and will be grateful for the introduction. This is not a wonk's book.

Many have experienced the problems and fears recorded here. Waht is special is the writer's focus on how one can humanize the people otherwise robbed of their humanity. This is truly a fine ministry. His emphasis on communicating with the residents is truly a work of God,

At 189 pages, the book does a wonderful job of telling the story of a CNA who goes to work in a nursing home in the Midwest after the death of his mohter. He wants to do meaningful work that would gain depth to his character. He is not the typical aide, having spent years working and learning in a variety of areas. His past experiences and education allow him to write about the job, the nursing home, his colleagues and the residents with beautiful insight and compassion. These words in his Epilogue have stuck with me. "Few of us are prepared for what happens. First we grow up and get stronger by the day. Then one day the process reverses. At first we deny and resist, but evenutally we all surrender." Gass has some wonderful insights for people working in the LTC industry and for those of us who will one day be admitted.

Mr. Gass has truly captured the emotional hardship present within the American nursing home. A candid, unbiased look at the system which provides us with our eventual destination, "Nobody's Home" speaks to the mind as well as the spirit. Never have I been so moved by one man's everyday experiences.