Nursing home resident starts grassroots effort to support elderly
Daniella Lake
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (KESQ) – A Rancho Mirage nursing home resident is taking matters into her own hands by gathering donations to support other elderly residents. The monthly personal needs allowance for Medi-Cal recipients is $35, making it one of the lowest in the country.
“It’s demoralizing. It’s dehumanizing. It can break someone’s spirit. It can bring someone to tears if they have to cut their hair down to their scalp or above their ears if they don’t have conditioner for their hair,” says Nancy Stevens.
She hopes that by gathering donations from the community, she could help nursing home residents feel seen and supported.
“The way the system is set up, it’s not necessarily to provide the best quality of life for the nursing home residents,” she says. A survey by West Health-Gallup found that in 2022, about one in four adults aged 65 and older, cut back on at least one basic need to pay for healthcare.
Stevens spends most of her days advocating for the elderly through her work on various steering committees. She serves on the Wellness and Disability Equity Alliance through Riverside county’s Health Systems Behavioral Health department.
She says that nursing home residents feel isolated from society. “My goal is to have some sort of culture shift where old is beautiful,” she says.
Stevens plans on collecting items that are much-needed by nursing home residents all year round. Community members have posted about Stevens’ efforts on social media, which led to even more support. Carol Butler says she saw the post on social media, and has been helping Stevens in her efforts ever since.
“It’s restoring dignity, it’s lifting spirits, and it’s proving that community truly makes a difference,” Butler says.