You can imagine 84-year old Polly Kyles’ surprise when she heard national magazine wanted to interview her.
“What word would I use?” Kyles asked herself when talking to ANHA about the experience. “Shocked…I guess. Because I’m not a celebrity.”
U.S. News & World Report’s Patient Advice reporter Kristine Crane interviewed Kyles for her recently published article “Why One Woman Feels ‘Blessed’ to Live in a Nursing Home.”
In the article, Kyles, a resident of Heritage Health Care & Rehab in Tuscaloosa, compares nursing home living to being on a mission trip.
I feel like I’m on a mission to encourage people to make the best of their lives. There are more people here who came not because they wanted to [but because they had to].
As Kyles told ANHA, her decision to move to Heritage was an easy one.
“I was here about four or five years ago for therapy after a hip replacement,” Kyles said. “I had such a good experience when I knew I had to go to a nursing home, this is where I wanted to come.”
Kyles’ move it Heritage also has its benefits for her daughter, Traci Junkins, who works as a registered nurse at the skilled nursing care center.
“I get to see her every day now whereas before I got to see her about once a week,” Junkins told ANHA. “Obviously I was concerned about her being by herself because she was falling frequently and not eating as well as she should. Here, I know that she’s getting the care that she needs, and I’m able to see her a lot more that when she was at home.”
In the U.S. News & World Report article, Kyles gives advice on how others can make the most of their time in a nursing home and what she does to help other residents of Heritage.
