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ALMOST HOME—A FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY ON LONG-TERM CARE

University of Minnesota 128 Pleasant St. SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 E-mail: yahnk001{at}umn.edu

Almost Home is a feature-length film about life in a retirement home—primarily from the perspective of several residents. The facility, Saint John's on the Lake, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, includes independent living, assisted living, and a nursing home. Two of the residents are a married couple, Lloyd and Edie. Lloyd lives in the nursing home on the first floor, and Edie lives in the assisted care facility on the second floor. Lloyd suffers from Parkinson's disease. His daughter, also named Edie, visits her father often. One of the most striking aspects of the film is the progression of Lloyd and his wife's relationship. His wife Edie becomes increasingly uncomfortable visiting Lloyd, and their relationship becomes distant and estranged. Another married couple is Bob and Eleanor. She is frail and suffers from dementia. Bob is self-disciplined and regimented; he expects the staff to get his wife up early and he strives to maintain his wife's physical appearance as it was before her illness progressed. Arienne is a stroke survivor, and her daughter Amy visits her often. Arienne often appears to be anxious and fearful of her surroundings, and she is hospitalized during filming (although she is shown returning to the nursing home later). Ralph is healthy and active, and he moved to the assisted living facility months after his wife died. He appears to be happy with his decision to move to Saint John's on the Lake. The nursing home administrator, John George, appears several times in the film. Sometimes we see him interacting with residents, but other times he speaks on camera—or is shown interacting with staff—as he explains his mission to bring person-centered care to this institution. Some of the certified nurse assistants are also featured in the film, and the director includes scenes of their life at home as well as their interactions with staff in the retirement home.

The film's style is associated with the direct cinema technique (sometimes characterized as cinema verité). There is no narration, and most of the action consists of unscripted and carefully edited interactions between residents, between residents and staff, or between members of the management team. In a few cases, the resident or the staff member will speak directly to the camera, in an interview context, but most often the narrative follows the residents and staff as they engage in day-to-day activities in the retirement home. The illusion created is one of viewing these individuals in their own environments and gaining some insight into what they face on a daily basis as residents or staff.

In the past several years, other audiovisuals that dealt with nursing home life, reviewed in The Gerontologist, include the following: Long Shadows: Stories from the Jewish Home (2004, 44, 6)—long-term care in an Australian setting; 94 Years and 1 Nursing Home Later (2001, 44, 1); and Hello in There: Understanding the Success of Person-Centered Care (1999, 39, 2).

The website for Almost Home, www.almosthomedoc.org/index.cfm, offers several resources for users, including a discussion guide (with information on a variety of relevant topics—such as care options, advanced directives, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's), an essay on the changing face of aging in long-term care settings (with information on person-centered care and culture change), suggestions for using the film in a variety of settings, and information and updates on the people featured in the film.

Footnotes

Robert E. Yahnke, PhD, Audiovisual Editor

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