1. Why does the director show scenes of new residents being admitted both in the opening scene and in the closing scene? Why does one of the last scenes focus on the death of one of the residents?
2.   What is your impression of life in this nursing home? What visual information supports your response? What interview segments support your response?
3.   One of the nurse’s aides says, “Everything we do is on the clock.” How does the “clock” dominate life in the nursing home? How does that regulation affect the lives of the residents? How are the routines of life in a nursing home portrayed visually?
4.   Can you recall any of the “sounds” of life in the nursing home, as they are portrayed in this video? What feelings are evoked by some of those sounds?
5.   What does the title, Not My Home, reveal about attitudes toward life in a nursing home?
6.   How does the portrayal of Mamie and Philip’s relationship add a significant dimension to the video? What do we learn about friendship and intimacy through their relationship?
7.   How is the metaphor of “home” explored in this video? Why is the film called “Not My Home”?
8.   How is the metaphor of “freedom” explored in this video? What images develop this metaphor? What interview segments develop this metaphor?
9.   What was your impression of Blair, the maintenance person, who introduces new residents to the regulations imposed upon them by this institution?
10.   Several times in the video photographs of residents are shown; in each of them the old person is shown in youth or middle age. In each of them that person is shown as healthy and active. What emotions did these photographs evoke? How was their use an effective means of providing perspective on the lives of the individual residents?
11.   In section two Carol, a daughter of one of the residents, shares her story. What was your response when she notes that she “exceeded the limit” on the number of items on the wall? What perspective does Carol provide for adult caregivers? for nursing home staff?
12.   Both Carol and Jeanette, who also shares her story in section two, expose the theme of the conflict between providing adequate physical vs. emotional care for residents of nursing homes. What is the nature of their concerns? In what ways do Philip, Lillian, and Mamie provide insights into those concerns in their comments in this section?
13.   How is this conflict developed further in section three? In that section the administrator of the facility defends choices made based upon budgetary constraints. How did you respond to his comments?
14.   What was surprising about the comments of Jacquie, the dietary aide, in section two? To what extent did you identify with her comments?
15.   How do the interview segments and comments by Lillian and Mamie provide an appropriate close to section two?
16.  What is your overall impression of the nursing staff based on your viewing of this video?
17. To what extent is the video a negative critique of the nursing home experience?
18.   The video focuses on one nursing home in Canada. What universal issues and concerns are raised in the video? Are some of the issues and concerns limited by the geographical and cultural bases of Canadian health care?

Sample Worksheet

The experience of living in a nursing home is presented with multiple perspectives in this video. Some of those points of view include the following: residents, family members of residents, nursing staff, and non-nursing staff. Review the following comments made by individuals from these groups. In each case consider the following questions:

1. What is the nature of this person's critique? That is, what is the source of this person's concern, frustration, or criticism? What evidence does the video provide to affirm or contradict that point of view?
2. To what extent would adult caregivers identify with the feelings expressed in that comment? To what extent would nursing home staff identify with the feelings expressed in that comment?
3. How does the comment address a major theme in the video; that of "quality of life"? In other words, how does it address the conflict between providing adequate physical care and providing adequate emotional and psychological care for nursing home residents?

Comments from residents:

• "It's not a hospital. It's a home. That's what they say."
• "I would like to go home. But I don't have one now. I sold it. I wanted to cry all the time. That's what I do almost every night. I cry my eyes out. I haven't got a tear left. I've got nobody to say 'Good morning' or 'Good night.'"
• "I'll never have it no more. Those days are gone, darling. And my days are going. So that's the end of my life."
• "You think your turn might be next. I was walking everywhere when I came here. My legs just went. Life is queer sometimes, when you think of it."

Comments from the nursing staff:

• "Everything we do is on the clock. While we're getting breakfast we're thinking about dinner. And that's how it works.
• We are breaking them in to our routine. It's not like home. But they have no choice. It's structured. They have to."
• "You don't know about the residents until you read their obituary column. Sometimes you go around and you don't even have time to look at the pictures on the wall."
• We always state that we look at the quality of life. But if we're only looking after the physical needs, are we really looking after the quality of life for the resident?"

Comments from family members:

• "You don't have your own space. There's no place to go that you can be by yourself."
• "No one is talking to anyone else. They're put here to die. They'll never go out again. That's what hurts me."
• "They care very well for the person's physical requirements. But I don't know about the emotional."

Comments from the non-nursing staff:

• "You think maybe we're better off losing our mind. Better off not knowing what's going on. It would be an awful sad situation to be somewhere you don't want to be, and have this rushed 'no one cares about me,' if you had your mind."
• "Is this where I end up? I hope not. MY kids keep telling me they're going to put me in a nursing home. But I would much prefer to die when I have all of my faculties, when I know what I'm doing, when I'm me. Not when I'm someone else's problem. And that's what's happening today. I would wager that if you were to stop any staff member in a nursing home they would say the same thing."
• "You've got to try not to get too close to them. Once you're here a long time you get used to it. In another way you never get used to it. It's not a good feeling."

The Great Circle of Life--Home Page

Text of The Great Circle of Life: A Resource Guide to Films and Videos on Aging, copyright © 1987, 1999, 2005, Robert E. Yahnke. All photographs copyrighted by Robert E. Yahnke.  All rights reserved.  Contact author for permission to copy photographs or reprint portions of text.

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