The Young in Nursing Holmes
A New Nursing Home Population: The Young
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Michelle Fridley, 33, with her cat in her apartment in Canadaigua, N.Y. Ten years ago, on the way to her baby shower, Fridley, then 23, was in a car accident that left her a quadriplegic. This year, she was crowned Miss Wheelchair New York. (John Poole/NPR)
There's one age group that's going into nursing homes at a higher rate. And it's not the elderly.
Young people ages 31 to 64 now make up 14 percent of the nursing home population, an analysis of federal data from the Department of Health and Human Services by NPR's Investigative Unit found. That's up from 10 percent just 10 years ago.
The data do not show why this age group is entering nursing homes in such higher numbers, but Michelle Fridley's fight to stay out of a nursing home may provide a clue.