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Nursing home history

Nursing homes in the US have evolved from practically nothing (private homes) to their current status of providing
long term care, sub acute rehab, private rooms and end of life services. Some homes have embraced a more home
like environment while others have shrunk in size but increased their quality. For a comprehensive but brief history
from PBS, click this link for nursing home history.

Geraldo Rivera was a young journalist when he began investigating a long term care facility in New York called
Willowbrook. Click this link to watch a video of his investigation. Caution! This video does contain some disturbing
images. This video is a preview of a 28-minute documentary made in 1972 by Executive Producer, Albert T. Primo
and correspondent Geraldo Rivera.
Focusing on an institution located in Staten Island, NY, this film was one of the first exposés ever done on local
television. As a result of this program airing on WABC-TV, the manner of treating people with disabilities was
forever changed.