http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051114/hl_nm/nursinghome_pub_dc_1
I thought the McDonalds on Vanderbilt Hospital property was hypocrisy. This one takes the cake!
Years ago I would spend frequent evenings is a bar that had Happy Hour from 7-9am every day. A shot and a short beer for $1. Many of the early morning patrons were elderly. Maybe it’s not the same.
It seems like a great idea to me. I don’t drink but if I did and I were in a nursing home, unable to get out, I would be really happy to have a pub. I wouldn’t expect to get the drinks for free, so its being a money-making operation wouldn’t bother me if they charge the same as on the outside. The hours are 11AM to 9PM, that seems about right. I don’t think they are going to let people harm themselves. And if it makes it more attractive for visitors to come, all the better. This idea, to me, seems more like stopping off at your local for a pint on the way home from work rather than going out and getting bombed on the weekend.
Wrong forum.
And here it was that I thought we would get some more information on elder reeds!! 
Just so that Joseph dosen’t boot this thread to a less-worthy page, does anyone have some spare elder for drones, or larger pieces for chanter reeds that I might get my hands on? My pair of trees are at least five years from producing usable quills, or pieces large enough to carve reeds from.
As for the McDonald’s on Vanderbilt-hallowed soil; I thought they would at least put in a Subway (US sandwich shop chain, owned by a group of M.D.'s I believe ) 
dave boling
Has anyone tried the VOOM HD channels on Dish Network?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050225104339.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-06-nursing-homes-cover_x.htm
Somehow, these two seem more worthy of righteous indignation.
What in God’s name could possibly be so bad about a pint and some socialization!
You know, when you’re old and sitting in your own poop in a wheelchair, you’ll re-think your negativity.
I think a pub in a nursing home is a wonderful idea!
And I think the concept implies a great respect for elders:
Just becaue you’re old and can’t get around on your own doesn’t mean you’re less human, or less adult, than you once were.
Anything to brighten up their lives is a Good Thing! 
–James
Some years ago, I worked for the Sisters of Mercy at a medical center in Ohio. Almost every evening, we had regular “unofficial” deliveries of pizza and beer to the floors that took care of the elderly patients. The good sisters had it right, why deny these folks a little pleasure in their last days?
By the way, the good Sisters would not turn away the delivery of some Pizza and a couple of six packs of beer to their convent on the hospital campus if someone were to send it either. This seemed to happen at a regular weekly interval. I must confess that I was one of those “heathens” that had a hand in this.
I think it could be rather charming.
Last drinks now please…
Slan,
D.
I hope that when my time comes, one of my mates will have the grace to hand me a cup of my favorite beverage and softly sing the Parting Glass with me.
I hope some piper will come and visit me. We’d play a few tunes together, then I would produce a bottle or two of Jamie 1780 (smuggled in by friends and relatives), and we’d proceed to get plowed, all the while playing The Pure Drop.
I’m not touching the intoxicants issue, but I strongly agree that a civilized society ought, indeed, to have respect for elders.
Too often I hear criticisms of spiritual or civil leaders based on age, as if age were a hindrance and not an asset, and it saddens me. Youth is a great thing, and not to be despised, but there is much experience that can only come with time.
Amen!
Redwolf
I think it’s a wonderful idea. Just grand. I’ve been doing geriatric medicine for the last two years now, and hospital life can be very monotonous for the elderly. A pub, it would bring back some real-life atmosphere for the old chaps.
Great idea.
I remember the night my grandpa died…
He was 85, and had never been sick a day in his life until a week before his death. He began having trouble eating, and we had him admitted for tests - they found a blockage of the colon.
They were going to do exploratory surgery the next day to decide what they were dealing with, and what they were going to do.
That evening, he ate all his dinner, the first time in a week. I teased him that the food must be pretty good since he ate it all. He said;
“Yeah - this place wouldn’t be too bad if they’d give me a cold beer once in a while…”
He passed away peacefully in his sleep that evening.
I can imagine one call the bartender wouldn’t call in the nursing home,“Time Ladies and Gentlemen,” when all they have is time, or it might scare a few thinking that it was their time 
MarkB