What, exactly, is a "rest home"?

In the UK, a rest home is retirement home.

Neither. I think of it as the 21st century ice flow. Only less dignified. It is the waiting room for the mortuary. Purgatory on earth.
Many are not there by choice.They simply have nowhere else to go on their way to the casket. It is a place where hopes and dreams no longer exists and you get stripped of every cent you have and every ounce of dignity till you are merely a shell of what you once were.

I think of it as a synonym for “retirement home”.

@Pandora I think you meant “ice floe”. :)

@glacial. I wasn’t sure which one was correct. Thanks for the correction.

Somehow, in the US I think it has negative connotations.

Many people with money invest in retirement communities and the seem to have some semblance of dignity [possibly commensurate with the price]—
I am thinking of something shabbier and seedier as @pandora seems to suggest but maybe I have no idea what I am talking about.

Money tends to be the difference here. Mostly sad people waiting to die with no visitors. It’s really sad to me.

It’s a place to go when you can no longer take care of yourself and don’t want to give your family that burden. You can be as active as you wish, because there are activity programs. There are older people like you to befriend. You don’t have to cook or clean. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to afford a really nice one, it’s not a bad way to go. Rest home, retirement home; there are many things they are called depending on how much care you need.