I'm not quite awake enough to come in here...
...and type but my father is talking politics and I'm not clear headed enough for that.
My parents were politicians and there was political speech in our house all the time when I was growing up. This morning, I woke up, walked out into the kitchen, got some juice and sat on the couch. Within five minutes I was in a heated debate over whether or not abortion was a matter for the Supreme Court to debate in the first place. I stared at my father thinking, "Why is he doing this so early in the morning? Does he really think that I can understand this crap right now?"
He switched the conversation to a Connecticut case that banned birth control and mentioned that someone said, regarding that ban, "Why is the government in our bedrooms?" He responded, "It's not...it's in the drug stores." I said, "If I smoked marijuana in my bedroom would the government leave me alone?" And then I walked away because I had an opening. I'm afraid to go back.
The bad part about that is the fact that he is scraping the wall in the hallway leading to the kitchen (so I can paint it) and I'll never get any coffee if I have to go through that hall. Of course, I'll never get any coffee if I DON'T go down the hall either. I feel like climbing out the bedroom window and walking to Starbucks.
Jean's at dialysis so I have a few minutes to myself. I don't get many of those. Yesterday she was more confused but rather pleasant. If she could get to be a pleasant confused person, she might have a chance in a nursing home. But as it is, she's much too unpleasant to stay in ANY nursing home for any length of time without being abused and/or neglected.
Unfortunately, there are occasionally workers in nursing homes who don't like their jobs and they take it out on the residents. The residents most open to abuse are those who can't tell anyone what happened. Jean probably couldn't remember someone smacking her on the head for longer than 10 minutes. Her annoying personality opens her up to such treatment as does the fact that she really has no family. Confused, annoying and basically alone in the world. That's the triple play of abuse victims in nursing homes.
I've worked in them long enough to know that's absolutely true. Even some nurses neglect patients who don't want to comply with their orders. If a nurse walked into the resident's room and said, "It's time for your breathing treatment." and the resident said, "Get out of here!", some nurses would take that as an excuse to just walk away...after all, people have a right to refuse treatment. They also have a right to hear from the nurse why they should take the treatment. But there are nurses who wouldn't waste their time with that.
Think about it, people have to shower, change clothes, brush their teeth all before they get their medicine, treatments or activities. Jean will fight you tooth and nail over these things. And she does it every single day. How easy would it be to leave the woman filthy? Sadly, far too easy. As an assistant director of nursing, I had to forbid the use of powder on the patients because some CNA's would use it to cover odors instead of cleaning the patients.
Of course, not all people who work in nursing homes are nasty pigs like that, but one is too many. And for some reason, those people gravitate towards the residents who have Alzheimer's. Those poor people can't complain one bit. When I imagine Jean in one of those homes, I imagine her needing help and calling for me but I don't ever answer. This is why I'm so angry at her daughter. I can't take the woman home with me and my father is the only person here to visit Jean.
In that business, the squeaky wheel gets the oil so if there's a family member who bitches and bitches...their mother or father will be well cared for. No one wants to hear anyone bitch so the employees do their job with that one patient. And it's almost always at the expense of another. The confused lady with no family is the one most likely to suffer and this confused lady is my responsibility right now.
OK...maybe I can handle a political conversation now...if I HAVE to.
:)
...and type but my father is talking politics and I'm not clear headed enough for that.
My parents were politicians and there was political speech in our house all the time when I was growing up. This morning, I woke up, walked out into the kitchen, got some juice and sat on the couch. Within five minutes I was in a heated debate over whether or not abortion was a matter for the Supreme Court to debate in the first place. I stared at my father thinking, "Why is he doing this so early in the morning? Does he really think that I can understand this crap right now?"
He switched the conversation to a Connecticut case that banned birth control and mentioned that someone said, regarding that ban, "Why is the government in our bedrooms?" He responded, "It's not...it's in the drug stores." I said, "If I smoked marijuana in my bedroom would the government leave me alone?" And then I walked away because I had an opening. I'm afraid to go back.
The bad part about that is the fact that he is scraping the wall in the hallway leading to the kitchen (so I can paint it) and I'll never get any coffee if I have to go through that hall. Of course, I'll never get any coffee if I DON'T go down the hall either. I feel like climbing out the bedroom window and walking to Starbucks.
Jean's at dialysis so I have a few minutes to myself. I don't get many of those. Yesterday she was more confused but rather pleasant. If she could get to be a pleasant confused person, she might have a chance in a nursing home. But as it is, she's much too unpleasant to stay in ANY nursing home for any length of time without being abused and/or neglected.
Unfortunately, there are occasionally workers in nursing homes who don't like their jobs and they take it out on the residents. The residents most open to abuse are those who can't tell anyone what happened. Jean probably couldn't remember someone smacking her on the head for longer than 10 minutes. Her annoying personality opens her up to such treatment as does the fact that she really has no family. Confused, annoying and basically alone in the world. That's the triple play of abuse victims in nursing homes.
I've worked in them long enough to know that's absolutely true. Even some nurses neglect patients who don't want to comply with their orders. If a nurse walked into the resident's room and said, "It's time for your breathing treatment." and the resident said, "Get out of here!", some nurses would take that as an excuse to just walk away...after all, people have a right to refuse treatment. They also have a right to hear from the nurse why they should take the treatment. But there are nurses who wouldn't waste their time with that.
Think about it, people have to shower, change clothes, brush their teeth all before they get their medicine, treatments or activities. Jean will fight you tooth and nail over these things. And she does it every single day. How easy would it be to leave the woman filthy? Sadly, far too easy. As an assistant director of nursing, I had to forbid the use of powder on the patients because some CNA's would use it to cover odors instead of cleaning the patients.
Of course, not all people who work in nursing homes are nasty pigs like that, but one is too many. And for some reason, those people gravitate towards the residents who have Alzheimer's. Those poor people can't complain one bit. When I imagine Jean in one of those homes, I imagine her needing help and calling for me but I don't ever answer. This is why I'm so angry at her daughter. I can't take the woman home with me and my father is the only person here to visit Jean.
In that business, the squeaky wheel gets the oil so if there's a family member who bitches and bitches...their mother or father will be well cared for. No one wants to hear anyone bitch so the employees do their job with that one patient. And it's almost always at the expense of another. The confused lady with no family is the one most likely to suffer and this confused lady is my responsibility right now.
OK...maybe I can handle a political conversation now...if I HAVE to.
:)
posted by Meg Kelso | 7:07 AM
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