Some of you know that for the last four years I have worked and - TopicsExpress



          

Some of you know that for the last four years I have worked and supported people who were born with developmental disabilities. It has been the most rewarding and enlightening job Ive ever had. Recently, one of the individuals I support was hospitalized for pneumonia. She was sharing the room with another patient who was recently admitted. This other patient was an elderly woman who was suffering from what I believe was dementia. While I was in the hospital room, I could hear this woman crying for help, so I walked over to check on her. (one of those privacy curtains was separating us) She was laying vertically in her bed, legs stuck between the guard rail, with her gown all bunched up and falling off. She looked confused, scared and distressed. She kept saying she needed to use the phone while handing me $5 so she could pay the restaurant bill referring to the meal the hospital provided. I immediately went to the nurses station to get help. When I told the nurse what was happening she had looked at me like I was Inconveniencing her. She followed me to the room, looked at the elderly woman and said with her words dripping with impatience,What are you doing? Oh, and youre wet. Great. While tossing her hands in the air and storming out. The elderly woman was incontinent and probably laying in it for a while. Heres what I want to say to that nurse: That woman you are talking to is someones mother. Shes someones grandmother. Shes someones wife. She has a family and friends and a life outside these four walls. You need to treat her with DIGNITY and RESPECT. Do NOT treat her like she is an inconvenience to You and your busy life. That could be your own mother 10-20 years from now. Would you want Your mother to be ignored, degraded and disrespected while theres nothing she can do about it? You chose to be a nurse. Now that you are a nurse, you need to start showing compassion and understanding! If you cant then by all means go into another field and make room for people who DO care.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 22:59:04 +0000

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