Tales from the Nursing Home 4

Murrmurr said:
Calif facilities send a staff person with you when you go out for a smoke only for safety reasons, like to make sure you don't fall or whatever (and, I suppose, to talk you out of attempting to escape). They can't lock up your smokes. They do prefer to keep them in one of their locked cabinets, i.e., at the nurse's station or in the supply room, but if a resident insists on keeping their smokes someplace in their room, they can't tell them they can't. They can set a rule that tobacco products must be kept in a locked drawer or box.

And while staff prefers set times for smoke breaks, they cannot refuse residents a smoke whenever they want one. They aren't allowed to tell a resident "You can't have a cigarette." They can tell them they have to wait until someone can go with them, but that's only a "recommendation". If a resident decides they're not going to wait, the staff can't refuse to let them exit the facility. All they can do is hurry up and find someone to go outside with them, even if it's a janitor or van driver.

Bottom line, Calif nursing home residents have the same rights as everyone else, and nursing home staff cannot infringe on them. (except for residents who have dementia or Alzheimers or are legally deemed mentally incompetent)
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It's pretty much the same here we have Independent Smokers who are allowed to keep their smoking kits with them and go outside to smoke when they want, others though are under supervision and have set times to smoke, their tobacco and lighters are kept in the drug room.
 

TheOtherRick said:
The hardest thing is just finding somewhere private
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When I was a psych nurse in Colorado (in the 80s), I was elected to a committee that advocated for long-term patient's rights. One of the things we got for those patients was privacy rooms. A lot of them were married, after all, and their spouses visited. So anyway, they could rent these privacy rooms for something like $10/night or whatever it was.

Unmarried patients could rent them, too, but not if their partner was another patient...at first. We had to advocate for that for about a year. In the end, if 2 patients wanted to rent a privacy room they had to sign a form saying it was mutually consensual. And that made perfect sense. Also, they were limited to a maximum of 2 nights per stay.

I don't know if psych facilities have privacy rooms anymore. I know they don't have them in Calif.
 

@Murrmurr This hasn't been my experience with the smoking rules. In a facility, a smoking evaluation has to be done by a licensed nurse and if they don't pass, they can't smoke, even supervised. For example if they shake or can't coordinate their hands. Some people may sneak outside to smoke but it's going to be highly discouraged and the administrator will likely get involved.
 
Remy said:
@Murrmurr This hasn't been my experience with the smoking rules. In a facility, a smoking evaluation has to be done by a licensed nurse and if they don't pass, they can't smoke, even supervised. For example if they shake or can't coordinate their hands. Some people may sneak outside to smoke but it's going to be highly discouraged and the administrator will likely get involved.
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Interesting.

While my sister, Bonnie, was in a reg hospital early this year, and then hospice months later, both facilities allowed her to go outside and smoke. If a staff person was not available to take her outside, they let her go out with one of her visitors. They definitely discouraged it, very definitely, but they never told her she couldn't. A couple of times, she didn't even ask...she just grabbed her smokes and went out to the designated area. All they said was "Next time, please wait until someone can go with you." Politely, too.

I've never heard of a smoking evaluation. But I haven't been admitted to a hospital since 2017. Only outpatient/day surgery stuff since then.
 
TheOtherRick said:
Seriously, I'm doing okay I have more than enough to keep me happy, I have a clean, well-maintained place to live, I have friends, and get along with everyone we have a huge library of DVDs that people have left here. I don't get to do what I used to and don't have a cat, but it's okay you have to compromise in life and this is one of those compromises.
So, I don't get to wake and bake that's okay, I used to ride my chair all around town but they want me to here that's fine, I can go anytime as long as I'm with someone and do whatever I wish I have no qualms about telling people who or where I am, but if you'd like send me a DM and I'll give you my particulars.

I was on Reddit for years in fact I was among the first, and just left last year when I was feeling the need for a change, I committed poster suicide to ensure no going back, but I'm in much better shape now than I was, the cancer is gone I'm putting weight on, I'm not a hermit anymore, I have a special friend, I don't worry about the Elm tree dropping on the roof or making payments for anything. I've got it soft here life is good for a change. I will take all the edibles I can get though.
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I can only read Reddit now. There are creepazoids over there and I cannot deal with them. No woman deserves to be put through what some men put women through over on Reddit merely because she is speaking her truth, and if tolerance for that is a bell-weather of where our society truly is, well then I think we need to build many more prisons.

But, that is part of the Bro Culture in the tech world because so many Bros are running social media.

Itā€™s good that you are dealing with life as it is as well as can be expected.
 

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