Do you make duty calls or have become one?

Ralphy1

Ralphy1

Well-known Member
Sometimes it is hard to visit people in nursing homes or make phone calls to people at different life stages. It may also be hard at times to converse with or see people in deteriorating conditions. I had to do a lot of visiting over he years or make phone calls and now I fear that I might be on the receiving end...
 

Ralphy1 said:
Sometimes it is hard to visit people in nursing homes or make phone calls to people at different life stages. It may also be hard at times to converse with or see people in deteriorating conditions. I had to do a lot of visiting over he years or make phone calls and now I fear that I might be on the receiving end...
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Ralphy my first real job was in a nursing home taking care of the elderly. I was 16. The job didn't last long because I had to move. I fell in love with the elderly in that first home. I have made nursing home visits regularly since that time. I never felt like I was doing anything for them because I always felt I was receiving so much from the people I visit. I don't have any relatives in nursing homes, but I go anyway. I always find a warm friend. Any large life change is stressful, but the fear of losing one's independence is the worst fear. My only advice to you is to make sure you keep contact with people outside that place. Keep your friends here also.
(((((big hug)))))
 
I think women have a greater natural ability to deal with these matters as evident by the almost entirely female staffing in caring facilities...
 

Ralphy1 said:
I think women have a greater natural ability to deal with these matters as evident by the almost entirely female staffing in caring facilities...
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Ralphy I think it's more about the money. They don't make too much money in those places.
 
Men just aren't wired, for the most part, to handle intimate care needs of the mostly female patients. It is not so much about the money as the careers men pursue...
 
Ralphy1 said:
Men just aren't wired, for the most part, to handle intimate care needs of the mostly female patients. It is not so much about the money as the careers men pursue...
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I don't know you may be right. There are many males nurses in hospitals these days, but less in homes for sure.
 
Sadly you bring back the long ago memory of several aunts we used to visit when I was a kid. Some were just old and fragile, one was wheelchair bound...muscular dystrophy perhaps? My favorite was the one who put lipstick and eye shadow on her Persian. When I was older I'd go to Long Island to visit a woman who baby sat for me. That nursing home could have been on an expose program. The smell of urine and people screaming and weeping...what a horror show.
 
Indeed, a horror show, but the ones I have been to recently have them all "high" on Abilify, a new med that essentially keeps them "drunk" but it is still a horror show in my estimation...
 
If my job was over,I would definitely go into working with the elderly.

I can't stand to think of people being alone at that age.

I don't have anyoone to visit.
The neighbors daghter has to place both her parents inn a home and she is devestated.
 
The place I interned at was a lesson in a good nursing home model. Small town surroundings and much of the staff was family or at least neighbors of the patients. It made a big difference in the care the patients received. It also wasn't over-crowded. So you had more time with each patient. I mean compared to the home on Long Island...like night and day. I would recommend the small town one, I mean if Heaven forbid...I'd rather family be with people who care of course...it was called Balanced Care in Bloomsburg PA.
 
When I was young, my father was an Elder in our church and one Sunday a month, it was his turn to take communion to the "shut-ins", mostly elderly ladies. Often, I'd ride along with him. I remember how happy the old ladies were to see him. They'd perk up and keep him there as long as possible; it was probably the high point of the month as my dad was a handsome and very charming man and very popular with ladies of all ages.
 

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