When I'm not writing or crafting, I work as a Medical Records Director at a Nursing Home in the area. My job is to basically make sure resident's medical records are properly put in their correct place and secured. Having an IT degree and HIPAA Certification makes this easier as I understand HIPAA laws and information security.. Please note I make sure there is VERY little traffic in this office and absolutely NO ONE is allowed at my desk.
I am a boss of papers here--although we are paperless...? Anyway even doing this job I get really close to some of our residents. This is a place of sickness and death and I'm not a stranger to either. We all have a morbid sense of humor here. Hell some people say it would border on unprofessional although around our residents our behavior IS professional. But that is not what this post is about.
The last two deaths we have had here, the resident was alone and found to have been deceased in the early hours. Even with the new variant of COVID hovering over us, we allow family to stay with someone who is doing horribly, in serious decline, or just plain dying, as long as they sanitize or wash their hands and wear a mask. No family came to pay respects to either of these good people. That always bothers me. I do know that some people wait until family is not present to pass, but I hate the idea of someone being alone when this happens.
An unfortunate truth is that many of our residents have no family that give a flying fuck about the relative they have left in here. We become their family. We love them. I love our residents. I am not involved in their direct care like our CNAs and Nursing staff, but I am always here for a hug, a tuck-in, a sympathetic ear, and hell sometimes I will even read to them; the Bible or whatever.
We have residents who have very limited intellectual capacity. I learned substituting in Exceptional Children that these folks are some of our greatest treasures. I spend much of my free time with these two, they are the sweetest ones unless there is a meltdown, which is part of their conditions. What chaps my ass is that these two were thrown in here and seemingly forgotten by their "families." One of them loves cartoons and his TV went caput. I donated him one of my spare ones from home. He clapped and stomped his feet happy to have the Disney channel again. Made us both happy. :)
My folks had to be in facilities. I never ONCE didn't call or insist they call me if something was wrong. Yes sometimes I was an ass if I wasn't satisfied with their care. I heard a CNA yell at my dad...I made sure she was fired. The nurses and administrators were completely shocked that I continually stuck my nose in their care and visited them each weekend...or I made sure someone did! When they passed, I was with them. Mother in March of 2016 and Dad in January of 2020, just before COVID broke.
I make it a point to visit those who have passed in here for a few minutes to pay my respects. If family is there I offer condolences and then leave unless they want me to hang out. They all have my respect no matter how combative they can get. They simply can't help how they get. I do not judge people who have to put their loved ones in a facility. I do judge those who stuff them in here and forget about them. You people should have the shit beat out of you. This is a hard place to live.
We have completely failed our elderly.
Many of God's greatest treasures are the ones we throw away.
Yeah I said it.
