Last Day at Bethany Silver Lake

# 8

Days are passing by so quick and I can hardly believe that we are done with our Long term care. Its strange to think how in these 8 days, I have become so attached to the residents at Bethany. I did not know it for myself until the day to say "Good bye" came along. My days at Bethany had been very eventful and exciting. Everyday I met a new person, or learned something thing new about a resident that I was not aware of. My work comprised of giving basic care, feeding the residents, taking vital signs, checking blood glucose, giving medications, doing my physical assessment and it goes on. I gained a lot of knowledge by doing this and this also helped me build up my confidence but other than this I built great relationships with the residents. Though I had only one resident to care for, during my hours there I went about greeting and spending time and talking to most of the residents and getting to know them. I loved spending time talking to them and caring for them. On the last day I did not know it would be so difficult for me to bid them farewell. On Friday I made it a point to go and meet all the residents and take leave. Everything seems so much sweeter in the end. It was so nice to hear them say that they enjoyed having us there, or thank us to take care of ourselves, or even that they would miss us. Some of them thanked me for spending time to talk to them. When I told my resident that it was my last day, she was really upset but I told her that there will be others to take care of her, and she replied saying "but it will not be the same." Usually my resident does not talk very much and sometimes she could not even answer my questions and so I did not think that I built a very strong relationship with her, but when I heard her say these few words to me, I felt like though I could not talk to her very much, yet my actions and the care I gave her conveyed my message to her that I was there to care for her and it was so nice to see that she appreciated every little thing I did for her.

My experience at Bethany was great. At first I had no clue as to what to expect but everything turned out well and one thing I learned was that showing and making a person feel that they are loved and cared for can really do great things. On the last day I heard some of them talk whom I had never heard talk before, or someone who never listens to anybody, but listened when I tried convincing him, or someone who always talks in a different language and nobody understands her, speaks to me in English. Its funny to say that on the first day there I did not know that these residents would become such an important part of my life that I would actually say that I miss them.

Nurse interview

# 6
Today in social issues class, we were introduced to 6 Christian nurses who had served in the profession for the last 20 years. It was amazing to talk to them and hear all of their experiences. Most of them had done a variety of things which made me realize that with Nursing we have so much to chose from. We don't always have to do the same thing all our life, we can always move around to different aspects of nursing and attain a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience.

The nurse our group was assigned to was a flight nurse. She told us all the experiences she had during the war times. When I had asked her about how she integrated her faith with her professional life, she said that it was not important to be a Christian to be a good Nurse. By treating each patient with dignity, respect, and keeping in mind that they were human beings and need to be treated with care was all that was needed. Also she told us the importance of meeting the basic needs of the patient which according to her has been diminishing with time. Sometimes we feel we are too busy to go and greet everybody or talk to them but we should keep in mind, a small act of going to our clients and greeting them or spending sometime with them can really change the way they feel about things and even themselves. Furthermore, in the past few days I have been returning from clinicals carrying everything from the Nursing home in my heart and mind. I do not want to continue doing this because it is imprtant to learn to keep professional life separate from personal life. Just as I cannot take my personal problems to my work place, so I should not with my professional life. Hence, in the class discussion I learned how to find a friend preferably of the same profession to talk about your problems and let it out of you before you go home. It makes you feel better when the weight has lifted from your chest rather than carrying it with you into your personal life.

It was great to talk to all the nurses and I learned some great values and they gave us some good advice that I would keep in mind while preparing to enter my career.

First Day of Clinicals

#3
Today was the first day of clinicals and it was pretty exciting as well as overwhelming. This was my first experience at a Nursing Home and I was a little nervous as I did not know what to expect. After finishing with orientation and looking through my resident's records, we were asked to shadow the CNA. While working with her, I visited many other residents and I realized how much they loved to talk. I felt as if they were lonely and wanted to sit down and talk their hearts out. Also, it was quite depressing because while visiting their rooms I saw their pictures pinned on to their clipboards. Pictures of when they were young and with their spouses who are now dead. It was sad to see that once a youthful person, full of life and excitement for the future is now dependent on others for their basic daily activities. It is sad to see how time has passed, leaving them at this stage. I know this is reality and I need to accept it, I've just never come into contact with all of them at once and so it was a little overwhelming. However, I hope my time at the Nursing home will teach me how to deal with these situations and have a great time just getting to know them and being there to help as much as I can.