Good Morning Everyone, (When I first type this, it comes out God Morning and I go back to correct it – maybe I shouldn’t?)
So I woke up to 2 texts this morning from Amy and Jackie. It was one of those “chain” ones which remind me of my childhood when we would get “chain” letters in the mail and then we had to hand write the letter, put it in an envelope, research the address of those that we wanted to send it to – in those days we used a PHONE BOOK – What???? Put a stamp on it and send it out. This was before copy machines so the letters were handwritten. I hated those things but felt obligated to do it. My text messages this morning were duplicates from Amy and Jackie last night at 10:42 & 10:46 PM – of course I was sleeping, so I already had 2 of the 12 to send it to and when scrolling down my address book in my phone it didn’t take me long to get the other 10 women I needed. I sent one to Cathy Bass but I’m not sure if her phone takes text messages. By the way Steve – I didn’t send it to you because it was about “women” in my life and plus you are way down the contact list in the “s’s” so I probably wouldn’t have gotten that far. Pity the end of the alphabet! So my “chain” text has gone out and if it works I should get 10 text messages during the day today. We’ll see – I’ll let you know!
I woke up and went to bed last night thinking about the 90 year old man who was left out in the sun for 3 hours yesterday while in the care of the Aristocrat on Immokkalee Road. It brought up a whole bunch of thoughts and memories. First of all it reminded me of the time when I was looking for a nursing home for my mom after she had her botched surgery at NCH and was in Naples for cancer care. Fortunately we were able to find her a bed at Hospice on Whipporwill where she died. At least I know she was pain free there and was well cared for. I didn’t like the Aristocrat when I toured it. It was my first experience with a nursing facility and I didn’t like what I saw there. People were “parked” in the hallways and it seemed crowded to me. I left there very discouraged. So now they neglected a man in a wheelchair out in the sun on a 95 degree day in Florida. Unbelievable – but it happened and it is very sad. I’ll be interested in seeing what happens with this story. But of course, I work in a place that has wheelchair bound residents. Our residents have all sorts of issues and each has their own journey. Our ages range from 85 to 107 with many at the 100 mark. I know what it is like to see the differences in their abilities and cognitive levels. It is challenging every minute and we have to be on top of our game to keep track of them. The ones who do not recognize their deficits are the most challenging and the families of our residents challenge us everyday too. It is difficult but rewarding work – don’t ever think it is easy – it is not and tragedies will happen on occasion – none of us are immune to mistakes. But I wake up everyday, thanking God for my job – as stressful as it can be – because in my heart of hearts, I know I make a difference there. We had a meeting the other morning with our Marketing/Resident Services executive – Steve Brinkert – and it was enlightening. One of our aides, who I really like said she loves coming to work everyday because of our residents and she loves to help them look nice and care for their appearance everyday. I had no idea – but that warmed my heart which is why I work there – everyday something at work warms my heart – it’s amazing! My heart can be pretty cold on occasion so this is a very positive thing!
This type of situation reminds me also of when I was working in a private school here in town (for 13 years) and then there was Columbine. Life in schools changed in an instant. It was never the same again. It was always something that was in the back of your mind when you went to school – when will that uncooperative kid “snap”? When will a domestic partner come in and cause a security breach? It is a terrible way to live your life. We had a kidnapping many years ago from that school. It was horrible – I was in the middle of it and at the time I had come back to work there just as a “volunteer” to train a new person. It turned out OK – the kid was safe and the police “caught” the kidnappers, but it was really scary. Stuff happens – you never know when things will go badly wrong. I still think about that even 25 (or more) years later.
So now, I’m thinking about wrapping this up and thought I would close on a positive note: Picture of the day:
Domino, Wylie & Metaxa
Time to get going. Have a beautiful day and I hope you get a “warm heart” moment today!
