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Monday, September 04, 2006

Crocodile Tears



I am so so sad to hear that Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, passed away. For those of you that haven't heard, a stingray killed him. At least he died doing what he loved. I love this guy and his wife. Their show is so great. What a sad day for Australia.

Today is Labor Day. I had the day off but....the nursing home called me the other day to see if I could do some PRN work. (My other hat besides Special Ed Director for the school....Speech Pathologist) WHY DID I SAY YES TO THIS???? I have to tell you that I officially HATE working in nursing homes. Hate it! The facilities always stink like urine...The people that you are supposed to work with never want to work with you. They are either too tired or in too much pain or just a big grouch in general. They don't understand why you are working with them. They don't care about what you are working with them on. Half of them have dementia so they have no idea what you are doing with them. And who writes the goals for these people? Why should I work on cognition with someone who can't even talk to me? How can I work on swallowing with someone who won't even eat? How can I work with someone for 50 minutes who won't even open their eyes to look at me????? Hate it! you couldn't pay me enough to work there full time. They keep trying....but you just couldn't pay me enough...... Plus the workers in these facilities could use a few brain cells! At the end of my time there you can see me running out the door.

Sorry if I offended anyone. Especially those of you who have loved ones in nursing homes or loved ones with dementia. It is not that I am against those people... I am against the people who write stupid goals for them!!!!!!! My grandmother is in a nursing home and I really hate it that she has to be in there. But it is really the safest and most appropriate place for her. (and hers doesn't stink like urine like this one does!) There are people there that can take care of her full time and she can socialize with the other people there. But God forbid a therapist ever write a STUPID goal for her!!!!!!!! Do people just write these goals to be writing something? Really! What are they thinking? Maybe they need help with cognition! I feel stupid working on the goals they have written! One time I even apologized to a patient for what I was working on with him! Then I did something else! Something a little more appropriate!

I did work with the cutest little old lady ever today! She was really fun. So that sort of made my day brighter. And the last time I went there one little Polish lady kept telling me how beautiful my complexion was. And she really emphasized the word "beautiful"! She was so cute.

Even so, I will stick to pediatrics! Give me the kids, thank you!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

There is not enough money in the world for me to work with old folks. They really irritate me sometimes, especially in grocery stores.

Shannon said...

Didn't know you were an SLP. Nursing homes are a tough scene. Give me the schools and all that paperwork anyday. BTW I'm diggin' your tunes. =)

OziMum said...

Glad I'm not the only one that didn't know you were a Speech Pathologist! I take Harry to one, he loves her to bits!! She even gets a mention in his good-night prayers!!! I take my hat of to you - you must have oodles of patience.

Glad the little ole lady made your day - ocassionally you come across a real gem!
Lee-Anne

Karen and Jon said...

This is awful to admit but nursing homes are one of the few things that I am truly afraid of. They scare the crud out of me. I went with a church group as a kid and we handed out Christmas baskets. This one poor lady started screaming at me and throwing oranges at my head. Over 30 years later, I am still traumatized.

Valeri said...

My Mom worked at a nursing home for about 15 years. I used to hate going there with her. I hate to say this but sometimes the residents scared me. Dementia is frightening!