Markku Esperame
English 102
Project 3
A tour inside the Nursing home
It’s 11:30 in the morning, a perfect warm sunny day, the air was fresh as I felt it’s breeze pass through me. In front of where I stood was a building, a house rather, that looked so simple and tranquil. I walked towards the door and stood there for awhile talking to myself - to prepare my mind for what’s inside. I press the doorbell. I had to wait, for this door wasn’t just an ordinary house door – it is made out of see-through glass that is shut locked by an electronic magnet. Another ten seconds have passed and I remained out there waiting, anticipating them to acknowledge my presence. And there came a lady, mid-aged and energetic, hurrying towards a room with quickened pace. I knew where she was going, she’s at a station where the buzzer is to press the door button and let me in. As she pressed the button, the door made a slight thud, and I knew it was unlocked so I came in. The ambience of the place was somewhat old fashioned. Portraits of old people, paintings from olden days, and pictures and letters of gratitude were etched on the walls that was painted white. The place was warm and welcoming.
As I entered the house, the lady who accomodated me greets.
“Hello there Mark.” and asks “How are you today?” while I nod and reply “Good. Thank you.”
This lady has been so kind to me ever since we first met. She works here; been here for eighteen years already, she’s good at her job and everyone here admires her because of her sincere, friendly and thoughtful personality. She is just one of the best people I’ve ever met. What exactly is her job you might ask? Well, she’s a registered Nurse (RN). Often times, you’d see her walk around the house going in and out from room to room with her usual quickened pace as if for her, time was precious to run out. If you would look closely at her eyes, those dreary eyes, you’d notice that they’re tired. She’d try to hide it with a heartwarming smile but it’s still obvious it you’ll stare closely at them. She stops by momentarily at her work station, it is located at a corner in the dining room where there is this nurse counter with drawers full of locks and papers piled on top of each other. There, you’d often see her scribbling notes, doing her paper works – her report. You’d also see her grab pills of various sizes and colors from those drawers and crush them with a pill-crusher tunring them into powder and placing them on a tiny cup and mix it with liquids like juice, milk and pudding.
A noise came up, an annoying beeping noise that made the nurse hurry towards the source of the sound and disappeared from sight. These beeping noises don’t just happen once, they can be heard from many parts of the house at the same time. I found these noises irritating at first, but I eventually got used to it upon my long stay in this place. These noises come from the rooms, and they beep because the person inside that room is in need of something. We call this room owners the residents, they are comprised of old women ranging from ages eighty to a hundred. We havve thirty-seven residents living here and they are all the nurse’s patients and that should probably now explain why the nurse was tired. One time, I approached this same nurse and asked her how it was like dealing with all these people living here and she said two words – “It’s crazy.” Being a nurse isn’t an easy job, especially in a place like this. They deal with old people with different problems both physically and mentally. A majority of the residents living here suffer from dementia or alzheimers. As a nurse and a person responsible for their care and safety, you just cannot expect this ladies to tell you what they need, at most times you have to find out for yourself, and that can be difficult. As a nurse, you have to make sure that these ladies take their prescribed medicine everyday on your own. Mess up, and expect some serious consequences either from your boss manager or from the resident’s family. “It’s not easy” According to this nurse. You need to have the passion and perseverance to work with these people for you to be able to manage it. I admire these nurses for being there to offer their service.
I continued to walk while passing through a corridor. Each side of walls have rooms with big numbers made out of bronze metal etched on their doors, some of them were opened and some were closed. The third room I was passed was open and inside it was a view of a tidy room – queen size bed with pink pillows on top of a purple blanket that covered the mattress and a fat beige-colored couch was placed beside faced on a television that was turned off. The walls of the room were painted white and there are two windows covered by light pink curtains. I could describe the room to be tranquil not until a female’s voice came up.
“Hey Mark! What’s up?” She asked addressing me.
I stopped, not turning my back and trying to act as if I were still figuring out who she was. I already knew though, from the first day I worked there and up til now we’ve been work buddies. As I turned my back, there she was staring at me, smiling with arms outstretched to give me on big friendly hug. She reminds me of my mom, not physically though because of their complexions but emotionally because she’s as sweet as her. We are really close friends like best friends, we talk and chat, spend money to buy food like pizza at break times and we help each other out even though we have different job departments. She is a certified nurse assistant or what is commonly known inside hospitals and nursing homes as CNA’s. She is currently attending school to pursue nursing. Her job here is to assist the nurse by feeding, bathing, grooming and all the extra job a nurse couldn’t handle in busy times. I remember one day asking her the same question I would ask every employer – how’s it like working here?
She told me that it was hard because you have to be really careful on handling these ladies without them getting hurt. Just like the nurse, they also check on the beeping rooms to provide service to the residents, but they can only work on hygiene matters, food and medicine should be consulted with the nurse. My friend here is very good at her job, infact she’s been here longer than me. As a CNA here, you’ll be assigned to work on ten residents doing the job of tidying the room (only when house keeping is gone) and taking care of those ten ladies. You’ll be working with three other CNA’s with rest of the residents assigned to them. Unlike the rest, my friend here would sometimes take all of these ladies, unbelievable but true. She loves all the ladies here and works with them for their comfort since they like her too. I hope that all the CNA’s are like her – hard working and thoughtful – a person who deserves the job and not the type who abuses and neglect their patients.
I looked back at my CNA friend and replied “Not much.” as I hugged back and let go
“I’m glad you’re working.” She said still smiling at me.
“Same here” I replied.
Our conversation was disturbed when another beeping sound came up followed by the nurse’s voice calling her name.
“Well, I got to go and help her, talk to you later.” She said pacing off towards another corridor entrance and disappearing from sight. As I moved on and continued to walk through that long corridor, more noise came beeping. I passed one room and caught one of the ladies pressing the call button. She is a big lady, with curly hair wearing a pair of huge eye glasses that magnified her eyes bigger. She saw me and stopped, her magnified eyes staring at me. I know her very well, she is disliked by many because of her attitude, she had other employee’s fired because of her complaints about them. They say she’s just mean. I was warned not to talk to her or I’d regret it when she loses her temper. I don’t believe them though, because she’s always smiles at me, giving me the same facial cue she does everytime she’s happy. She does that too when her son or some of her relatives would visit her. My aunt who works there told me that this lady likes me, she like how I spend my time talking and listening to her. According to this lady, I am a sweet kid and a hard worker. I’m glad to hear that because of all the people who would praise me, she was my least expected due to the fact that she does not get along with most people living and working here. She is ninety-three years old, but despite her age, she is still sharp and bright. Her memory amazes me, for she can remember everything we talked about weeks before or everything I do. You might be surprised to find out that her seventy six year old step daughter also lives here, though she is under provision because of major dementia – she barely talk and even if she does, words don’t make any sense.
Every now and then her son would visit both of them. During break times he would play the piano and they’d both listen to it. I would play the piano too since I know how, I guess that’s also one reason why the lady grew to like me. I asked her once what’s it like to live here and she said “Homesick… Sad for awhile, but then my daughter came, and I felt more relaxed with her around.”
You’d see them both holding hands while watching television, you might also feel how much she cares for her step-daughter if you look at them, I could tell that these people had a happy family. She might be the most disliked resident living in this place because of her nonstop demands and ungrateful attitude, but I still give her the respect an elder should deserve. She’s different to me, she gives advice about life and as I listen carefully to her words, she makes a good point. She was one of the ladies who comfortable to talk to me, all of them have different perspectives, stories about their previous life before they got there. Most of them miss their family and is so happy when they visit. Sometimes I would relate myself to their position living there. I ask myself “What if I was here away from my family?”
I don’t think I could live like that since I’m so close with mine, especially my brothers. Imagine what more if you have a son or daughter? I bet that’s going to be harder. But I also realized that circumstances brought them here. There will be times that you couldn’t be there spending your time for them because of work and other matters, that you only have this option left – to bring them to a nursing home. At least people like the nurse and my CAN friend are here to help you take care of them.
I smiled back at the old lady and asked her “How are you today?” equivocating the words in a gallant tone.
“Great. Now that you’re here.” She replied back with a radiant smile that hid most of her wrinkles.
“You know what I want for dinner right?” She asked me.
“Chicken noodle soup” I responded.
She winked back at me as I went and moved to the next room. As I pulled the door open, the smell of food came to my senses. And there I saw my other friend, the cook, who is standing in front of the stove stirring that pot of soup. I wore my apron and cap to prepare milk drinks and dessert. It is 4:00 p.m and it’s time for me to work.
Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:16 am by 
Subject: Final Project: Long Essay 
