People Before Things

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In long term care, even with the best intentions, it is easy for everything to become a task.

On my very first day in a nursing home as an administrator in training, I was getting ready to leave for the day at about 7pm.

As I did one last walk through the halls, I heard someone call for help. A younger disabled gentleman had fallen out of bed. His legs were crumpled underneath him and he was on the floor in a puddle of urine. He told me he thought he needed help getting cleaned up and getting into bed. He said that he was fine although he couldn’t be sure since he had no feeling in his legs normally.

I had no idea what to do. Was it safe to move him? How do I move him? What should I check to make sure he was uninjured? Where were there supplies to help him get cleaned up?

At that moment a Nursing Assistant was walking by carrying a stack of towels. I called to her and she immediately saw the situation. She asked “are you ok Charles?” then said, “let me go and drop off these towels and I will be right back to help”

In that moment delivering towels and helping Charles were just two tasks. This nurse was not a bad person. If you asked her what was more important – towels or a person in distress, I am sure she would of course say the person in distress. But in the day to day everything becomes routine. Everything is just another thing to do.

We have all heard or said things like “I have 4 showers to do”, “I have 15 sets of meds to pass”, “I have 3 tours to do”.

Shifting the mindset is more than a switch in language to “I get to help 4 people with their showers”, “I am helping 15 people get the right meds”, or “I am helping 3 families make the right choice for their loved ones care”

It is about remembering why we chose this profession in the first place. In long term care we have a privileged place in people’s lives. One of the 4-5 most important events in their life may be the care they receive at a difficult time. We get the honor of making that experience as positive for them as it possibly can be.

As the difficulties of the day to day grind you down remember – If you have two tasks to do and one is for a thing and the other for a person. People before things.?

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