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This is written by Tammie, a CNA who frequents the message board. I asked her for permission to post it here.

What a Nursing Home is really like: By Tammie CNA

A nursing home is a world that used to exist on the outside. It’s the one we often crave in our own world. The people who live there smile at you, know your name, greet you with good mornings. They live in a basic world without computers, cell phones and other gadgets we are used to today. It contains teachers, farmers, doctors, writers, housewives, cooks, well diggers, coal miners, world war vets, and others. They have great grandchildren and great great ones too. They are yesterday behind a set of walls built just for them. Each day, they give a gift of trust to you. How you take that gift is your decision.

They each want you to give them dignity. They will show you their most personal moments and you must maintain a professional and personal touch that makes them feel safe in your care. You will see them using the bathroom and you will see them naked. You will touch parts of their body during daily care that have never been touched by anyone other than themselves and the one they married. And, while doing this you must not snicker, make comments, or show them any negative reactions displayed your face or body posture. Not only does their body need your help, but their tender hearts do as well. When a negative remark is said about their body in any way, they feel as though you have hurt them. You damage any sense of control they have left in the world they now know.

For example, once able to cook for an entire family several times a day, Hazel now needs you to spoon feed her as she lies in the bed alone. Her legs are straight, thin and flat because they are now stuck this way permanantly because of muscle contracture. Her arms do not move above the elbow joint and her fingers are permanantly crossed within each other like her small legs. She has no bladder or bowel control and depends on you to clean her. She weighs eighty to ninety pounds in total. She wears adult diapers and baby powder on her skin. At meal times, you must remind her to open her mouth so you can get the spoon inside.

But, Hazel can hear every word you say to her and she can speak too. You often hear her singing as you walk past her bedroom. She is soft spoken and often says, thank you, please and good morning dear. When you are dressing her, she helps as much as she can by moving her arm this way or that way for you and by lifting her head so the pink gown goes on easily. When you are rolling her to the side to wipe a bowel movement off her skin, she says thank you each time. She likes chocolate and hates peanut butter. If you make a mistake, she is patient with you. She quietly sits in a swing 4 feet above the ground as you transfer her from the bed to a chair in a mechanical lift.

Now, Hazel is a special lady and each person is different. Like many others, she is helpless in your hands. Literally, your hands are her hands now. Your feet are now her feet. And, she is grateful for the use of them. She never yells when you take too much time or don’t give her enough time at all. She politely smiles and forgives you if you accidently scrape her skin with your fingernails while dressing her. And when you walk in the room, she lights up. Hazel trusts you.

Nursing homes are worlds seperate and opposite from the outside. The residents automatically trust instead of judge. They don’t know how to type an email or use a cell phone to keep in touch. Instead, if they are able, they learn your name and remember what you like and what makes you smile during the day. They see the same rooms and the same people day after day, yet every single day is different. They often face difficult times within these walls and your face is the one they look to for comfort.

Every now and then a resident comes along that is not so pleasant but, is combative and violent. These residents require special care and even more patience than the other ones. They can give you a challenge that is unique. And, they too are in your trust.

If you work in a nursing home, you can make the difference between a smile and a tear. You can make an otherwise routine day a special one. Your words can encourage and lift them up or you can disappoint and destroy a spirit. The trust you are given can be held softly in secret or can be broken loudly in an instant. You can share in an accomplishment and offer patience or you can hinder recovery and damage happiness in the future. There are people like Hazel out there right now living their life each day in a nursing home. You are given the gift of trust every single day. How you choose to handle that trust up to you.

If you are looking for an easy job, a place where you can be lazy or even a place where you can be dominating to others a nursing home is not for you. Abuse and neglect are not a joke and it is always revealed eventually. Being a CNA in a nursing home requires special people with compassion who are protectors of the helpless.

A nursing home requires those who are worthy of trust.