Nursing Assistant Resources On The Web

A couple articles about Nursing Assistant Week:

VistaCare’s Terre Haute office includes more than 17 CNAs. “We are so fortunate to have such a dedicated team of CNAs caring for our patients,” said Kerry Wilson. “They have the privilege and responsibility of working directly with our patients and their families on a daily basis. The services they provide truly make a difference in the quality of life of the patient and his/her family. We are pleased to give them special recognition and a pat on the back during this annual observance.”

CNAs work side by side with physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains and others. They not only provide personal care to the patient – baths, back rubs, oral hygiene, shampoos and changing bed linen – they also prepare meals, feed the patient, and watch over the patients’ well-being by making sure they are turned and positioned appropriately and that they use any adaptive equipment such as foot stools and rails properly.

VistaCare CNAs also perform patient care activities such as taking and recording temperatures and pulse and respiration and assisting the patient with ambulation and range-of-motion exercises. They also support family members by performing light housekeeping duties and doing the patient’s laundry when it is a part of the plan of care. In addition, all CNAs are certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

AND:

For one local family, going to work is a labor of love

At first glance, the scene in the hallway of the Good Samaritan Health Center seems quite commonplace: two young women in medical scrubs are bringing an elderly resident in a wheelchair into the center’s dining room.

But their situation is far from ordinary: the women are sisters. And the resident is their great-grandfather.

This week is National Certified Nursing Assistant Week, which honors those who work in this caring, demanding profession. For CNA Jeena Bradburn and her sister JoJean, coming to work each day is now even more special. Their great-grandfather, John Bradburn, whom they lovingly call “Grandpa John,” lives at the care center in International Falls.

“It’s great” Jeena says. “I get to see him more now than I did before he moved here.”

“I was excited” says JoJean, of when she learned her great-grandpa would be moving to the care center.

JoJean, the eldest of the two sisters, works as a dietary aide in the kitchen. Both women have been with the Good Samaritan Health Center for several years. It seems a natural fit. Their grandmother and mother were both in nursing care.
“Grandma was a nursing assistant and mom was a volunteer candy striper” says Jeena.

Sitting with the three of them in the center’s dining room, it’s easy to see why Shawnda Shofer, the center’s marketing coordinator, called their situation a touching story.