WAS THAT ABUSE?

3 Pages 686 Words

WAS THAT ABUSE



As I walked down the hallway of the nursing home, I could hear a patient telling an aide, “I want to get out of bed.” In response she said, “It isn’t time for you to get up yet.” The aid mumbles as she stormed out of the room. The patient laid there crying not knowing what else to do. I thought about that while visiting with my grandmother.
Grandma told me about the care that the residents received. She told me how the decisions of everyday life were no longer a valid concern. She explained, “You get up and go to bed when they say. You even eat and shower when they say. Worst of all when you can’t walk on your own, you go to the potty when they say.” Her voice to a whisper and her face red with embarrassment she went on to say, “ I sat here with my call light on one day for twenty minutes needing help to potty. The young girl came in and was short with me and after a sigh of frustration she told me that I could only go every two hours. Then she told me that she would be back when my time was up. I sat there three hours waiting, not wanting to turn my light on. I had an accident in my pants and she scolded me for that.”
As I was leaving the aide was back with the resident wanting to get out of bed She was now crying because she had wet herself from waiting so long. All the aide could say was, “Would you just shut-up and stop your whining.
I was rather disturbed as I left. I stopped and talked to a family member of another resident. She informed me that they were taking her mother home because of the poor care she was receiving. She also told me that placing her mother in a nursing home, was the hardest decision she ever had to make. Now she feels it was the worst decision she ever made.
As I started out the door, I decided to get a pamphlet. The receptionist asked if there was a problem. We stood and discussed what I had witnessed and what Grandma had told me. I was informed that none of t...