Dimple's Discoveries

        Four years ago I went on my first emergency call with police to a domestic violence scene. One call was all it took, and I knew I was made for advocacy. At 18 years old I had already seen my first case of domestic violence at my job in a geriatric center where I literally jumped between the victim and her abuser (do not try this at home!), and knew deep in my soul that I could do this for the rest of my life. I have seen some of the darkest horrors human beings can inflict on each other. I have cried with victims as they've shared their stories from hell and fought PTSD as a result. I've held clients as they shake after a night terror or assessed injuries to determine medical care. For years I've mediated conflicts, counseled endlessly, and encouraged and empowered women to rise from the ashes. Looking back makes me wish that the 24 year old woman I am could write a letter to the 18 year old girl I was, so here are the five lessons I've learned as an advocate...

I have started two new jobs in the last two months, both of which require entirely different skill sets-one expects me to be able to react quickly to dangerous situations, be alert constantly, and to maintain and be responsible for the safety of my coworkers at all times. It is an intense but fun job, and I have been grateful to be a part of it. My other job has been much more of a challenge for me. I was hired at a certain level, and in a turn of events was promoted two levels above that 3 months later. In doing so I am now a supervisor (along with two others) over employees in an office, and it has been one of the greatest blessings and heartaches I have had in a long time. I love my job, but I have also worried, cried, agonized, and poured over this job day and night in a way I have never had to before. As a CNA, I knew my tasks inside and out, I had a natural gift for interacting with patients and staff, and I was able to care for others in a way that satisfied my soul beyond a...

Today's post is something I have strong feelings about, so this one might be a little more passionate, but I feel like it's an important thing to address, and I would like to make a stand to anyone who reads this blog, in the hopes that I can help diffuse some prejudices (and yes, I mean prejudice) about LDRs (long distance relationships). We learned in my Family Relations class a few weeks ago that communication is broken down as follows: Words=14% Tone=35% Non-verbal=51% We will be forced at times, no matter our relationship, to use alternative forms of communication, and they cut out 86% of our communication ability, but does that mean that we can't make this work? Does this mean that a military man or woman has no hope of ever finding and retaining love? Does it mean that we can never maintain a healthy relationship with someone who we don't see every day? Absolutely not! It just means that your communication skills have to be better than the average c...

We recently admitted a patient at the rehabilitation center I work at who has dementia. A few of the CNAs have started to be very impatient with him, as they haven't had a lot of experience with working with a patient who is losing their memory, especially one with such an advanced case as he has. He will start sentences and not be able to finish them. He panics when we try to transfer him because he doesn't understand or comprehend what we verbally tell him unless we repeat it several times. As a caregiver you have patients you can really get along with and patients you can't seem to click with at all, and this man has been one that I have really connected with. He reminds me a lot of another sweetheart I took care of years ago who died, and I miss her a lot, and so it's been a treat to be reminded of her when I'm working with him. Because of some work on his kidneys, he has had to frequently urinate, and it's not uncommon for him to need to go every 20...

I have worked with dementia patients for several years now, so much that it has almost become routine. I never think anything of it anymore. Because of that, I sometimes forget what a hard trial it can be on the family members of those who suffer this degenerative disease. At one of my facilities I have been working with a patient who not only has dementia but has recently suffered a stroke, so her speech has been very impaired. She has, over the time she has spent at our facility, been improving in her communicating, and we can now understand a lot more of what she says, although she still doesn't finish sentences and we sometimes have to fill in the holes. I saw her daughter in her bedroom with her last night, and I slipped in to greet her and check on my patient. Her daughter has been so dedicated in coming to visit and caring for her mom, but as is often the case, her mom cannot remember that they are related, and as a result her daughter often leaves crying. I have talked ...

We have a patient right now who has severe special needs. In my almost four years of CNA work now, she is one of two patients I have taken care of that have had special needs, and they require a whole different kind of care. They don't understand what we are doing to them, and often push back on the busy caregivers who try to quickly come in and out to do their work, which causes frustration on both ends. For a busy caregiver, this can be a huge frustration! We only have so much time to complete so much work, and if we don't get it done, patients suffer. On the other hand, you have a patient who can't understand why these strangers rush into her room, pull down her pants and want to change her bottom or have her roll on the bed. As you can see, conflict can arise, as such has been the case. The other day during report the shift coming on was told by the previous shift that they couldn't get this patient to cooperate, she was fighting them, unpleasant, and should bas...

Not everyone gets along with everyone else: That is life. However, in the medical field, it can cause more problems than it normally would. You get any bad combination, be it nurse-aide, aide-aide, nurse-nurse, aide-patient, patient's family-administration, (dizzy yet?) and it can cause a lot of headaches on an 8 hr shift. We see it a lot-you get a patient who doesn't like an aide, and suddenly they are rude, demanding, nagging, and in return the aide will be slow to answer the light, put their calls and questions last on priority list, and give minimum effort for that person's comfort, and the vicious cycle continues. It's so hard to break that vicious cycle, and makes it hard for staff as they have to switch patients, etc. in order to adjust to the circumstance. In order to illustrate, I will tell you about a patient we have had for long time at one of my facilities. She came as a hip patient, and we quickly learned she would be a needy patient, not out of necessity...

I got to go back to work this week after finishing finals, hence why there was no post last week. I’ll post twice to make up for it. Here is a picture of something fun I did while I wasn’t posting-bridge jumping! Super fun, what a rush! I’ll even make this a “ Do Not Try This At Home ” photo. ;) I have noticed something this week that I had never really paid close attention to before, and that is how aides are treated by those around them, be it family members or nurses or the patients themselves. I will share two experiences of this, the first is a negative response, and we’ll end on a happy note, I promise. :)  We were having one heck of a night. We have three aides for over 20 patients, and for some reason this batch of patients are very extensive and demanding. In lieu of that comment, as you can imagine, we were running our heads off, literally running from light to light to catch up. Showers didn’t get done, we clocked out really late that night, it was cra...

"You're a CNA? That's cool, I have a friend that does that. How much do you make?" The CNA replied: "How much do I make?! “I can make holding your hand seem like the most important thing in the world when you're scared... I can make your child breathe again when they've stopped... I can help your father regain some function and movement in his limbs after a stroke...I can make myself get up at 5AM to make sure your mother is sleeping well and her vitals are good...I work all day to improve the lives of strangers...I make my family wait for dinner until I know your family member is taken care of...I make myself skip lunch so that I can make sure that everything I did for your wife today is charted...I make myself work weekends and holidays because people don't just get sick Monday - Friday. Today, I might save your life. How much do I make? All I know is that I make a difference.” I make a difference every day at work. Every day I make pati...