Afternoons with Pop

Now that my afternoons are free I spend some of them visiting my 77 yr old grandfather. He curently resides in Grace Healthcare facility. Every since the 1st day when Ms. Carhoff spoke to us regarding the rights of the elderly in living facilities I have been thinking about my grandfather and those at that particular facility. Honestly speaking it is not one of the top notch nursing homes. I believe if my sister did not work there he would not receive the care that he does. This week I visited him around lunch time to make sure he gets a chance to eat all of his food. I really believe if I were not there his tray (whether or not he was finished) would have been taken. At his baseline, he never ate all of his food at one time. He is the type to "pick" off of it for a while. That made me think of what Ms. Carhoff said about knowing the clients and knowing what they were like prior to coming to that facility. As I spoke of in class, he has left side neglect so I helped him eat his luch. I am going to take Ms. Marcas' advice and put a piece of red tape on the right side of his tray to help him rember that side. I also asked if his bed could be moved to the other of the room so that visitors could sit on his right side, however due to him being on falls precaution that could not be done. I wasn't really looking forward to working with the elderly (they make me nervous), but after spending more time with my grandfather and listening to Ms. Carhoff I now am. I am both anxious and excited to see if and how I can make a difference in their lives.