Saying good bye to this year will not be hard for anyone that I know. This year has certainly tested our strength and endurance. I for one thought that being under house arrest would not be a problem, I could clean out my drawers and closets. Well nine months into this, my drawers and closets need to be taken care of and I eat more treats than I should have and hate everything on TV. I miss the contact of people, my office is empty, except for someone to man the phones, everyone is home and spending their time on the phone or computer trying to carry on. One thing I have found is that we seem to be losing our edge. We need the human interaction to be at our best. I guess people really need people to carry on to be creative and lasting. It seems to me being engaged is one of the very things we teach our caregivers to be with their elderly patients. Just seeing a friendly face matters.
I am bored cooking the same thing every week. I have lost the idea of being creative with new menus. I get my ideas from walking up and down the frozen food section in Safeway and try to imagine how I would cook something new. I spend so little time in the grocery store, no time to gawk at frozen foods to see if I can replicate them and make them more enjoyable. I just fetch and run. It must be the same for our caregiver cooks. Since we are limiting our nursing time with our clients there are limited time to go over cooking instructions. We are making certain our special diets are being adhered to and followed. Nothing like a pandemic to limit interesting foods for diabetics.
Thank God the fires are out and the air is free from smoke. I still get a twinge in my chest whenever I am reminded of them. The pain of loosing your home and all its memories to a complete devastation is all anyone could endure. I remember the caregivers that stayed with their patients for a month when they were displaced from their assisted living facility. Never able to relax, or try to relax at home, not knowing if their own home was in danger. The staying awake waiting for the order to evacuate, bags packed including medications, food, cloths and maybe the patients pet dog or cat and their food. The smoke grew thicker, everyone was affected and no one knew what to do about being displaced and what effect the virus would have on their lives. And our caregivers held their post. We even found our patient who at the age of 95 evacuated her home and drove away from the fire no one knew where she went, we found her 9 days later, she went to a friends house that no one knew about.
In this trying time, I have learned that our caregivers are truly the best. They have taken their jobs seriously. They have cared for their patients, they wear masks, wash .and rewash counter tops and phones, cook, clean and do laundry. They remind visitors to wear masks and wash their hands when family members come to visit. They are always on watch for their clients and their client’s wellbeing.
I want to wish our clients and caregivers a happy new year and hopefully it will be a little less stressful. One thing that I know for certain, what ever 2021 has to offer, we will be ready for it and we will be able to handle any new problem with the same professionalism that we handled in 2020.
~Sharon Grinnell