One problem at the nursing home was high staff turnover. People left because they were burned out or found better jobs. Some didn’t even bother giving two-week notices. Others just didn’t show up and couldn’t be reached. After working there for fifteen years, I gave my own two-week notice because I was getting married and decided to quit working and write full time. When I told residents I was leaving, they said, “You’re the only one around here with the lovely voice. Who’s going to do singer-cize?" This inspired the following poem from How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver.
Who’s Coming Next?
Who will bathe, dress, feed me,
give me all my medications,
make sure I’m healthy?
Who will prepare and serve my meals,
pay attention to my requests for certain foods?
Who will play the guitar and sing,
encourage me to sing and exercise,
show me how to make Easter baskets,
call bingo, read to me?
Who will clean my room,
do my laundry, change my light bulbs?
Who will listen to my concerns,
help me work out my problems?
If you must leave,
who will take your place?
By the way, if you use Bookshare, How to Build a Better Mousetrap can now be downloaded at the following link. http://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/432068
Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author of
We Shall Overcome
and
How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver
http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com
From Deon Lyons.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been hard for some of the residents to have to let you go, as well as it must have been hard for you also. I imagine that you had become attached to a lot of them. I know I would.
Hi Deon, you're right. It was hard for me to leave the nursing home, but most of the residents to whom I was attached were suffering from dementia, and although they were always glad to see me, they couldn't remember why, and the fact that I was leaving was lost to them. However, I really wanted to be a writer, and I have no regrets about leaving, and I enjoy writing full time.
DeleteI love WHY...
ReplyDelete