It's not a nursing home. It's a "long-Term Care Facility".
Okay, now. Lets get into it.
So, yesterday was my first day of C.N.A training. I got there promptly at 6am, and was sent down to room 13. My “classroom” (actually an empty patient room with a table in it) was already occupied by 6 students and our instructor, Lisa, an LPN from Kitsap county. Our class is small. There is Cynthia, an older woman full of strange questions (can I get AIDS from skin to skin contact?), Bonnie, a middle aged woman who has been volunteering at Kah Tai for a while now. Then there is Peachy, a home health companion with a jittery annoying, voice. She is sweet but frequently gets us off topic with her interjections about her personal experiences in health care, which are almost always completely irrelevant. There is Hank, a retired merchant marine, Cindy, a homemaker whose children are now grown, and my favorite, Kawalanie. She is from New York and has actually completed *fer serious* nursing school but has yet to come up with the money for her final exam. She is sweet and funny and I want to kiss her. Then, we have me. The Childbirth Educator cum Doula/Student Midwife who doesn’t know WTF she wants to do with her C.N.A license when class is done.
The first thing I learned is that we not in a Nursing Home. We are in a “Long-Term Care Facility”. The elderly people who live here are not patients. They are “residents”. When we are done with our course, we can use our certification anywhere, but the material focuses primarily on working with the elderly, and our instructor assumes we will all work for the facility, Kah Tai, where we are being trained. We don’t have to, of course, but that is the expectation.
The class is primarily lecture. 9 hours of it. Every day there is a test of the previous day’s lectures. The material is mostly common sense, and is all familiar to me already. I am already versed in sterile procedure, blood pressure taking, making the patient’s bed properly (cut corners bitch!), and so on. I breeze thought the tests and so far the skill demonstrations are pretty simple for me.
When I take my breaks I walk up and down the halls so that I can try to understand this place I am stuck in. I smile at the residents, who are usually sufficiently sedated and calm. Some are mean. Eye contact and a smile can be met with name calling (I got called “stupid face" by a tiny woman in a blue sweater with a glittery kitten printed on the front) or a scowl. I realized by the end of the first day that I do not want to work in that facility. Don’t get me wrong. As far as old folks homes go, its pretty damn nice. The facility itself is a bit outdated, but the staff is amazing. They all look happy and peaceful. They joke with the residents, and seem to love their jobs. Be that as it may, this is not for me. I am happy I quit my job and chose this path, but I can see that is just a part of my education, another step in becoming a Midwife.
This is not the final destination.
So, yesterday was my first day of C.N.A training. I got there promptly at 6am, and was sent down to room 13. My “classroom” (actually an empty patient room with a table in it) was already occupied by 6 students and our instructor, Lisa, an LPN from Kitsap county. Our class is small. There is Cynthia, an older woman full of strange questions (can I get AIDS from skin to skin contact?), Bonnie, a middle aged woman who has been volunteering at Kah Tai for a while now. Then there is Peachy, a home health companion with a jittery annoying, voice. She is sweet but frequently gets us off topic with her interjections about her personal experiences in health care, which are almost always completely irrelevant. There is Hank, a retired merchant marine, Cindy, a homemaker whose children are now grown, and my favorite, Kawalanie. She is from New York and has actually completed *fer serious* nursing school but has yet to come up with the money for her final exam. She is sweet and funny and I want to kiss her. Then, we have me. The Childbirth Educator cum Doula/Student Midwife who doesn’t know WTF she wants to do with her C.N.A license when class is done.
The first thing I learned is that we not in a Nursing Home. We are in a “Long-Term Care Facility”. The elderly people who live here are not patients. They are “residents”. When we are done with our course, we can use our certification anywhere, but the material focuses primarily on working with the elderly, and our instructor assumes we will all work for the facility, Kah Tai, where we are being trained. We don’t have to, of course, but that is the expectation.
The class is primarily lecture. 9 hours of it. Every day there is a test of the previous day’s lectures. The material is mostly common sense, and is all familiar to me already. I am already versed in sterile procedure, blood pressure taking, making the patient’s bed properly (cut corners bitch!), and so on. I breeze thought the tests and so far the skill demonstrations are pretty simple for me.
When I take my breaks I walk up and down the halls so that I can try to understand this place I am stuck in. I smile at the residents, who are usually sufficiently sedated and calm. Some are mean. Eye contact and a smile can be met with name calling (I got called “stupid face" by a tiny woman in a blue sweater with a glittery kitten printed on the front) or a scowl. I realized by the end of the first day that I do not want to work in that facility. Don’t get me wrong. As far as old folks homes go, its pretty damn nice. The facility itself is a bit outdated, but the staff is amazing. They all look happy and peaceful. They joke with the residents, and seem to love their jobs. Be that as it may, this is not for me. I am happy I quit my job and chose this path, but I can see that is just a part of my education, another step in becoming a Midwife.
This is not the final destination.