heritage. home. assisted. living.

It's been 406 days since I started working at Heritage Home Assisted Living & today I walked out the doors, for the last time as an employee there. It was bitter sweet. It happened to actually be a really calm & good evening at work as well, so that was a definite plus! Tonight when I got off, I couldn't help but look back--as I was walking out the doors, I said to myself out loud, 'weird.' I couldn't believe I was done. It was the weirdest feeling. I have never experienced it before. I don't even think I can find the words to describe it, other than, weird!

Because it was my last night, I began to reflect on all the funny {& not so funny} incidents & sayings that had happened or been said over the past 13 months. One of my favorites was when I was on the senior center bus with some of my residents heading up to Springdale. There was a couple ladies talking & one asked the other, "Did you just say she had 16 children?" & the other one said back, "Well, you know--back in those days, they didn't have TV's, so it was the only form of entertainment they had. . ." Oh man, anyone who heard this couldn't help but bust up laughing! It was too funny.

"Our Easter trip up to the Senior Center"

I remember the day I got the job. It was a Friday, & I got it over a phone interview. I couldn't believe it. I moved down to Toni's two days later & started on Monday. I remember walking in & seeing my boss, Sam at 6:30AM & thought, "He can't be my boss, he's like 25!!" I would have never guessed he was my boss. However, I never would have guessed that the Hummer sitting out in the parking lot was one of our residents, either!! That morning I followed Kaye around & couldn't believe what I was doing. She was so patient & willing to help, I just wanted to cry. What had I gotten myself in to?? She said, "If you can make it through the first two-weeks, you can make it through anything!!" & she was right. The first two-weeks were definitely the hardest, but I pulled through & began to love my job. I began to love working my 12-hour shifts {even they took a little adjusting} & life was great. 

When I started, we had some really difficult residents. (For patient/resident privacy, I will not use actual names--even in my own blog). We had one resident, Mr. L, where his skin was so fragile that if it was scratched at all, it would bleed like crazy..!! It was insane. He was constantly scratching his poor back & it would bleed so terribly. It was a constant battle between safety pinning his shirt to his pants to trying to keep a back brace on him. Then there was Mr. T. He was super demanding & a terrible sleeper. He would yell at the top of his lungs during the night. However, Miss Margo almost drove me to drink!! Oh geeze..!! Every 5 seconds, literally she'd ask, "Am I okay?" or "When's my daughter coming?" It literally took a ball & chain to bind my arms not to grab some alcohol. But all-in-all, I think the worse would have to be dear, sweet, Miss P. Oh wow. She was probably 4'8 and had scarred every single employee in the place. She had really bad Alzheimer's {like the rest of them} & when we'd try to clip her nails, clean anything on her body (face, hands etc.), shower her (which we had to do EVERY MORNING) or change her brief (CONSTANTLY), she would scream bloody murder & call you every evil, nasty swear word in the book!! I'm not even joking. On-top of that, she would pull your hair, smack you, grab your arm and dig her nails into you. . . . do I need to go on? She was insane & when I started, I didn't know how I was going to do it. Yet, you just learn to deal & you figure it out.

"One morning I came in & she had both legs in one pant leg! It was so funny!!"

Death was inevitable where I worked. My first death just happened to by my second day of work. Weird. Sam, my boss told me about every 6 months they had a death & it just happened to fall on my second day. Sam asked me to come in & help prep the body for the mortuary to come. I was kind of freaked out. I had only just met this man a day before & he was now laying breathless before me. Mmk. What to do. . . I do have to give props to Sam through it all though. He made it really easy & calm, learning experience & ''part of life'' moment for me. Because he handle it the way he did, I am now a pro at handling death. I am able to point out the signs & then able to make the resident as comfortable as possible; as well as know how to help the grieving families, the other residents & get the mortuary there without any hassle.  With our last pasting at Heritage, I called & let Sam know & he said, "Well, it sounds like you have everything covered, do you need me?" Um, no!

 Working at Heritage has been a great learning experience. I have learned so much from the residents & their stories. I have also learned a life-time of knowledge from my co-workers. A few employee's have come & gone, yet the majority of us have been together for a while now & have grown together like a little family. :) I have truly come to love these girls & all they have taught me & everything they have done for me. From covering shifts & my behind when needed, to teaching me cooking tricks & how to laugh to get through a cruddy work day; they have been there & i love them.

Being the Activities Director couldn't have been more fun!! I loved taking my residents to the Senior Center. We also went to the IMAX, a play & had a huge Luau {blogged about all of them!} I had a blast & I know my residents enjoyed it as well. I am so glad I was given the opportunity to work at Heritage, it was a great experience to grow & to better my communication skills; as well as learn love & patience for the elderly. I have enjoyed the past 13 months there & yet, I am very excited to be done there & see what happens in the next chapter of my life. :)

To end, tonight one of my most favorite residents (who is on independent living) came down into the kitchen & said the sweetest goodbye {he always called Thalia & I his favorites, it was adorable}. He thanked me for everything & told me how much fun he had had. He brought me some Werther's {he knows how much i love them} & told me that he was going to miss me. I was standing there & told him how sweet he was & how much I would miss him. I told him to keep the other girls laughing & thanked him for helping us keep some of our sanity {really, he is hilarious & would make jokes out of almost anything, it was awesome!!} He asked, "Can I give you a hug?" I said of course & gave him a big hug & he started to cry. I couldn't help but tear-up. It was too sweet. He then said, "Keep smiling, you are going to go far. Don't forget about us back here & stay awesome!" I told him I would stay marve {that is the word they use to use back in the day & i would constantly use the word awesome, & he would correct me & say marve} & that I would come back & visit. Sweetest man I have ever know. I will truly miss him.