| December 28th, 2009 I chose to work in the CWI Rest Home as I wanted to make contribution to the elderly nursing industry. After I was recruited into the Rest Home, I found that passion and love were far from being enough if I wanted to do a job here. The Rest Home is out of the ordinary. Here everyone follows the CWI Rest Home’s philosophy of giving the elders the most precious thing and cares for them as if they were his/her own parents or grandparents. The Rest Home is a demonstrative institution that takes scientific approach in the research of elderly nursing, which is far better than other rest homes. When we were recruited, the leaders of the Rest Home invited teachers to give us lessons on etiquette and manners so that we would behave appropriately in compliance with the Rest Home’s requirements for caregivers, and as to the cleaning, we were required to do cleaning in line with the service standards of a star-level hotel. After repeated training on elderly nursing, every one of us, the caregivers, obtained the professional qualification certificate for caregivers. In addition, we were also required to learn professional knowledge, and the Rest Home sent us to take lessons in the caregiver training class held by the city’s welfare industry at its expense. After extensive training, we felt confident that we were able to do a good job in caring for the elders and looked forward to their coming. Then the elders moved in and we got to know the living habits and hobbies of each elder in the shortest time and we made custom plans for those who needed special care. Grandma Wang living in room 227 is a good example: Grandma Wang suffered from frequent and urgent micturition due to urinary tract infection. When she moved in, she suffered from fecal and urinary incontinence due to her illness and her unfamiliarity to the environment. She urinated as many as 7 or 8 times a night, so she could not sleep well. In order for her to have a better sleep, we asked her to brush her teeth after she had three meals and gargle with water after she ate between meals after we consulted the doctor and learned the cause for urinary tract infection so as to ensure her oral hygiene. We also asked Grandma Wang to drink more water so as to wash out the bacteria in her urinary tract and enable her to urinate at longer intervals, and we mastered the rule of her defecation. Our efforts paid off. Her urinary frequency was back to normal after a while (twice or three times a night) and she no longer wetted the bed. Her sleep quality improved a lot and therefore she looked better in the daytime. Grandma Wang could not walk by herself and long-time sitting would cause edema of her lower limb. Under the instruction of doctors, she practiced walking in the daytime with our help twice a day (15 minutes once), and in the evening, we soaked her feet in the warm water when she was watching TV so as to improve the blood circulation of her feet. After practicing daily for some time, the edema of her feet disappeared, and soaking feet in warm water while watching TV become a daily routine for her, and her health improved day by day. Within the ten years before Grandma Wang moved into the Rest Home, she often stayed at home alone and had little contact with others, and as a result, she talked little and her memory deteriorated. She only remembered the things that happened a long time ago but would easily forget the things that had happened recently. So when we saw her, we would first ask her: “Grandma, do you member me?” We did this to help her to memorize us and make her use her brain in order to improve her memory. Now, Grandma Wang can not only remember the names of many of us, but also give the most familiar caregivers nicknames. She gave me a nickname “Fatty” and she has never forgotten about this nickname. During the spare time, we chatted with her and asked her some simple questions. I found that she was good at calculating small numbers and now she is “famous” for her fast mental calculation. We also often joked with her, and she would sometimes laugh when seeing us because she still remembered the jokes we had told her. We said to her: “Laughing makes one 10 years younger.” She said: “I laugh so many times a day; then I guess I would become a 20-year-old girl soon and my son would not recognize me”. We laughed because of her sense of humor. Now Grandma Wang is in good health and living happily with our whole-hearted care. Smile is our language and we know the importance of tolerance. Every caregiver in the Rest Home bears in mind that taking good care of the elders is the overriding task. I wish that all the elders can entertain themselves, have something to do, and be looked after well and provided with adequate medical services. It is our greatest wish that the elders can stay in good health and find happiness in their lives. Zhu Fenhua China Welfare Institute Rest Home |