Family Interactions
Family plays a big support role to residents in the nursing home. Visitors affect the attitudes and behaviors of the residents. Those who have visitors are normally a lot easier to deal with and seem a lot happier. Sometimes visitors like to help with small things such as feeding the patients.
These small tasks are very big in busy nursing homes. I've seen patients' faces light up when their families come. I have one patient who really misses her family. She talks to me about her family and going home all the time. When her daughter comes she can't stop smiling. One day she even began to sing.
Those who don't have family or visitors to come see them are often very negative and hard to deal with. They are normally angry because sometimes their families don't tell them where they are going and drop them off at the nursing home without telling them.
Most of my patients who don't have visitors are very combative. They often use profanity, fight and are very uncooperative. I had a patient who threw her eating tray for no reason at another CNA who was trying to help her eat. I've been hit, scratched, insulted, cursed out, and almost spit on by cranky patients.
Patients who act out in this manner hurt a lot of CNAs emotionally. I've seen many CNAs cry because they feel like they do all they can to help patients who don't respect them. I don't take them acting out personal. Even when my patients call me bad names I try to smile and stay positive with them. The more positivity I show towards my patient, the easier it will be to calm them down.
I know a lot of my patients don't have visitors so sometimes on my days off I like to go to the nursing home and talk to my patients for a little. I like to carry on short conversations because I know it makes them happy. I also like to go and design their nails because I know many of they residents haven't had manicures in years.
I enjoy volunteering extra time in the nursing home because I love to see the smiles on my resident's faces. Sometimes small things to us are big to others. There should be more people to volunteer their time in the nursing home. I remember when I was younger I used to tap dance and we would go in a group and perform for the nursing home. The smiles on the resident's faces were priceless.
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