Daily Archives: August 13, 2019

Hazardous Workplace

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About a week or two ago I was asked by one of my employer’s, because I do both retail and healthcare work, if I’d cover a three day fill in shift.

So I agreed to work the temporary assignment and I was given a little prior information and detail into the case.

When I arrived to my client’s residence I inhaled the strong odor of urine as soon as I walked through the door.

The mother of my client greeted me, lead me toward her son’s bedroom, then introduced me to him.

On the way through the home, I also inhaled a nasty odor reeking from the woman who was up in age.

The man was in his fifties and paralyzed on one side of his body due to a stroke. He was also overweight and wore a diaper.

I told him the diaper was too small as the fasten wasn’t reachable to cross over to the other side.

The man had gotten slightly offended by my words and uttered out to me, “I hate when people come and tell me the diaper is too small. These diapers are not too small I’ve been wearing this size diaper for years”.

I hadn’t meant any harm but the diaper was a bit too small to give him adequate protection to urinate and to move his bowels within.

In all honesty, I don’t know if manufacturers actually designed disposable diapers large enough to accommodate someone of his measurements.

Anyhow, we got past the disagreement, and I helped him out of bed with his diaper that didn’t properly fit, and all.

I helped him dress, put his leg brace on, I helped him balance himself, then I motioned him into his wheelchair and wheeled him into the porch to take his medication.

His mother was unable to push his wheelchair around the house because of his heavy weight. He needed someone to attend to him day and night. I was only there for the day shift he already had someone scheduled to come later on within the evening.

I’m between one hundred and thirty-five pounds to one hundred and forty yet I was able to lift him by the back of his pants to give him a jolt and I was able to push his chair.

It was all about technique to me, though, the man was indeed quite a load to bear, especially carrying the dead weight on one side of the body.

A physician came later that morning as a routine visit. This is how I found out exactly how much my client weighed. The doctor acknowledged the man was five hundred and thirty-five pounds, also addressing that he was morbidly obese, and since he was unable to proficiently stand or walk there was no way for him to exercise sufficiently.

He would just have to sit and lay and accumulate more pounds and additional health problems.

My mother didn’t understand how in the hell I helped to lift and push my client’s five hundred pound ass around his residence and tolerate the foul smells in which I professionally did.

The mother and the son were both nice and welcoming toward me and the man had apologized for his earlier attitude. The rest of the time that I had spent there had turned out very well, and the family was looking forward to my return.

However, I never made it back there. It just wasn’t meant to be. I had to call out for the other two days I was supposed to show up. My spirit just wouldn’t allow for me to go back under those hazardous conditions.

I also couldn’t take the chance of my client getting nervous due to the man’s confidence issues that he had revealed to me.

What if an accident occurred and he happened to have fallen on me? Then I may have been the one in need of attention and medical care.

Therapy Dogs

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When I worked at one of the assisted living facilities I often occupied there were therapy dogs often brought in to offer emotional support, mental stimulation, and companionship toward the elderly.

In my opinion, therapy animals are lovely resources for any age group to pleasantly and significantly benefit from.

For those who are receptive to canines therapy dogs are a great enhancement to the lives of people and within the lifting up of the spirits to those in need of a humane connection.

It is particularly very assistive within the elderly environment to receive the therapeutic attributes in which a loving, friendly, affectionate, and comforting trained dog can provide to them.

The dogs themselves deserve the proper care and respect in return for all they do and the sacrifice they undertake in order to cater to our charitable (human) causes.

Canines have feelings and needs too and sometimes people don’t take into account how they may get overwhelmed and taken advantage of within their own doghood life periods.

Dogs are living beings also and shouldn’t constantly have their precious moments stolen away.

They need our therapeutic modes of solicitous and considerate treatment as well.

Bad Bodily Odors

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One doesn’t have to work in the medical field or as a caregiver to come across some of the worst odors.

We often smell a lot of funk through out everyday life depending where we’re at and who we are around.

It’s just those of us who’ve held jobs within a healthcare setting tend to and are more prone to encounter bad hygiene at an enormous rate as our workplaces cater primarily to people and wellness issues.

An array of individuals commonly walk through the doors and occupy residence at hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.

Us people who undertake caregiver roles deal with people constantly all day long on a day to day basis with all type of conditions and ailments and are bound to definitely come into contact with notorious odor.

I remember how once, before I ever thought about working in the medical/ healthcare field, my mother and I were inside the emergency room of a hospital when this bum came in drooling from the mouth with a tall can of beer.

After he’d sat and been there for a while, a female medical technician who’d entered the lobby of the place from time to time finally went to respond to him.

Once she fully observed him and paid more attention to him she noticed his behavior, appearance, and the can of beer he had brought in with him.

The medical technician turned to look at my mother and I and said “Why didn’t you tell me he had a can of beer? She then said aloud, “Oh great, now I’m going to have to deal with his stinking feet”.

I internally sympathized with her because she seemed like a decent person of substance.

With all of this lady’s experience and familiarity within her field of work she knew just by looking at the man what she was in for by having to attend to him that evening.

Some people’s feet smell so bad that it’s impossible to get the odor out of fabrics.

There was a guy who came to my house once and he had his bare feet resting against the carpet of the room.

The odor had gotten trapped into the carpet and no matter how much I vacuumed the odor wouldn’t leave or fade away I even tried sprinkling baking soda to kill the smell and that was useless.

I ended up having to eventually pull up the carpet to throw it away.

I’ve also been in a house with a guy who’s odor was so bad the funk had gotten embedded within the mattress and he was well aware of the problem as he told me he had tried everything from ammonia to drive away the smell yet it was still set in.

These occurrences are nothing new.

I remember a neighbor of mine had to throw away her upholstered chair on account of another female neighbor who had smelled it up so bad.

A relative of mine had to throw away an article of clothing she had loaned to one of her great-nieces because her underarms had stunk up the material and ruined the chance of her ever wearing the item again.

There are so many experiences I could share too many to write about, stories in which would make one holler, “Woo!”