Long Term Care-My TEMPORARY Home

  -When I first came to Long Term Care, I was considerably younger than I am now. I remember sitting in the dining room and thinking, "What on earth am I doing with all those old people ?" The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "These people are often forgotten but they are still My people."

Because both of my grandfathers died before I was born and my grandmothers passed while I was still quite young, I was never around elderly people much. Even now, I don't see the other people in here that much as I spend most of the time in my room, either on my computer or resting in bed. However, I do see them at meals. It has given me more understanding and compassion for seniors.

One word I would use to describe people in a facility like this is "lonely". The nurses are really good with these people but they always have work to do so they don't have a lot of time just to visit. I am thinking that is where family and friends should come in. Some of the the families are really good and spend a lot of time here. Then others come sometimes but not as often. Unfortunately, there always seem to be some people who never seem to get any visitors. Unless, of course, they come when I am in my room. There are a couple things that bothers me about the visitors that these people do get. One is when they breeze in, spend five minutes and breeze out again. The other thing that irritates me is when people come to visit somebody and spend most of the time talking to somebody else. It has been done to me too so I know it doesn't feel very nice.

Another word to describe this place would be "tedious". The same thing at the same time day after day. There is recreation staff who plan activities for these people and do take them on outings. Unfortunately, they have to use the handibus so that limits the number of people they can take at one time. I go with them once in awhile but not often. I get out more so I figure leave it for others.

The rent here is not cheap but when you consider that it includes food and everything keeps getting more and more expensive, I don't imagine they have much choice but to set the rent as high as it is. The food is not bad, most times and there is always plenty of it but it is definitely not gourmet! The worst thing is the same food cooked the same way over and over and over.

When I first came to Long Term Care, different churches used to come and give little services once a week but that fell by the wayside and now the only church group that comes here are the Catholics. I am really not too sure why they stop coming but I have sometimes wondered if it had something to do with the fact that these people are not very responsive.

Life in Long Term Care is hardly thrilling but, like all of us, I need to be thankful for where God has chosen to put me RIGHT NOW. It could be a lot worse and it has taught me an appreciation for the elderly that I never had before.