As many of you know my mom had a hip replacement in late February and was in a rehabilitation / nursing home following the surgery for physical and occupational therapy. I can not say enough about Crandall Medical Center in Sebring, Ohio. It is connected to Copeland Oaks where my mom has lived for the past 17 years. They took very good care of her.
It takes a very special person to work in this environment. There are all kinds of nurses and aides and others who work there and each one that I encountered seemed to genuinely care for the patients whether they were long term care residents or rehab residents like my mom.
Spending as much time there as I have over the past 6 weeks allowed me the opportunity to overhear conversations in the hallways quite often. One day a resident who was probably not “with it” cussed a young aide out because she did not want ice in her water. When the aide walked down the hall with tears in her eyes I grabbed her and gave her a hug and told her that it would be okay and that she was doing good work. This past week when I was there for the last time she came into my mom’s room to refill her water. My mom proceeded to introduce me to her and she said “oh we already met—she gave me a hug when I was crying.” You never know, do you?
Various things I overhead while I was there include:
- “Why are you spitting? It’s not lady like to spit!”
- “Virginia –what’s going on? Your teeth are on your chest!”
- “Larry, you are missing a shoe. What will we do? Hold on! Don’t go! Good Lord Larry, I don’t know how you did that!”
- One day we were planting seeds in little cups for an activity. One lady looked at the dirt we were using and asked “is this goat manure?”
- Several times I got “Do you work here?””
One day we were sitting in my mom’s room talking and a lady rolled on in in her wheelchair with a pitcher of water. She insisted on pouring us drinks with her wobbly hands and I had to take over so it would not get spilled all over the place. As she backed out a nurse came in and corralled her and took the pitcher away that she had stolen from the cart the medicines are on. I guess she was practicing hospitality or something.
At a concert we attended the performer was trying to get the residents to come up with who sang the song “Celebrate”. He was giving hints like “It’s something you mix up to drink . You probably made it for your kids or grandkids.” Of course I knew he was trying to get them to say Kool and the Gang. One little lady yelled from the back row “Vodka!” I would imagine there would be social workers visiting THAT house if that was true.
It obviously takes a special person to work in health care and especially in this environment and I am grateful that there are so many who are called to do that job.
The good news is that my mom was released on Saturday and is now living in an assisted living apartment. We got her stuff moved on Thursday. My sister in law and brother and my sweet husband and I worked hard for 2 days getting things all sorted and organized and settled and even though she was a little overwhelmed I think she will settle in and hopefully love it there. We even made sure she had a neat little area to do her crafts.
But I must admit I am exhausted. So for all of you out there who have had similar experiences with your parents I tip my hat to you . It’s what we do when we love our parents. It is a privilege. 
