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| Photo from The endless disconnect |
Hester came to our facility about 5 weeks ago. Our DON didn't want to admit her because her record stated that she originally went to the acute hospital due to suicidal attempts. It said that she had become withdrawn since her husband died. She had taken knives and attempted to stab herself and tried to jump off a second story balcony. I felt like we needed to admit her (and it wasn't just because she had good insurance either). Initially we had a C.N.A. with her constantly one to one. We removed the call light and gave her a bell. She had plastic serving utensils The DON and I had intense discussions about removing the one to one, but we finally did it (sooner than the DON wanted and later than I desired). Initially I went in every morning to see Hester but she wouldn't even look at me. She looked angry. At first she wouldn't eat.
Hester only speaks Cantonese. I have staff who can speak Tagalog, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish. I have only one staff person who can speak some Cantonese-Tao. She went in and tried to talk with Hester daily. At first Hester wouldn't even look at Tao. She never talked to Tao. I talked to the kitchen on Hester's second day and got them to make her a rice soup porridge type dish that I notice many of our Asian patients enjoying. After Tao ate one spoonful first, Hester gobbled that right up. The kitchen kept making that for her since at least she would eat it. They would make her the regular meals plus the rice porridge soup. She initially would only eat the soup. We had to continue to eat one bite first. Hester wouldn't take any of her medications when she first came.
Her nephew visited on her 5th day. Hester gathered up all her belongings to follow him out when he left. She seemed angry that she did not get to go with him. For the first few weeks it continued like this.
Then we stopped having to take a bite of the food first. She started taking her medication. We gave her regular utensils. She began eating bites of the other food. She started eating anything we gave her. She began to come to the door of her room if she wanted something such as a snack or roll of toilet paper for her bathroom.
One day she gathered up all her belongings and went to the front hallway. Eventually we had to take her back to her room. She started routinely seeking out snacks and occasionally coming out of her room to take short walks in the hallway. She would look at Tao when Tao spoke to her.
The other day Tao mentioned that Hester is now speaking to her a little bit on her daily visits. Tao said that Hester still won't come into the group activity or dining room for a meal but that she's at least talking with her. Yesterday I saw Hester out of bed and standing beside the bed of her room mate. She was curiously examining her sleeping room mate. Hester was taking an interest in someone else!
Hester is going to be all right.
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