One of the hardest things in skilled Nursing is working with residents that are severely impaired. If it’s severe dementia or a massive stroke, these residents can be some of the most challenging to work with.
Low functioning does not mean lack of living
Sometimes your caring hands and some physical interaction can significantly impact someone’s life. It’s hard to realize some times how easily someone can lose ROM when they are unable to move. Can you imagine the feeling of just wanting to straighten your leg or move the bed sheets but had no ability to?
Sometimes some simple range of motion and gentle stretching by trained and heeling hands can help ease discomfort and help with a more comfortable position in a bed or wheelchair. It is an amazing feeling to just feel a lack of range of motion ease up and see the joint allow more movement. Just imagine what it feels like for that resident to feel that release and movement!
Sometimes just the interaction is therapeutic
Sometimes it can be easy to forget how lonely it must be for someone in that position. Just the human interaction when you have hands on movement with a low functioning resident can make a huge difference in that person. Human touch and talking and listening for 30 mins is much more than they get consecutively through the day. Think of how lonely that can be and we have the ability to spend time with these residents. Sometimes it gets too easy to take for granted that they deserve some help and kindness too. You could be completely changing their life for even just one day. Life is precious and scarily short.
I’ve always found that when I talk about their past lives it brings out responses to a deeper and sometimes forgotten memory. It is surprising what comes up to the surface. For a moment reliving the past is therapeutic.