I brought my thank you gifts of flowers and pastries to the staff of my dad’s nursing home last night. They were very appreciative and I felt good about it. I had to go out of my way to buy the stuff and write the note, something that my wife does all the time, but rarely me. And since he’s is no longer in the unit where these people work, it’s not even manipulative!
So Dad’s now in the ‘warehouse’ section, where there’s mix of pretty functional folks with semi-basket cases like him. I got there at dinner time last night, and I about croaked from the smell of cigarette smoke in the dining room. They don’t allow folks to smoke during dinner but evidently before and after. Ugh.
There are about 50 residents on his floor and nearly all get wheeled into the dining room for meals. Dad’s tray was among the first to come and I was glad because he was starving and it took the entire two hours to feed him. I liked the staff, though. Most seemed cheery and they were friendly with one another as well as with the residents. But the sad fact was, those residents who couldn’t feed themselves didn’t get enough time from the staff. There’s just too many and not enough time.
So I’ll try to get there once a day for the time being. It’s a pain, because it’s 45 minutes away. It would be easier if he’d show more improvement. It seems crass to feel that way, though. I should just feed him because he’s hungry. He said “Yeah” very quietly twice last night so I guess that’s progress. And his eyes seemed to be focusing better. So I’m still hopeful he’ll clear out whatever these cobwebs are.