Wish I Knew What To Do Summary

The two situations I chose to read were “Wish I knew what to do” and “Taking care of “Old G”.” In the story “Wish I knew what to do,” a woman explains how her mother was visiting from out of state and had a stroke. Throughout her mother’s hospitalizations at different facilities in New York, she felt like her mother was being neglected and not receiving the care that a veterans family should. The story “Old G” is about a young lady that had moved to California and met an elderly man named Cruz. After getting to know him, she eventually moved him into her home and took care of him. In doing so, because she came from a wealthy family and Cruz stretched his money to last all month, she learned the value of what the smaller things in life meant.
It’s sad to say but because I am a nurse and I have worked in nursing homes, I have seen some patients being neglected by the staff and even their families as described in the first story and it makes me sick. My very first real life patient when I was in nursing school was dropped off by her family and it had been two years and no one had been back to even visit her. The second story is also a form of neglect to an extent in my eyes. Although the woman was not “obligated” to care for Cruz, she had done so for quite some time. For her to go over a year not visiting him is neglect. I am considered a “mandated reporter” which means when I see people being neglected or someone states “I want to kill myself” I am required to report it, and I do. Being in these types of situation whether it is my mother in a nursing home or I am working there, I will take whatever steps necessary to fix the problem. I treat all of my patients as if I was dealing with my mother, brothers, or grandparents. Unfortunately, some health care workers and care givers are only in it for the pay check or the assets they gain once the person being cared for leaves this
They should be arranging the medical appointments and transportation if the person is unable to do so their selves. They should be discussing the continuing care plan with the doctors and medical team involved in continuity of care. If a crisis or medical emergency were to happen, they would be responsible for calling 911 or seeking medical attention. Ultimately the care giver should fill the designated “on-call” position for the family members. Other family members and friends should provide this same support when able to do so. I do not think that taking care of a loved one should ever be placed on one person. A lot of times you see one child taking care of the parents until something happens to them and then the other siblings want to come in when it’s time to start dishing out what’s in the will. My family has actually been faced with this kind of situation before. My grandmother became very sick, and was sent home on palliative care, which means to just keep her comfortable until she takes her last breath. Fortunately my family is huge, very close, and family oriented. No one person was left to care for my grandmother alone. Everyday there were at least two to three people in the home at all