Thursday, November 18, 2021

New Nurses (Diane)

Great news, everyone! Remember the nurses who visited us in October? Well, Simmoune and Kaitlyn became regulars, along with their head nurse Karen...and they've been bringing in new nurses each week! Best Day would also like to thank Emiliana, Isabel, Danielle, and Giulia for coming to visit; we hope you'll become regulars too! Today, we're sharing a story from older bud Diane in honor of our nurses:

Diane Richardson

10.12.2021

Alzheimer’s Clinic

For years I worked for Bayada Nurses, an agency that assigns Medical Professionals to clinics in hospitals for temporary staffing. I would do vitals (take vital signs), assisted the physicians in exams, give injections, do phlebotomy (draw blood), EKG’s etc. The assignment could last one day if someone called out, one week or two if someone was going on vacation, or if someone left or retired it could be indefinite.
I’ve worked at H.U.P., C.H.O.P., Presbyterian, Methodist, even at Penn Towers. I’m often offered a permanent position, but not interested. Working for an agency, you make your own schedule. Mine was no weekends, no holidays, no Mondays, no work from X-mas to New Years. No summer months (unless they offer extra pay). When I turned down assignments, I would collect unemployment.
My husband was an automotive engineer. So, I worked not out of necessity but to do what I like or enjoyed doing. I went to school when I entered my thirties for a registered medical technician and signed with the agency which is the largest medical staffing agency in the country.
So, getting to my story. I was on assignment at H.U.P. Geriatric Clinic at 36th and Chestnut. As the Alzheimer’s clinic let out, a patient learning the clinic told me he left his hat. I asked what room he was in, and he said, “I forgot.”

If you want to transcribe for Best Day, then email us at info@bestdayofmylifesofar.org. You can also share our older buds' adventures by donating to Best Day, subscribing to our newsletter, sending a note to our older buds, or following us on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter. And if you or the older buds worked as doctors or nurses then you or they can submit stories through our portal right here. We're especially interested to stories from Black older buds, but we're always looking for stories from older buds of color, older buds with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ older buds, older buds of any gender or sex, older buds of any religion, and older buds who just plain break the mold.

And don't forget to maintain contact with the older buds in your life. If you can't be there in person, please call them, email them, or message them on social media. And if they're using teleconferencing or remote events for the first time, give them a call and help them set things up. Check in on them to see how well they're getting used to these programs. Buy them a computer or an internet package if they don't have one of their own. It's a human right, after all.

Curated by Caitlin Cieri