My name is Sophia, and I work at a beautiful upscale Senior Living Center in a park like setting with both residential and assisted living facilities. I didn't get all the education I needed to become an RN, so I am a CNA and charged with checking vital signs, turning patients that are bedridden, feeding and bathing patients, making their beds and helping them get into a wheelchair or ambulate to the bathroom or back into their beds.
I started working here about four years ago and I was a young, nervous beginner. On my first day I was taken around and introduced to the residents that I would be assigned to by the supervisor of the facility. She took me in to each apartment cottage and introduced me. I was lucky and got to work in the residential side instead of the full care side of the facility. Most of the residents seemed happy to be there and happy to meet me. This helped put me at ease. One of the last people I met was a resident named Spencer Rhodes. As we were walking to his cottage my supervisor started to explain that he was one of the more intimidating of the residents and that I should make sure I didn't let him bully me. Well, this made me very nervous because I have been known to let people like this get the best of me.
"Hello Mr. Rhodes, this is Sophia and she is starting today. She will be assisting you as needed. I hope you will get along."
"Well hello there Nancy, and a pleasure to meet you Sophia." He looked me up and down slowly, with his eyes resting on my chest. "It will be a pleasure working with you, I am sure." His ice blue eyes lifted and bore into mine.
My pulse raced a bit and I felt my face flushing as I stammered, "I hope so Mr. Rhodes."
My supervisor, Nancy, gave him a steady authoritative gaze and took me by the arm and walked me out. "Listen don't let him give you any trouble. He can be a bit of a bully, but don't let him take advantage of you. You do think you can handle him, don't you?"
"Yes.... I'm sure I can." I said nervously. I didn't want her to think I couldn't do my job. I needed this job badly and even though the money wasn't great it was better than most assisted living places and this place was so beautiful with its 40 acres of forested mountain setting.
"Good, I can see that you have some determination. You will need that and a great sense of humor for this job. Bring both everyday and I am sure you will be fine here. You will be working evening shifts for a while until you achieve seniority. Most of our residents will need help with getting to the dining room and cleaning up for bed. Each resident will have different needs and you will have to attend to them as if they were your own grandparent. You will need to get vital signs on those that might have a medical condition that we are watching. We do try to let the residents be as independent as possible without putting them at risk. Some are a little feisty, but mostly they are real good people."
She went on, "This is a very high end facility, and everyone here expects to be waited on. They have paid dearly to be here and they have high expectations. Do your best and please report any non-emergent medical problems to Jerri, she is the Registered Nurse you will be reporting to. She is off today but she will check in with you tomorrow and make sure you understand the policies and procedures and how she likes things done. Right now you need to come with me and read the employees handbook and sign the back showing that you have read and agree to comply. Later you will shadow with one of our longtime CNA's so that you can get a feel for how we do things here."
We walked down to the main office and I sat down and read the lengthy employee handbook and signed it. I was ready to get to work. Nancy took me to meet Jason the CNA that I was to shadow. I followed him around for four hours and met many of the residents that I would be caring for. The needs for each resident were vastly different and Jason gave me the lowdown on each one with musings or warnings about each one. When we got to Mr. Rhodes apartment, Jason told me that he had been a CEO at a large corporation specializing in computers. He also told me that although Spencer Rhodes could be a tough guy he was also very generous to those that showed some spirit and intelligence. "The last two nurses ended up liking him well enough." He said with a sideways glance. "They seemed to bond with him after a little time. "
"What happened to the last CNA, the one I replaced?" I asked feeling a little nosey.
Jason looked at me with a smirk and gave me the once over. "It was funny, she just gave notice and left without much of an explanation at all. The rumors were that she had come into a great deal of money and just didn't need to work here anymore. I don't know if that is true. If it is then she never said anything about it to me and I worked with her on the same shift that you will be working. I asked her what she was going off to do now, but she mostly changed the subject and wouldn't go into it." Jason went on, "You know what is really weird about the whole thing is that the girl that had this job before her left after the same amount of time here and moved to some posh neighborhood nearby. I think she ended up marrying the son of one of these old bastards we take care of, named Mr. McMillan. His son met her here and I guess he almost never left after that. She started disappearing for long times in McMillan's room and she was about to get fired because of that, when she announced she was getting married. Mr. McMillan has always been real close to his son and they still come by and stay the night with him sometimes. On those nights he doesn't need a CNA to help him, so we rarely see them. The only reason we know that they are here is because people say that they stay up real late making quite a bit of noise and the old man looks like shit when they leave. Well anyway, maybe you will end up with some serious money after you been here for two years. That is how long it took the other two if the rumors are true."
We came up to one of the larger cottages and knocked on the door. Jason opened the door when he heard Mr. Rhodes call to come on in. We moved over to him and he smiled up ruefully at Jason and then said softly, "Showing the new girl around Jason? Maybe you could help me out here; I need to get to the bathroom right now."
Jason smiled and looked at me, "He is still recovering from a nasty fall. He didn't break anything but is very badly bruised, and needs some help with getting around." He went behind Mr. Rhodes and clasped his hands under his arms and around his chest lifting him gently to a stand. "Can you help me get him to the bathroom? He can walk but he needs a little help."
"Don't talk about me as if I wasn't here, Jason!" Mr. Rhodes snapped.
I walked over to his side and put my arm around him, leaning his weight on me while Jason moved to his other side.