Hamilton, Ohio
3991 Hamilton Middletown Rd, Ste N, Hamilton, OH 45011
(513) 860-1616
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Dignity

Comfort Keepers In-Home Care in Hamilton, Ohio.

A few years ago, I volunteered to spend one morning and one evening with my aunt and uncle who were living in a facility. My aunt suffered from dementia and my uncle had some slight memory and physical problems. I was there because my aunt had been experiencing some periods of extreme agitation that was directed towards my uncle. To keep my aunt calm and my uncle safe, the facility required that the family temporarily provide someone to be with them around the clock.

The morning I arrived, about 10 residents were seated around 2 separate tables in the dementia unit’s dining area and, while seated, were served their breakfasts. I noticed differences in the breakfasts being served.  Everyone at my aunt and uncle’s table had bacon on their plates, except for them.  Noticing this, my uncle cried out “hey, where’s my bacon? I want bacon!” One of the aides addressed him by name and said, “you know you’re not allowed to have bacon.” That didn’t set well with him and he replied, “But, I want bacon!” His request continued to be ignored.

When I returned later that evening, they had already eaten dinner. At about 8:00 PM, my uncle said he was hungry and asked me if I had anything for him to eat. A nurse overheard him and asked him if he wanted a cookie. We followed the nurse to the kitchen to get his cookie. Using a key, she unlocked a door to a kitchen cabinet and took out a bowl filled with packaged snacks.

My uncle, known in our family for being the first in line for holiday family dinners, also loved his snacks.  With the nurse holding the bowl, my uncle said, “Let me see what you have in there.”

She ignored him, picked out a package containing 2 cookies and gave it to him. He persisted, “What else do you have in there? Let me see.”

“These are what you’re allowed to have,” was her response. With the incident at breakfast still fresh in my mind, I did a slow burn, but managed to keep my emotions under control. She was just following someone’s orders and I’m sure the orders were given to ensure his welfare -  whatever the issuer determined that to mean. However, in my opinion, I think something more important was ignored in issuing those orders.  It was not my place to say anything, but if it was, this is what I would have said:

“You’re seriously depriving a competent adult of what little enjoyment he is able to have at his age? The problem is, you see an old man in a wheel chair and I understand he can be a nuisance at times, but this is what I see: I see a young man who served his country in WWII as an infantry scout on the frontlines of France. I see a husband and a father who supported his family as a truck driver. I see a man with various interests and hobbies who worked on radios and electronic equipment at his basement work bench and then, later in life, polished rocks to make jewelry out of them. I see a man that, because of age, had to leave the home he loved to live out his life in a facility and, at 90 years of age, is now being told what he can’t have for breakfast and what he can have for a snack.”

 

At our Comfort Keepers office, every new caregiver goes through our week-long training program. As part of that, we discuss the following:

 

Allow Me to Age with Grace and Dignity 

 

Caring for seniors in their homes is a privilege.  Clients should be treated with dignity.  They deserve respect, empathy and professionalism to ensure the highest quality of care.  Caregivers not only tend to a client’s physical needs but also their emotional needs, by respecting their individuality and considering the whole person; rather than treating the client as a collection of signs and symptoms of old age.

I believe it is a fundamental right of all adults that possess the capacity to make decisions, to decide if they can have bacon for breakfast.