A close of day

in better ways ... though never far away lurking the sudden flashes ... The coping mechanisms of many names ... that would be given ... long in the winds past ... 

The different interaction with the vast array of personalities.... the suddenness of appearing in the face of those napping. It is strange being the one to approach patients after all that time. The initiator. Though the many that eagerly anticipate what we bring sitting or laying, waiting for the array of care when reliant on others. 

I know what that is like, though we never had that friendly above and beyond. The beyond I now give in time. This brief time in those that appreciate the simplest of baseline care. To care with a smile. And nothing too much trouble. As it is with human nature it is not always easy to do and get right ... The different array of taste and likes, though it is mostly appreciated. A lot enjoy the food like a lot of those who don’t. That is a big clue on those who struggle to have food etc at home. And those that actually enjoy a NHS mug or cup or beaker, or a carton of hot or cold fluids ... the norm taken for granted by the array of Costa cups, hampers of fruit, own food etc. Many, many patients have actually enjoyed the hospital food. When you have nothing, it is a feast ... 

A blank canvas

the many names brief or not at all. Each time the entry onto the wards on a unit in a Trust Hospital brings many happenings... in the 280 of those who volunteer at any one recruitment time. 

The massive learning curve anew in a different outlook. The brief all consuming intimate time when ones needs is reliant on others. The perkier patients or those confused. The cheeky or the passive. The grumbling and rumblings of those expecting a hotel service. This is outweighed far by the appreciation of not just the professionals. There are many patients or visitors who realise the hot sweaty conditions of those staff within a hospital getting food served and plated up. 

The many ways of even how the drinks are prepared and served. The finding a niche in the objectives. At least some cups, mugs or beakers are enjoyed by some. It is getting round 30 patients  the workmen at work on empty bays behind shrouds of plastic, police, relatives and friends without the tea getting stewed, or the hot water getting cooler, or milk getting warm a challenge in itself ... The many requests like a waiter for individual requests when someone approaches them with these beverages. The observational skills of bed adjusting. The pillows pumped up, a pack of wet wipes opened. Enough fluids for some patients or  NBM and all the signs in between. 

The washing of hands dealing with the array of requests that require immediate attention, before pouring the next drink, the requests left at the end of a round for other enquiries... 

Indeed the niche for like a day past earlier in the week. The patient bedside tables cleared as promptly when the meals are finished before the next rounds. ... it was chaotic which often it can be the case with staff shortages... etc. etc. etc. 

The going in earlier next week to get things tidied up, getting it spic and span as is humanly possible when a ward kitchen is multi used. In those times that happen in the rare intervals of lull., rewash, find where the clean cloths are, the array of wipes, gloves, those now required plastic barriers. The plastic green apron when serving food a example of the required requisite ... The different colours in these plastic barriers ... 

The rigour and rigorous requirements from the start to finish of these voluntary positions... The formal thank you handing back your IDs and any uniforms .... to the basic of hand sanitising on entry into the locked wars and bays on initial introduction to Matron ...

There is not many volunteers on this unit. It has been a shared learning experience. Not all those who give the time, like to do some of the tasks. The levels of time and commitment appreciated that we give at least three months minimum ... which after about 24 months from the online application to the very day of entering the front entrance of this massive modern building which I saw being built. The opening at the turn of the Millennium... is quite a lengthy process for just three months of commitment! 

A Certain large supermarket

giving a pile of goodies in choice selection of unwanted or excessive stock to charity staff. I had the benefits of that with the grab the handfuls passed to a more selective daughter. You or your Mum could use this scenarios. The silent knowing how this can become obsessive out of moderation  ....

The think you need stock lulling and lurking in most homes ...

 I am still using some of the benefits that superstores give rather landfill and good food waste ... today is one such way of continuing the productive use ... 

The Stanford Prison experiment

a film I decided to watch portraying the 1970s psychology study conducted by Professor Zimbardo 

I fell asleep 

Mind you, I had just finished a trying few hours on a ward ... One is compliant in accepting all manners of personalities... I do not need to see such studies. I have had a very personal eye opener on the mannerisms, behavioural patterns, the inadvertent mishaps. The plain cold harassment for nigh on two years with only backing off on a death, from the angle of a non professional... And then it was business as usual for some, that, that the Grenfell Tower ex residents are dealing with right now ... 

A story emerging from one resident of the tower, with at least three main ways in the concept I reacted too, in the first rumblings weeks of the tragedy. Astounding and poignant. 

My obs serving a lot of muted disgust to witnessing the amazing depths my hubby's despair went  ... to the laughter of obscene hilarity The ironies often relayed to those who sometimes listened in the following lapses so fatal of judgement on a family .... Everything in humanity and common courteous decency went out of our existence ... 

One unfortunately of many in this sometime inadvertant and deliberate barbaric world. 

Smoke and Heat Alarms

only fitted  last year to a three storey high block of social housing .... and two out of four still of  mine are not stuck up yet ....  I had to say we are not allowed to drill into two of the ceilings cos of asbestos  sealed in and not to be disturbed!!!! 

They did not know!! The counterbalance of safety !!! I am still finding the time to get this in a multitude of safety and repair issues from our own personal timeline still not done  ... I am never horrified now in how standards are ... with more tragedies getting to make the news when it is unprecedented 

Again they will roll out more issues from what will again be regulation changes ... eventually ... 

I have been here a decade for these to be seen to be installed as standard ... I still have my original smoke alarms up; I can not reach the social housing ones on the ceiling ... 

It was handy for a hubby to be on the board and various committees... I was one of the various ones post trauma, though began to get fed up of the meetings minutes being forgotten from one time to the next ... and the seemingly obvious time chronologically in lack of my own care... unfortunately that is all on hold ... I am sorting my life out to get on with those elvoving plans ... 

one knows when

those vying to be in the midst of times in minutes unique of history unfolding in journalism when they come to work on their designated time off normally... The knowledge of the one who was my soul mate now not here in the flesh, knowing exactly how they would be reacting to all in life around beyond our world ....

In a different mode of

irony and hypocrisy....

One must use visitors chairs to sit with patients who would like a volunteer to be with them for infection control purposes ... 

... yet one uses the staff room chairs which has relics from long ago and not very clean ! Love it! One of the abundance of things that tickles me. 

Also the fact my cousin has a lady he had to report a while back ... she obviously is lonely and needing some companionship ... or whatever ... She just dropped her dressing gown revealing all!  when arrived at her home with the goods.... and not those I might add! 

I have been tickled with some and some I have not. The various tales we have whether you a window cleaner, a client in the home, the training housing officers and other professionals in support work roles receive ....  on not getting blocked in the clients home, the way sharp implements are used etc ... the call signs to the office ... 

And the general public on violation of flashers etc, people on transport trying it on. The verbal violation too on speaking with my hair stylist ... her confidence on driving dipped with a bad driving instructor techniques verbal repose in opposite  .... 

My first professional driving instructor had wandering hands ... I soon re booked and forked out for double sessions instead with a lady from a neighbouring town !!! 

MacMillian Nurses ...

leaves an astonishing impact on the legacy of a loved one needing palliative care and the wider family  ... we still fondly talk about and see those in this community including the husband and wife part of the team who shared the care then ... 

One was pulled out to do an investigation. And Dad didn't see for a while There seems to be no dedicated customer service area or should it be patient customer care which enables those to care to care ... and keep continuity in patients at end of life particularly...

I found it disturbing for my husband's end of life care in mental combined physical attributes not there ... The rage and anger that surfaced in so many people towards us ... has left me speechless 

Dealing with Clients In metal health

the best tips ...

• 100% Focus 
• Switch phones to vibrate and LCD code for emergency only calls 
• No desks 
• sit informally in chairs 
• Look, observe outside the normal guidelines perimeters 
• Take the environment into consideration 
• Harsh lights. Flashing shadows. Noise. 
• Don't leave clients standing for long periods at reception. ...too much multitasking or chittering going on ... 
• acknowledge with more than a grunt and sourpuss face when we arrive ... 
• More respectable décolletage and no sight of ass ... of every type ... hairy décolletage included 
• Dress code is the worst of all agencies 
• call system into office is ragged ... that is a whole other deal ... 

Mental Health

... Is hypocrisy still made difficult for what you cannot always see !!! The patience of many today in a capital city people do not always appreciate... 

Another ... One Friday ...

in a town North West of England. A town where a daughter went to uni. A town now settled with a boy there who comes from Staffordshire... 

They live in an quiet oasis on the edge of a town centre in a Grade II listed railway cottage. 

It is a beautiful setting for a town considered the butt of much. The stumbling block of a holiday romance pursed by a bloke who said the same of all those I have been in contact with up here, Even though the attempt was rebuffed by myself. the conversations of life about the town, carried on.

Yesterday the rupture of time away was interacted with that of a daughter coming home from work. Her arms laden with a certain store who had given donations to the charity! 

YIKES! 

My daughter knew my reaction would be indifference in the products and more at the hoard of this, that would have gone to landfill ... 

Yes, a better place in using goods, only in the rabble of those with my daughter, they threw over armfuls of the same products that would never be physical used by one family ... let alone one person ... This is not the first time... we have seen this ...

The laws governing sells of goods. The uneven distribution world wide ... 

It would be better to put some of these goods in store for first come ... first served ... I too have seen this in the past sold at a penny ... it would soon leaves the store ... 

The needy actually getting some products ... the right distribution methods ... before it is filtered through! 

These products on this particular batch were apart from beverages non perishable ...

All in all ... It ends up with a portion used, though those with hoard tendencies, gather in abundance eventually going to landfill anyway!  The impossibility of ever using what is shoved out of sight, or the quantity... 

Yes experience of living with two hoarders speaks! 

... and the products offered to help your self to on this occasion ranged from Travel plugs for America or New Zealand, to air freshener for the car, stationery, device covers, cleaning products Sun screen to name some ...