Showing posts with label support.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label support.. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sea of Love
Love is a mighty splendid thing. It is a wonderful emotion that is vital to our very existence. It is the thing that keeps us going when times get hard, it is that thing that gives us warm fuzzies inside when it happens. When we fall into that sea of love it tends to overtake all that we are, and occupies us to a whole new level. Love is that very thing we draw to when we have feeling have been hurt or someone / something has wounded our heart. Love lives within us. It is there and we chose who and when to display that love to others. Amazingly there are different kinds of love, there is the loves we have for our spouse, our children, friends, family members, church family, out priests or pastors, the teachers that our children love, or hate because they are a little tough on them to help them achieve their full potential in the classroom. Yet, we don't really think about Love that way, we know the thoughts and feeling of love, and we seem to run with it when it happens.
Yet, there is so much more to love then the simple emotion. There are the actions of love as well. That someone thinks of you often helps you when you are down because they care for you and about you. Love is there in the daycare, where you leave the children for 8 to 10 hours a day. Love is present in the nursing homes where the elderly are left and no one come to visit. The staff is there to talk to them, hold their hands, listen to their stories, and simply share life with them when they are feeling blue. Love is there in the ER when the doctors and nurses are running around to save or help the one that you love feel better, or if one passes they are there to help you grieve, bring you resource to help you deal with the death of a loved one that is unexpected, they listen, they care for you and all that has just happened. They are there because not only do they love to help others, but they are also a source of support and a listening ear when things go wrong. There is love that is happening in rehab home as those who are there are struggling to learn or relearn skills. The staff are there to rejoice with them when small steps are going right and there is an improvement, it may be a small one that is easily overlooked, but to the individual it is amazing, and staff understand that and rejoice with them.
There is love in the supermarkets, the Target stores, the Wal-Marts, Kohls and any other business that one may go to on a daily basis for work. There is a sense of family that is able to develop around you with co-workers. We start to develop friendships at work. There are people we like to talk to when things go wrong, others we can tell anything too, and some we like to shop with or go out with at the end of the night. In it all there is a friendship that forms and binds us to one another and at the center of it is Love. Love is there when we worry about a co-worker is not coming to work, and we are not sure what has happened to them. We have a bond with those individuals that tend to go a little deeper then just a person we work with, when essential we come to care and love them as a part of a extended family. We may not celebrate holidays with them but yet we care for them and worry about them if something is going wrong in their lives and all seems to be crashing down around them.
Although, at the center of all love is God. He is love, he shows us His love by dying on the cross and taking all the sins that we have ever committed or could ever conceive of committing and wipes our slate clean. He loves us with an love that there is no other love that is able to compare to it. It is a love that is always present in us, we know that God cares and loves us on a daily basis, and that there is no way we can earn that love. Rather, His love is freely give to all those who are willing to accept Him and walk with Him, talk to Him through prayer. We are able to run to Him in our times of need and never, ever will He call us needy, or childish! He is there waiting and wanting to shower us with His love is we go to Him. We are able to learn about Him through reading and worshiping Him in our homes, along with attending mass / church on Sunday morning. If we are truly lucky we are able to attend church or mass more so we are able to commune with Him on a more intimate level. By growing in God and in His Love we are able to reach out to other and show them the Love of Christ through our action, our words and by just being a Child of God in these hard times. We have the opportunity to love and be loved by the Father in Heaven, why not accept the free gift that he offers us and walk in His love daily.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Healing After the Rage!
In the news over the last weekend there is a story about a senseless crime, a horrible shooting where several people died, or are still in the hospital and are in critical condition. It is a something that tends to draw a crowd, when a senator goes out into public to talk to the people that they are to represent. It is in a sense a part of their job to meet with the community. Yet, on this particular day there is an event that occurs that draws the people of the community and nation together once again. It is then that the community draws near to support those in need, those who are grieving and to try and understand what has just happened in the area and why.
The individual that is in custody is now behind bars and awaiting arraignment, yet that does not heal the hurt, the pain that the individual has caused to so many families. We look for answers in the clues that the individual has left in the area, home, work place, friends and family. The community and the families that are directly affected are looking for the answers, and there are none at this time. So that may leave us with a sense of void, feeling violated within our own town. Now we look for healing and something to pull us together as a community and help build that trust in one another again.
So where do we start, what do we do as a community to support one another and help each other through the horrible event that has just occurred to us? The people of the community start by pulling together and drawing on their faith. They seek out answers and look for reasons that may or may not be there, but that pain that all that has happened is still there in our hearts. We look for inner healing and peace to return to us and those who are around us.
As a community we turn to our faith in God, we look to Him for answers, for understanding, peace and love to return to all of those who effected. Yet, why would God allow all this to happen? It is not that He allowed it to happen, since we all have free will but rather, we are in a war daily and on that day the battle came and reared it ugly head.
One way we do this is by devoting some time each day to God. Time in prayer, reading the Bible, and finding His inner peace and love to comfort us in this urgent time of need. We look to God for comfort that cannot be found in other things or places. By seeking out the Heavenly Father, He is there, He comes to us in our time of need if we are willing to reach out to Him.
The heavenly Father is there to wipe the tears of the heart, bring comfort, and even joy in the morning when the storm has settled and we start to pick up the pieces of life. He is there to help us trust others in the community once again.
The individual that is in custody is now behind bars and awaiting arraignment, yet that does not heal the hurt, the pain that the individual has caused to so many families. We look for answers in the clues that the individual has left in the area, home, work place, friends and family. The community and the families that are directly affected are looking for the answers, and there are none at this time. So that may leave us with a sense of void, feeling violated within our own town. Now we look for healing and something to pull us together as a community and help build that trust in one another again.
So where do we start, what do we do as a community to support one another and help each other through the horrible event that has just occurred to us? The people of the community start by pulling together and drawing on their faith. They seek out answers and look for reasons that may or may not be there, but that pain that all that has happened is still there in our hearts. We look for inner healing and peace to return to us and those who are around us.
As a community we turn to our faith in God, we look to Him for answers, for understanding, peace and love to return to all of those who effected. Yet, why would God allow all this to happen? It is not that He allowed it to happen, since we all have free will but rather, we are in a war daily and on that day the battle came and reared it ugly head.
One way we do this is by devoting some time each day to God. Time in prayer, reading the Bible, and finding His inner peace and love to comfort us in this urgent time of need. We look to God for comfort that cannot be found in other things or places. By seeking out the Heavenly Father, He is there, He comes to us in our time of need if we are willing to reach out to Him.
The heavenly Father is there to wipe the tears of the heart, bring comfort, and even joy in the morning when the storm has settled and we start to pick up the pieces of life. He is there to help us trust others in the community once again.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Hospice care
One of my jobs at the nursing home is to take care of the hospice patients, along with my long term residents. The only real difference is that there is a help a phone call away when a patient is hospice. If you have a question all you do is call and they will walk you thorough the problem or situation and give you any needed guidance, or they are there to bounce off what you are thinking, in the middle of a problem that involves a hospice patient. I love working with the hospice staff when they are in the facility. They are a true blessing.
We often will have assistance from hospice when the patient is getting closer to death. It can involve anything form 24 hour nursing care that hospice will prov ide for the resident to a volunteer sitting with the patient around the clock to give the family members a break, and be ensured that their loved one will not be left alone. It should be stated that once a patient becomes hospice the level of their care does not change by the nursing home staff. They are still care for as they were prior to them becoming hospice. Once they are hospice it does not change the fact that the patient is dying, but hospice does not prolong the process or hurry the dying process. It is an individual expericene that varies according to each person. They all progress through the same stages, but some go quicker or slower then others. The hospice patient can also last longer then what one may think. We have had several patients that were hospice, actually start to thrive and do well, thus they are taken off hospice since they are expected to live longer then the 6 months that was predicted when they were admitted to hospice.
As a nurse with hospice patients we deal with death and the administration of pain medication and other liquid meds that are ordered by the hospice MD. The purpose of these medications is to keep the patient comfortable as they progress closer and closer to death. We use the liquid meds when the patients progress to the point where they are not able to swallow pills or become unresponsive to verbal and tactile stimuli. At this point they are able to swallow the liquids and are able to get some relief from the pain and anxiety that they are experiencing as they progress in the dying process.
Part of our job at this point is to administer the medications every hour to every 2 hours around the clock to control the pain of the dying patient as they progress closer and closer to death. Hospice is very good about controlling the pain in their patients. They meet with the patient often to ensure that they are not experiencing any pain and if they are they will adjust the medications accordingly.
We are there to support the family as their loved one makes the journey to the other side or towards heaven. We assist in calling the minister to have them anointed, along with giving them emotional support at this time. We are there in the nursing home and are communicating with them what is happening to their loved one as they get closer and closer to death.
After the death of the patient / resident hospice will continue to follow the family and provide counseling, and continued support for the family up to a year after the death. They will continue to help the family deal with the loss of their loves one.
http://www.hospicenet.org/index.html
We often will have assistance from hospice when the patient is getting closer to death. It can involve anything form 24 hour nursing care that hospice will prov ide for the resident to a volunteer sitting with the patient around the clock to give the family members a break, and be ensured that their loved one will not be left alone. It should be stated that once a patient becomes hospice the level of their care does not change by the nursing home staff. They are still care for as they were prior to them becoming hospice. Once they are hospice it does not change the fact that the patient is dying, but hospice does not prolong the process or hurry the dying process. It is an individual expericene that varies according to each person. They all progress through the same stages, but some go quicker or slower then others. The hospice patient can also last longer then what one may think. We have had several patients that were hospice, actually start to thrive and do well, thus they are taken off hospice since they are expected to live longer then the 6 months that was predicted when they were admitted to hospice.
As a nurse with hospice patients we deal with death and the administration of pain medication and other liquid meds that are ordered by the hospice MD. The purpose of these medications is to keep the patient comfortable as they progress closer and closer to death. We use the liquid meds when the patients progress to the point where they are not able to swallow pills or become unresponsive to verbal and tactile stimuli. At this point they are able to swallow the liquids and are able to get some relief from the pain and anxiety that they are experiencing as they progress in the dying process.
Part of our job at this point is to administer the medications every hour to every 2 hours around the clock to control the pain of the dying patient as they progress closer and closer to death. Hospice is very good about controlling the pain in their patients. They meet with the patient often to ensure that they are not experiencing any pain and if they are they will adjust the medications accordingly.
We are there to support the family as their loved one makes the journey to the other side or towards heaven. We assist in calling the minister to have them anointed, along with giving them emotional support at this time. We are there in the nursing home and are communicating with them what is happening to their loved one as they get closer and closer to death.
After the death of the patient / resident hospice will continue to follow the family and provide counseling, and continued support for the family up to a year after the death. They will continue to help the family deal with the loss of their loves one.
http://www.hospicenet.org/index.html
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