Come to Jesus Meetings

Okay, I have found the main key to suceed in nursing home settings. And that is a little thing I like to call, "Come to Jesus Meetings." This is my nice way of saying "get off you butt and do therapy." I have had several of these in the last few weeks. They can't be used all the time, but they are amazing tools when properly used! They have been an empowering way for me to realize that even if someone is 90 years old, they have no right to treat me like I am dirt. Most of you who know me know that I have been giving people a piece of mind since I was old enough to talk, so it has been a challange to incoorperate this in a respectufl, yet spunky way. But you gotta stand your ground, so here are a few of my favorites:

- One little lady was mean as a snake to me. Everytime I came into her room she would snap at me. One day she said, "Why don't you just get up and get yourself on out of here." And I had had enough so I said, "LOOK, I have been nothing but nice to you and you have been nothing but mean to me and I am sick of this and I do NOT deserve this." She said, "WEEEELLLLL! I am SOOOORRY!" And I said, "WELL! Thank you."
-There was one man who was beligerant and constantly ugly with me. He's pretty nonverbal but he can say "shut up" repeatedly if he needs to. So one day he got fed up with me and swung at me about 30 times and I handled it in the most mature way possible. I stepped one-sixteenth of an inch out of his swinging range and just planted a big old grin on my face and let him swing. I smiled and said, "You can keep swinging, but you aren't gonna get me." I guess part of us always had that 4 year old inside.
-Today I got tired of this lady telling me to leave her room for the 50th time and saying, "that's foolishness" OVER and OVER again, so I told her that she needed to realize that I was there for a purpose and if she wanted to get better in any way she better start listening. She still didn't listen so I told her to stick out her tounge again. She wouldn't do it and said, "Why should I do that?" So I just rambled for about a minute with as many techinical terms as I could come with about why, in fact, sticking out her tounge would be of benefit to her. After I shut up she looked at me bewildered and stuck her tounge out at me. I don't know if she was following my commands or if she found an opportunity. :)

I promise I am not a mean therapist! These people just have dementia and are confused and hateful. It's one thing to be confused, but when they are hateful over and over again, you gotta take a stand! And some of the most hard faced ones have told me that they like those of us who have spunk and don't let them walk over us. It's a game to some of them. So next time you are in a pinch, have a "Come to Jesus Meeting" and I promise amazing results!