Better Must Come

I am a nurse aide working in the home care field. Having lived in Hawaii all of my life, I have been exposed to many different ethnicities and cultures, or so I thought. The following are my experiences with a client who defines transcultural. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

Better Must Come

As soon as I finished my nurse aide training, I started job hunting and took the first position that was offered to me, which was home care. I was so nervous! I didn't know what to expect or even exactly what to do. With the address in hand, I was off to see my very first client, whom we will call "Camilla".

Upon my arrival, I began to introduce myself and was quickly interrupted by her daughter that lives with her. I was told that she did not speak or understand any English. Oh my God!! I thought. Not only was I learning how to do my job, but how was I supposed to do that with this communication barrier? Okay, I thought, I will deal with it and do my best right? Well.....

So it turns out that Camilla speaks about five other languages. She and her family are Turkish but lived in Armenia. Camilla also attended an Italian school and studied German and Arabic. Thus, she spoke Turkish, Armenian, Italian, German, and Arabic. I was not familiar with any of these languages or cultures. As an added bonus, Camilla has Alzheimer's disease that is in the more advanced stage. I spent hours researching Alzheimers and ways to deal with these type of patients and everywhere I looked, the solution involved communicating with the patient. How was I supposed to do that? How was I supposed help through any agitation or hallucination or explain that I needed to change her brief now? I had no idea what to do. For the first couple of days, I had an extremely difficult time. She would yell and I had no idea what she was saying. I could not reply in a way she could understand to try to get her to calm down. I realized that I would have to learn some words to help us, so I bought a Turkish dictionary and learned some keys words that I thought would help. Problem solved? Not exactly...Since Camilla spoke so many languages and because of her disease, she would often intertwine two or three different languages into one sentence and she sometimes didn't understand me when I spoke to her in Turkish. So, I learned some more keywords in all of the other languages. So, as far as the language problems go, better has come and I continue to learn more every day.

There was one incident when I was asking Camilla if she had to "sheesh" or "kaka" (those are the words they use for urinate and BM). She answered me with a phrase that I have heard from her before but was never able to pick up enough to translate. It just so happened that her daughter was home that day and she began to chuckle. "What did she say?" I asked. "She said that she had it, but she doesn't know where it went and if you find it, let her know" she replied. I could not help but chuckle. And then I thought, my God, what else does she say to me?

Another time, we were at the dining table and I was helping her with her breakfast. She was asking me something and it seemed pretty serious but I could not understand her. Usually, when she is asking me something, I try to read her facial expression and decide whether I should answer it with a yes or no. So, this time, I guessed yes. She let out a huge gasp and started yelling "Policia! Policia!" (police)

I quickly changed my answer to no and later found out that she had asked me if I was poisoning her. And once again, all I could do was chuckle. At least there is never a dull moment: chuckle

She and I have our own special way of communicating and the more we work together, the more we understand each other. And now when I am feeling frustrated inside, I just think how frustrating it must be for Camilla as she too must deal with the difficulties of this language barrier. And that makes me feel better and want to strive even more to do the absolute best that I can do for her. There are a couple of things that I have learned that are universal for any culture. There is no mistaking a smile and there is no mistaking love. Another girl used to talk to Camilla as if she were deaf and retarded. They are the same as any other client or patient so treat them with love, and they will love you back. I have been Camilla's caregiver for four months now and I am learning more and more every day. But for now, better has definitely come!

52 Posts

Share this post


Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..

Fantastic, Augie bear!

wow, I only hope I can ever speak that many languages! I so need to do nursing in a couple different countries until I pick languages like those up...and wow I can't believe you coped with all that with your very first position! when I'm done with school I'll have to keep reminding myself so many people do amazing things, and hope I can do half...

fantastic, ur personality, motivates me, well written , u are so beautiful on the inside. God bless you.

thts so great of you.am joining nursing next month and am really afraid but i knw av got courage and so i can make it

beautifully written - you're an inspiration

Specializes in psychiatric, UR analyst, fraud, DME,MedB.
wow, I only hope I can ever speak that many languages! I so need to do nursing in a couple different countries until I pick languages like those up...and wow I can't believe you coped with all that with your very first position! when I'm done with school I'll have to keep reminding myself so many people do amazing things, and hope I can do half...

:smokin: You will!! You sound sincere and humble and excited as to where you are going! If you keep these attitudes , you will be one of those few exceptional caregivers that will give care from your heart. Compassion can be one of the best "medicine" you can give to patients such as this. These population needs respect with firmness (for Alzheimers)in the right place. This is the stage where integrity is an important thing to the old people.

Specializes in family practice.

Wow, this story is really motivating. You as a person are very motivated and we could use a lot more of people like you in the field

Bless your sweet heart. How frustrating for you both. I'm glad that you could hang in there. I laughed out loud at the poison comment.

I have worked with pts that do not speak English... It is frustrating to think that you might miss something.

Keep up the good work.

YOU ARE AWESOME !How lucky that family is !