I feel more like a prison guard than a CNA

[Rlandreth]

I was told by my head nurse that we are no longer aloud to sit down and socialize with our Alzheimer's residents!! I feel as if now I should call them by their room number instead of they're name like inmates.I feel like a whiner on this website but I have to tell someone. I work in a LTC facility as a CNA. I work on an Alzheimer's and dementia unit. I love to socialize with my residents and even though they cannot put two and two together in conversations it makes them feel normal. They may mistake me as their daughter or sister and even sometimes their mother but they love to chit chat about things that only they see/think in their mind. It can be totally random things or questions or it could be about the weather outside. It all depends on their mood or time of day. Most of the CNAs don't like this wing because it's mentally draining and you have to be in their reality 24/7. I on the other hand prefer it that way.

Moving to the point!

The other day I was sitting with a group of women reteaching them how to do a puzzle and my charge nurse came up to me and told me that the assistant DON told her that we can no longer sit down. I was HEATED. I didn't mean to be rude to her, I was just mad in general and I had said back to her, "so what am I supposed to do? Hover over them like a prison guard? " She said she didn't agree with it either but she didn't want to get chewed out.

So I stood up and when I did , the women stood up too. They aren't allowed to stand because they are serious fall risks. Because I stood up they thought they could stand on their own too!! It got me so mad because these administrators don't spend enough time with these people, so they don't understand why we don't hover over them. You get on their level and talk to them because anyone feels belittled when someone stands over you and talks to you. Their chair alarms were all going off and It felt like WW3 trying to convince these women why they had to sit down in their wheelchairs. They asked me why I got to stand up and why they couldn't (keep in mind, Alzheimer's residents think they're 13, 20, 40 etc. They don't know how old they really are) or they asked me to sit down with them and I had to tell them I couldn't.

I was the center aide that day so that means I had to stay in the center , get vitals and watch the residents within my area. So even if the bed/chair alarms went off, I can't go after it or I get written up for abandoning my position. Not only could I not sit down and interact with them, I couldn't even stand near the nurses station because that was a new rule too. I just feel so detached from my residents now and I have gotten to know them on a personal level from being able to socialize with them.

I don't even feel like a caretaker anymore. I really do miss bonding with them on a personal level... I think DONs/administrators should see the unique indivual people instead of all of them as one person. Maybe then they will understand the importancy of face to face socialization and interaction. Talking to them about what's on their mind or how they feel takes their mind off of wanting to go back home and being depressed/angered because they can't. A lot of the residents try to walk out of the door to outside because they are angry and want to go home. It kills me to see how lonely they get.