Strange Story

so i do not work in nursing homes. i have always been a, icu / er nurse. however i have a good friend who is the don of a small, private nursing home. very occasionally, like once a year i have filled in on night shift for her when she was desperate and scrapping the bottom of the barrel to fill a night shift.

so my friend calls me at the last minute saying she is out of town and her night nurse called in and she has nobody to cover it. the day nurse is already working a double so can't stay for nights, could i please, please cover the shift? it's a really easy job for the rn and i usually just end up reading or surfing the net most of the shift. i help the cna turn a few patients and give the occasional prn. so i agree and head into the nursing home.

i am working with a very nice young cna, we will call her "jane". jane is 17 years old and in high school, she works every saturday night at the nursing home and i was told she was "excellent" and really knew her job and the residents.

so about 2400 jane asks me if i can help her turn mr. smith (not his real name). mr.smith is an older man who has been paralyzed from the waist down for years. he is also a big man and heavy and a stroke in the past left him mostly nonverbal. i say sure and we head in there. jane talks to mr.smith like they are old friends. we adjust the bed and grab the draw sheet, as jane leans over the bed mr.smith's hands shoot up onto her breasts. jane doesn't even flinch. after boosting him, as we were walking out of the room i ask her why she tolerates mr.smith grabbing her breasts? jane says to me:

"oh that mr.smith has always done that, it keeps him calm". !!!

every two hours the rest of the night the same thing happened, and according to jane he has done that for as long as she has worked there. i offered to have a talk with mr. smith for her, jane just shrugged and said she doesn't mind and that he tends to get upset and moody if he doesn't get to do it.

my first thought was "holy cow! they should put this in the brochure and they would have a waiting list for beds in this home". my second thought was that there was a real generation gap in what is and isn't acceptable in evidence here (between jane and i).

i did fire off an email to my don friend.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

maybe it fill a need for Jane too

[Amanda.RN]

Glad you emailed the DON. That's very inappropriate. I would think that at 17 years old she would have a better understanding of right vs wrong, and more self-respect, but...?

[MySonIsAdorable]

Yeah honestly...I don't even know what to say to that story. That is a good story of what not to do, or allow to happen.

[noahsmama]

Bad enough that she's tolerating it, but it also means that any other female who turns him is likely to get the same treatment. Totally unacceptable, and even at 17 she ought to realize that.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Oy. Thank you for addressing this blatant impropriety.

[systoly]

I so hope Jane's behavior is not due to what she has been subjected to in her upbringing. I can tell you as a parent I'd make holy **** rain down on the facility.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

Is it wrong that I started laughing when I read this?

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

Is it wrong that I started laughing when I read this?

Only if you don't mind a LOL grabbing your sac when you turn her. Every. Single. Time.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

Is it wrong that I started laughing when I read this?

*** When I tell this story in person it always gets laughs.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

maybe it fill a need for Jane too

*** Oh I never thought of that!

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

Keep in mind, this is the generation that doesn't think oral sex is "sex" The Washington Post did a story about it.

So a "feel up" probably is nothing to her. I'd be yelling "NO" and wouldn't go into the person's room without another person present. What if a family member walked in and said she was molesting grandpa?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=sexuality%20in%20middle%20school&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-srv%2Fstyle%2Ffeatures%2Fstudents070899.htm&ei=IsigTuGkC6Xi0QGvm4GlBQ&usg=AFQjCNESzsLGcA5eqvq_Gv1KQBTFhxNmyw