It has been eleven months and today at 3:00 p.m. while visiting Randy, Randy and I were asked to join the Garden Club at George Pearson Centre. This was the first time in eleven months that the sun was able to warm Randy's skin. The Garden Club meets outside during the summer on Tuesdays from 2:00 to 4:00. Although doing this was mentioned weeks before and I had purchased the seeds for a garden plot, I did not believe that it would materialize. The recreation staff included Randy in the process and Randy enjoyed the attention. I didn't say much. The sun was out, the grass was green, the people were friendly, it was idyllic. When the staff mentioned that it was approaching 4:00 p.m. Randy did not want to leave. His quality of life had been enriched...
addendum: there were a number of residents from Ward 2 (Randy's ward) and none of them appeared to be uncomfortable with me being there.
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Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
A Visit with Randy
I visited Randy this afternoon under security again. I still can't believe how stupid this is but then who am I to question Vancouver Coastal Health.
For the most part Randy was very sad. It has been eleven months since his accident and he hasn't even been outside once except for the transport from VGH to GPC. I am so proud of him for still being alive.
His nurse left Randy with me and ran out of the room. Liz wasn't going to allow me to ask her one question. No staff came by: no Marion, no Sam the social worker, nor the respiratory therapist or the speech therapist. No one. I am suppose to be getting training on how to suction Randy so that I can take him out of the building outside to the gardens. The nursing staff is not allowed to take patients out on outings. So if an immobile patient doesn't have a visitor he never sees the sun.
I was given written instructions from the speech therapist on how to assist Randy in learning how to speak with a voice enhancer. Randy has had a voice enhancer for the past two weeks and he tries very hard to talk. Today, no voice enhancer and Randy did try to talk to me but I could not understand what he was trying to say. He got very frustrated. The cruelty of GPC only gets worse with each day.
I bribed Randy with a $5.00 bill to use his wheel chair. He coveted the $5.00 as he hide it under his lap blanket. I also showed him a photocopy of my blog of yesterday and he seemed pleased. I told him he was helping all the other people who have been treated badly by the system. He understands that I have no money for lawyers so the blog is the only thing we can do. I apologized to him for not blogging everything but then for the past months I have been so emotionally upset I didn't have the energy and there was a fear that it would make matters worse.
I showed him pictures of what I was doing this weekend and I asked him to take a picture of me. It took a long time for him to coordinate his fingers so that he could push so the flash would work.
I told Randy that I had seen a touch cell phone which he might be able to use and he was very keen on that.
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For the most part Randy was very sad. It has been eleven months since his accident and he hasn't even been outside once except for the transport from VGH to GPC. I am so proud of him for still being alive.
His nurse left Randy with me and ran out of the room. Liz wasn't going to allow me to ask her one question. No staff came by: no Marion, no Sam the social worker, nor the respiratory therapist or the speech therapist. No one. I am suppose to be getting training on how to suction Randy so that I can take him out of the building outside to the gardens. The nursing staff is not allowed to take patients out on outings. So if an immobile patient doesn't have a visitor he never sees the sun.
I was given written instructions from the speech therapist on how to assist Randy in learning how to speak with a voice enhancer. Randy has had a voice enhancer for the past two weeks and he tries very hard to talk. Today, no voice enhancer and Randy did try to talk to me but I could not understand what he was trying to say. He got very frustrated. The cruelty of GPC only gets worse with each day.
I bribed Randy with a $5.00 bill to use his wheel chair. He coveted the $5.00 as he hide it under his lap blanket. I also showed him a photocopy of my blog of yesterday and he seemed pleased. I told him he was helping all the other people who have been treated badly by the system. He understands that I have no money for lawyers so the blog is the only thing we can do. I apologized to him for not blogging everything but then for the past months I have been so emotionally upset I didn't have the energy and there was a fear that it would make matters worse.
I showed him pictures of what I was doing this weekend and I asked him to take a picture of me. It took a long time for him to coordinate his fingers so that he could push so the flash would work.
I told Randy that I had seen a touch cell phone which he might be able to use and he was very keen on that.
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Sunday, May 1, 2011
No More Flowers Sunday
I went to George Pearson Centre for a walk with the doggies and to deliver pots of Kalanchoes to a few residents. I arranged for three pots to be given to Randy Michael Walker. As I was leaving at 2:45 a security guard runs up to me and tell me that I cannot give Randy any more flowers. Yesterday I was told that he had only one plant so three bright red plants won't be too much for his room considering I was told that he was given a special table dedicated for flowers. But then since I haven't been able to go and see Randy's area, maybe the table was never there and all the flowers I have been sending him were being thrashed. Liz was the charge nurse on duty today and told security that I could not give Randy flowers. The said nurse did not call me back after I left her a telephone message to call me at 3:00 p.m. But then the staff never phones me. It is as if they are told that they are not allowed to talk to me. As for friendships, I asked a woman who has been there for one year if she had made friends at George Pearson. She was on the sidewalk. She said no; this echos what Randy told me last week. I asked her why and she said it she didn't know. How can residents make true friends within George Pearson Centre when they can't even associate with each other as no one takes the first introductory step to introduce themselves as doing so is against the rules.
I Made a Terrible Mistake Part 1
I made a terrible terrible mistake. From the very beginning of my suspected problems with Vancouver Coastal Health I should have diarized everything on the blog. The events of this past week only reinforced by regret.
After the long Easter weekend in which I wasn't allowed to see Randy I arrived at George Pearson Centre at 1:00 p.m. to see Randy. I was advised that Randy did not want to see me. I told the staff member that was impossible. She said that Randy did not get out of bed. Why was he still in his bed at 1:00 p.m. He should have been dressed and in his wheelchair which is the routine at 9:00 a.m. The RN on Tuesday was Helen who had told me prior to my banning that she was always able to get Randy up into his wheelchair each day. So why wasn't she able to get Randy up. I was invited to wait for thirty minutes in case he changed his mind. He didn't. I was so angry that I proceeded to leave and a staff member said to me that if I had done anything (like walk down the hall to see Randy) it would have jeopardized further visiting rights. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to make the decision to leave as there were three security guards outside the piano room which was reserved for the three hours I was scheduled to visit Randy. Randy has always been motivated by money. I couldn't even get him to take out the garbage unless I gave him $10.00. So I went into my wallet and pulled out $30.00 and told the staff member to tell Randy I would give him $30.00 if he got out of bed and came to see me. The staff member refused. I then left. On Thursday the next scheduled visiting day I asked Randy if he told the staff that he didn't want to see me. He said NO. Although Randy cannot speak, he can move his head to indicate yes or no. But then Randy had brain damage so he could have said NO when he meant YES. The point is if Randy is of sound mind which Vancouver Coastal Health has assured me he can make his own decisions, then he is a capable man over twenty-one (he is 54) he can tell me face-to-face that he doesn't want to see me. Randy is not a stupid man. I suspect he was upset at me because I wasn't able to go and see him for a period of four days over the Easter weekend and he decided to make an issue of that. Or maybe he thought that I should go and see him in the ward bypassing security. But that was impossible as a staff member told me that she had to protect the other residents from me. I have talked to some of the residents from Pearson up by Oakridge mall (those that have power wheelchairs and hang out on the street) and none of them knew who I was or that they were afraid of me. I remember asking two of those residents if they would talk to Marion at GPC and tell her they were not afraid of me and was told by both that they would not do so as no one helped them. What a terrible institution that creates an environment that the residents do not help each other with something as simple as the truth. Oh, yes, there is also a legislated Residents Council who won't intervene as well. On one occasion outside GPC when I asked the friend of Joy who is the President of the Residents Council to take a bouquet of flowers to Randy he ran from me as if I was a leper. Prior to my banning this man and I talked often and he told me that he had been visiting Joy for over twenty years and that prior to his retirement he had worked at George Pearson Centre.
.
After the long Easter weekend in which I wasn't allowed to see Randy I arrived at George Pearson Centre at 1:00 p.m. to see Randy. I was advised that Randy did not want to see me. I told the staff member that was impossible. She said that Randy did not get out of bed. Why was he still in his bed at 1:00 p.m. He should have been dressed and in his wheelchair which is the routine at 9:00 a.m. The RN on Tuesday was Helen who had told me prior to my banning that she was always able to get Randy up into his wheelchair each day. So why wasn't she able to get Randy up. I was invited to wait for thirty minutes in case he changed his mind. He didn't. I was so angry that I proceeded to leave and a staff member said to me that if I had done anything (like walk down the hall to see Randy) it would have jeopardized further visiting rights. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to make the decision to leave as there were three security guards outside the piano room which was reserved for the three hours I was scheduled to visit Randy. Randy has always been motivated by money. I couldn't even get him to take out the garbage unless I gave him $10.00. So I went into my wallet and pulled out $30.00 and told the staff member to tell Randy I would give him $30.00 if he got out of bed and came to see me. The staff member refused. I then left. On Thursday the next scheduled visiting day I asked Randy if he told the staff that he didn't want to see me. He said NO. Although Randy cannot speak, he can move his head to indicate yes or no. But then Randy had brain damage so he could have said NO when he meant YES. The point is if Randy is of sound mind which Vancouver Coastal Health has assured me he can make his own decisions, then he is a capable man over twenty-one (he is 54) he can tell me face-to-face that he doesn't want to see me. Randy is not a stupid man. I suspect he was upset at me because I wasn't able to go and see him for a period of four days over the Easter weekend and he decided to make an issue of that. Or maybe he thought that I should go and see him in the ward bypassing security. But that was impossible as a staff member told me that she had to protect the other residents from me. I have talked to some of the residents from Pearson up by Oakridge mall (those that have power wheelchairs and hang out on the street) and none of them knew who I was or that they were afraid of me. I remember asking two of those residents if they would talk to Marion at GPC and tell her they were not afraid of me and was told by both that they would not do so as no one helped them. What a terrible institution that creates an environment that the residents do not help each other with something as simple as the truth. Oh, yes, there is also a legislated Residents Council who won't intervene as well. On one occasion outside GPC when I asked the friend of Joy who is the President of the Residents Council to take a bouquet of flowers to Randy he ran from me as if I was a leper. Prior to my banning this man and I talked often and he told me that he had been visiting Joy for over twenty years and that prior to his retirement he had worked at George Pearson Centre.
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Friday, April 29, 2011
Cruelty Inc.
I just left Randy after I visited him from 1:00 to 4:00 in the piano room at George Pearson Station. When I told him I could not see him until Monday he got angry, combative, and agitated. He kept shaking his head. No. No. No. When the nurse forced the wheelchair into the hallway, Randy put the brake on the wheelchair. He did not want to leave me.
What kind of cruel sick system do we have that treats a grown man with such contempt. I found out today that Dr. Perry Kendall, Provincial Health Officer, is responsible for this state of patient imprisonment.
George Pearson Centre is not a hospital; it is an extended care facility: a resident's home. It cannot take Randy's rights away from him without due process. The due process exercised here was that of a bully visitor who managed to engage other wanabee bullies to cause grief just for the sake that they can do it. I cannot forgive them.
In Vancouver Coastal Health's Workplace and Human Rights Policy it states Step # 1 ... Persons who experience disrespectful conduct or discrimination are strongly encouraged to engage in a conversation with the other person (s) to clarify and resolve the concerns. Although I asked for this, I was told that it was impossible.
.
83,502
What kind of cruel sick system do we have that treats a grown man with such contempt. I found out today that Dr. Perry Kendall, Provincial Health Officer, is responsible for this state of patient imprisonment.
George Pearson Centre is not a hospital; it is an extended care facility: a resident's home. It cannot take Randy's rights away from him without due process. The due process exercised here was that of a bully visitor who managed to engage other wanabee bullies to cause grief just for the sake that they can do it. I cannot forgive them.
In Vancouver Coastal Health's Workplace and Human Rights Policy it states Step # 1 ... Persons who experience disrespectful conduct or discrimination are strongly encouraged to engage in a conversation with the other person (s) to clarify and resolve the concerns. Although I asked for this, I was told that it was impossible.
.
83,502
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Easter Weekend
When I spoke to Randy on Thursday that I would not be able to see him over the Easter weekend four days because George Pearson Centre won't let me, he became very angry and tried to get out of his wheelchair as he attempted to pull out his life support tubes from his body so he could go home with me. It is still haunting his eyes in terror not wanting this to happen. Whatever the perceived wrong I did is pale to the pain Randy is suffering. Being a prisoner in his own body and the George Pearson Centre making it worse. Besides Randy what about me. All I am doing is crying, I can't sleep, and I keep having flashbacks to what caused this injustice and it is an injustice. By its own Respectful Workplace and Human Rights Policy Vancouver Coastal Health has violated both mine and Randy's Rights and by such conduct the Rights of every person and their families in residential care.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
You Can't Keep A Good Man Down
As I watched Randy leaning over trying to navigate the baby wheels of his new Transporter Chair in an attempt to make it move, I ran over to the drug store and bought him a cane. It didn't take him long to figure out if he pushed the cane on the floor his new transporter chair would move.
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