On Saturday my luck with staff was not any better. The nurse dropped
off a suction machine. I said could I ask her a question. She said that she had to run as she had to attend to
someone...
However, I must be feeling better as I
went to Safeway today and purchased an oven cleaner so I will be merrily cleaning my oven tonight while listening to CBC radio.
A good mental health breakthrough.
I spoke briefly to Jackie Bellamy from Ward 4 this afternoon. The elder lady I posted about last week. I can still see her racing in her wheel chair down 57th towards Cambie not knowing or caring where she was going. She was angry as her fleece top was wet and the nurse on her ward won't change it as the nurse was to have a break. If you have limited mobility in your torso and can't dress yourself being treated in such a disrespectful way can cause you to want to end it all. I always thought Jackie liked it in George Pearson as she participates in all it offers: recreation, concerts, church, swimming, residents council, etc. But she told me today she can't afford to live on her own so she has no choice. I asked her if management apologized to her for her being left in a wet fleece top. She said no. So much for George Pearson as I did tell the manager to talk to Jackie and also to the nurse who decided her break was more important than the comfort of Jackie. I remember the day: it was chilly outside. Jackie is in her 80s; how cruel can these employees be. Using the word cruel might seem harsh, but that is what it is. I suspect someone should report the uncaring nurse to the union as management hasn't done anything..
When I was looking for a lawyer last year, the lady lawyer I spoke to said that VCH had no morals or ethics. But it is worse than that. GPC must be the dumping ground for employees that no other hospital wants.
Randy has been very calm these past few days so I have been very calm. He is looking forward to attending Rick Hansen and Celebration 25 on Tuesday.
112.702
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Saturday, May 19, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
It didn't work
At 8:00 am Thursday I phoned Ward 2 at GPC and told Tanu, the head nurse, that I would be visiting Randy at 2:00 and we would be going to the open house as per my note on Wednesday. She said to me that there would be someone to escort me and Randy to the Open House in the activity room (the 60th anniversary of George Pearson Centre) with the explanation that I would have to be supervised so that I didn't talk to anyone and no one could talk to me. Tanu doesn't do very well under pressure and she says things that astound. It didn't even occur to me to plan to say anything to anyone. I thought the open house was for the community/neighbourhood as GPC already had a RSVP function a few days earlier.
When I arrived Randy said that he didn't want to go to the open house and in our exit we collided with Sam Sullivan (the former mayor of Vancouver who lives life in a wheelchair). I introduced him to Randy and asked him if he would look into my ridiculous banning. The most influential person in the City of Vancouver ... someone VCH won't want me to talk to....
And then to make my day Randy indicated that he needed a suction. After I suctioned him I asked one of the nurses from Ward 2 to check on Randy as I wasn't sure of his breathing. The nurse said his shift ended at 3:00 pm. It was 3:04 pm and he walked away knowing full well of my banning and the difficulty I would have in getting assistance. I just can't walk down the hall and fetch a nurse and even if I could they always seem to be hiding in a private room or behind curtains in the open ward and at shift change are having a closed door briefing in their lounge and there is no one on the floor.
112,250
When I arrived Randy said that he didn't want to go to the open house and in our exit we collided with Sam Sullivan (the former mayor of Vancouver who lives life in a wheelchair). I introduced him to Randy and asked him if he would look into my ridiculous banning. The most influential person in the City of Vancouver ... someone VCH won't want me to talk to....
And then to make my day Randy indicated that he needed a suction. After I suctioned him I asked one of the nurses from Ward 2 to check on Randy as I wasn't sure of his breathing. The nurse said his shift ended at 3:00 pm. It was 3:04 pm and he walked away knowing full well of my banning and the difficulty I would have in getting assistance. I just can't walk down the hall and fetch a nurse and even if I could they always seem to be hiding in a private room or behind curtains in the open ward and at shift change are having a closed door briefing in their lounge and there is no one on the floor.
112,250
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Cruel and Unreasonable
What is happening to me is cruel and unreasonable. Randy is in a high risk ward which means he is at high risk of infection and certain death and yet he and I are treated as if we are part of the general population which is stable and does not need specialized care.
Today being May 9 2012 while I had Randy at home I noticed around 4:00 p.m. that he was hot. He seemed to have a fever but I wasn't sure. I was worried because he was having heavy secretions but when the RT phoned she assured me that was okay but I neglected to tell her of the suspected fever. And later his trach secretions were getting thicker and slightly yellow. At 7:00 p.m. I felt his body and he was freezing cold. I had already wrapped him in a heavy fleece blanket and I phoned GPC and told him of the above and was told to wrap him in a blanket. I told GPC I was returning Randy by bus and should be there in one-half hour. As I left him in the hallway at GPC he looked listless and the nurse assured me that she would phone me if there was anything serious. By whose definition of seriousness. They didn't even phone to assure me he was okay.
I told Randy to make sure he made the staff aware he was sick and to my astonishment he indicated he won't. I suggested was it because they would only make it worse and he said yes. When patients/residents are sick and they are afraid to tell staff, there is something seriously seriously wrong.
Randy cannot talk, eat or walk and I had to leave him with staff who would only do his vitals and then ignore him. It is not their job to comfort him; and be at his bedside. I am seventy years old and VCH should be doing everything possible to accommodate Randy and I and not to continue this outrageous banning for what I do not know. Nothing should be for life. There are no grounds for criminal charges so what is their unreasonable reasoning for this. I was told Napolean Ostrow does not like my blog. There would be no blog if from the beginning if VCH treated me and Randy with respect and compassion. I remember before Randy went to GPC I spoke to the head nurse at VGH the day before he moved about where he was going to be moved and Jill said she did not know. Subsequently I found out Jill knew for three weeks ahead of time as it was her job to arrange the move and she didn't tell me. Why not. I found out by accident. It was either a poor joke or VCH was going to hide Randy under the protection of the Public Guardian and Trustee Act as they told me they planned on doing and I could go on with my life. .
I harmed no one. I was trying to be friendly and helpful.. I had no idea that my intentions would cause me post traumatic stress and I dare not think what it has done to Randy. I still haven't got my independent investigation of the cause of my humiliation.
My opinion of GPC is that it is a minimum security prison with day passes for its residents and a criminal subculture to match.
There is a recent book out there called: Escape from Camp 14 and everyone should read it.
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112,225
Today being May 9 2012 while I had Randy at home I noticed around 4:00 p.m. that he was hot. He seemed to have a fever but I wasn't sure. I was worried because he was having heavy secretions but when the RT phoned she assured me that was okay but I neglected to tell her of the suspected fever. And later his trach secretions were getting thicker and slightly yellow. At 7:00 p.m. I felt his body and he was freezing cold. I had already wrapped him in a heavy fleece blanket and I phoned GPC and told him of the above and was told to wrap him in a blanket. I told GPC I was returning Randy by bus and should be there in one-half hour. As I left him in the hallway at GPC he looked listless and the nurse assured me that she would phone me if there was anything serious. By whose definition of seriousness. They didn't even phone to assure me he was okay.
I told Randy to make sure he made the staff aware he was sick and to my astonishment he indicated he won't. I suggested was it because they would only make it worse and he said yes. When patients/residents are sick and they are afraid to tell staff, there is something seriously seriously wrong.
Randy cannot talk, eat or walk and I had to leave him with staff who would only do his vitals and then ignore him. It is not their job to comfort him; and be at his bedside. I am seventy years old and VCH should be doing everything possible to accommodate Randy and I and not to continue this outrageous banning for what I do not know. Nothing should be for life. There are no grounds for criminal charges so what is their unreasonable reasoning for this. I was told Napolean Ostrow does not like my blog. There would be no blog if from the beginning if VCH treated me and Randy with respect and compassion. I remember before Randy went to GPC I spoke to the head nurse at VGH the day before he moved about where he was going to be moved and Jill said she did not know. Subsequently I found out Jill knew for three weeks ahead of time as it was her job to arrange the move and she didn't tell me. Why not. I found out by accident. It was either a poor joke or VCH was going to hide Randy under the protection of the Public Guardian and Trustee Act as they told me they planned on doing and I could go on with my life. .
I harmed no one. I was trying to be friendly and helpful.. I had no idea that my intentions would cause me post traumatic stress and I dare not think what it has done to Randy. I still haven't got my independent investigation of the cause of my humiliation.
My opinion of GPC is that it is a minimum security prison with day passes for its residents and a criminal subculture to match.
There is a recent book out there called: Escape from Camp 14 and everyone should read it.
.
112,225
Monday, May 7, 2012
cbc.ca/inthefield (work bullies)
A short CBC radio piece May1,2012 called Work Bullies might serve to help educate. You may be the next bully target. By the time you stand up for yourself you are a "basket case" and no one will help you as now your behavior is weird and you are on your own. Targets of bullying are often well-adjusted, educated and hard workers and at one time very popular ...
Link: cbc.ca/inthefield then look for May 1 2012 then the title Work Bullies.
Also go to my email and assent/comment about Randy's wanting to change the Residentiall Tenacy Act so that comfort pets will be legal on a physician's okay.. Or write to Randy Walker c/o George Pearson Centre 700 West 57th Avenue Vancouver BC V6P 1S1 audreyjlaferriere@gmail.com. We will need 200,000 letters/emails to make this a reality.
111,866
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Link: cbc.ca/inthefield then look for May 1 2012 then the title Work Bullies.
Also go to my email and assent/comment about Randy's wanting to change the Residentiall Tenacy Act so that comfort pets will be legal on a physician's okay.. Or write to Randy Walker c/o George Pearson Centre 700 West 57th Avenue Vancouver BC V6P 1S1 audreyjlaferriere@gmail.com. We will need 200,000 letters/emails to make this a reality.
111,866
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Friday, May 4, 2012
The Beginning of May
Today I showed Randy a printout of the Randy Michael Walker Foundation blog. The first project is to change the BC Residential Tenancy Act to allow for comfort dogs no matter where. It will give him life and I hope it will give allow others to engage in the process of changing a law to comfort those of us who need the love of a animal in our daily lives. I could see he was proud and he knows it will happen. Far better for him to do this than play "bingo" at the home.
I was very upset for a few days last week. The one day when Randy had a fever and two days when he couldn't get out of bed. I was assured by the nursing staff that he was okay and things like this happen and are expected but I wasn't having anything of it. I didn't believe them. VCH has destroyed my trust of its function. I have been told or not told too many things that are not true so that I have no trust. I sit at home looking at nothing. Wondering how I would react if Randy died. I remember my brother-in-law said that I wasn't to go and see my sister that one day as she was tired and she died and I never saw her again.
111,725
In the beginning, social service agencies are often filled with first generation people who, as one advocate in the community puts it, “have fire in their bellies”.
After the first wave come well-meaning people who have a job.
And then eventually the staff is dominated by risk-averse people who have careers to build and protect.
above quote from blog on web page : Civil Rights Now by Paul Caune, a former resident/patient of George Pearson Centre
,
I was very upset for a few days last week. The one day when Randy had a fever and two days when he couldn't get out of bed. I was assured by the nursing staff that he was okay and things like this happen and are expected but I wasn't having anything of it. I didn't believe them. VCH has destroyed my trust of its function. I have been told or not told too many things that are not true so that I have no trust. I sit at home looking at nothing. Wondering how I would react if Randy died. I remember my brother-in-law said that I wasn't to go and see my sister that one day as she was tired and she died and I never saw her again.
111,725
In the beginning, social service agencies are often filled with first generation people who, as one advocate in the community puts it, “have fire in their bellies”.
After the first wave come well-meaning people who have a job.
And then eventually the staff is dominated by risk-averse people who have careers to build and protect.
above quote from blog on web page : Civil Rights Now by Paul Caune, a former resident/patient of George Pearson Centre
,
Monday, April 30, 2012
The End of April
I went to see Randy this afternoon. When I was there he told me that he didn't want to get out of his room (a space partitioned by curtains in an open ward). He didn't look well at all but I was assured by staff that he was okay. So I went home and fell asleep as I was exhausted.
Yesterday was something else though. At about 11:00 I was walking on the sidewalk in front of Kims Fruit and Vegetables and a fortyish white guy called out that I shouldn't be walking the doggies near food. Where did this guy think food comes from. It comes from acres filled with dirt and rodents running around and insecticides. The regulation not to have doggies near food I suspect it is but a myth.
I then went to pick up Randy which was uneventful except for the suction machine again. The one given to me was inoperable so I had to wait until another one was found. I wonder if doctors have to check every single thing before they operate.
Dillon a macho male tenant moved from his apartment Saturday and I was shocked that he even took the tulips his mother planted for him the week before. And he left a 300 pound monster big screen television in the alley and carpetting. The property agent will have to pay a removal company to take the stuff away. And to think macho Dillon had a SUV and he could have taken the stuff to recycling.
Then when I was taking Randy back on Sunday I opened the door and my neighbours, one of which was depositing dog poo on the property said she was picking up my poo for the past year and she didn't think she had to. Finally, I now know who was responsible for all the doggie poo on my steps this past year. I thanked her for fertilizing my flowers and I said that I would have the doggie poo DNAed by Animal Control as I knew that the doggie poo did not belong to Owen or Missey.
Can you imagine a fifty year old white woman walking up and down the back laneways in Oakridge finding time to scout the laneways for doggie poo and transporting it to who she thinks is its owner.
Later when I was taking the doggies out she came running after us wanting to know if Missey had just peepeed or poopooed. She told me that the DNA would not prove anything as all I had to do is go to the park and retrieve doggie poo there and substitute it as the sample. She was following us so closely that I bolted around the complex into my apartment and locked the door not knowing what next to expect from her. A few weeks earlier she was lecturing to me that I was a liar and she was telling me things that I could not believe she knew. I do not know how it got to the point where she said that she had phoned the police and accused me of I hitting her. I went horrorified and ran as fast as I could from her to my place and phoned 911 to tell it that I did not hit that woman. Where do these people come from. It is beyond me.
After I returned Randy to Pearson I found on my door a large sign saying No Smoking and that I was being reported to the property agent and also the fire marshall. My lease doesn;t say anything about not smoking. I do not think a landlord can legally prevent someone from smoking in their rented units. How would anyone even know if I was smoking in my unit or not. Do they have a key and enter my place when I am not here. You can only ignore this type of behavior for so long. You run and hide and hope things get better but they don't.
I know that twenty percent of the population at any one time in their lives need a shrink but between GPC and this place I have been living with the twenty percent. I feel that I am in a snake pit most of the time..
When I approached GPC today one of the residents was on the sidewalk and she was visibly upset. She told me that a care aid refused to change her fleece top as it was wet in two larges places because the care aid had to go on her break. When I worked when a customer needed something I made sure he got it then I went on a break. I phoned the manager of GPC and I hope the care aid is told to be a little more caring of her charges. Better yet I hope the manager will apologize to the longterm resident.
111,423
,
Yesterday was something else though. At about 11:00 I was walking on the sidewalk in front of Kims Fruit and Vegetables and a fortyish white guy called out that I shouldn't be walking the doggies near food. Where did this guy think food comes from. It comes from acres filled with dirt and rodents running around and insecticides. The regulation not to have doggies near food I suspect it is but a myth.
I then went to pick up Randy which was uneventful except for the suction machine again. The one given to me was inoperable so I had to wait until another one was found. I wonder if doctors have to check every single thing before they operate.
Dillon a macho male tenant moved from his apartment Saturday and I was shocked that he even took the tulips his mother planted for him the week before. And he left a 300 pound monster big screen television in the alley and carpetting. The property agent will have to pay a removal company to take the stuff away. And to think macho Dillon had a SUV and he could have taken the stuff to recycling.
Then when I was taking Randy back on Sunday I opened the door and my neighbours, one of which was depositing dog poo on the property said she was picking up my poo for the past year and she didn't think she had to. Finally, I now know who was responsible for all the doggie poo on my steps this past year. I thanked her for fertilizing my flowers and I said that I would have the doggie poo DNAed by Animal Control as I knew that the doggie poo did not belong to Owen or Missey.
Can you imagine a fifty year old white woman walking up and down the back laneways in Oakridge finding time to scout the laneways for doggie poo and transporting it to who she thinks is its owner.
Later when I was taking the doggies out she came running after us wanting to know if Missey had just peepeed or poopooed. She told me that the DNA would not prove anything as all I had to do is go to the park and retrieve doggie poo there and substitute it as the sample. She was following us so closely that I bolted around the complex into my apartment and locked the door not knowing what next to expect from her. A few weeks earlier she was lecturing to me that I was a liar and she was telling me things that I could not believe she knew. I do not know how it got to the point where she said that she had phoned the police and accused me of I hitting her. I went horrorified and ran as fast as I could from her to my place and phoned 911 to tell it that I did not hit that woman. Where do these people come from. It is beyond me.
After I returned Randy to Pearson I found on my door a large sign saying No Smoking and that I was being reported to the property agent and also the fire marshall. My lease doesn;t say anything about not smoking. I do not think a landlord can legally prevent someone from smoking in their rented units. How would anyone even know if I was smoking in my unit or not. Do they have a key and enter my place when I am not here. You can only ignore this type of behavior for so long. You run and hide and hope things get better but they don't.
I know that twenty percent of the population at any one time in their lives need a shrink but between GPC and this place I have been living with the twenty percent. I feel that I am in a snake pit most of the time..
When I approached GPC today one of the residents was on the sidewalk and she was visibly upset. She told me that a care aid refused to change her fleece top as it was wet in two larges places because the care aid had to go on her break. When I worked when a customer needed something I made sure he got it then I went on a break. I phoned the manager of GPC and I hope the care aid is told to be a little more caring of her charges. Better yet I hope the manager will apologize to the longterm resident.
111,423
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Friday, April 27, 2012
Another Day; Another Stress
The day started out really well. I spoke to one of Randys' relatives who was interested in what was happening to Randy and she said Randy was lucky to have someone like me. There is always a Aunt Betty to a black sheep in a family. I then went to get my new glasses. Then I went to GPC and when I said to the nurse that the suction machine was not suctioning she said that it was working a few minutes ago like I must have broke it. Ya, the machine made noise when you turned it on but there was no suction. There has been a constant interchange for months between staff and me as the suction machine is seldom equipped to be fully operationable when I go and see Randy. GPC is so cheap that on most occasions I only get one face cloth to attend to any discharge Randy coughs up. There must be a rumour that I steal worn out faceclothes. I get so fed up with how staff conducts itself. They rush and rush and rush and I have come to the conclusion they just rush and rush and rush just to create an atmosphere that they are doing something and the more they rush the less anyone will expect from them. They are so rushed that even I am intimidated not to disturb them. No time for chit chat. Their behavior is now coming across asprofessional acting badly performed. Something they must have learned in nursing acting school. Staff can take a few minutes to make sure I am satisfied with the condition Randy is in before they drop him off and run. I do not know if he is eating, did he have a poopoo, did he go to Physio, or did he pull out his trach. One thing I did learn today that after one year no one has shown Randy how to operate the tv remote control. No one has taken the time. I did ask Randy today if he has any friends at GPC. He said no. Therefore the reason for GPC being a residential care facility where residents make friends does not exist. For the most part Randy lives in a world of doing nothing. If he does nothing when will he be ready to be able to do anything. If you don't use it you loose it but then maybe that is GPC's agenda. Maybe it is time for the readers to view You Tube. The video being BC's Health Authorities on How to Effectively Communicate with the Public. Note: After one year this You Tube video has only 580 views. This video should have went viral.
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