h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Residents' Council Meeting

Once a month, Ladera residents are invited to participate in a meeting. There is no formally appointed or elected Council; there is an elected chairman. however, a position which, as far as I can see, consistes of banging a gavel periodically while Kim, the head of Activities, runs through the agenda. Whoever attends meetings is ipso facto a member of the Residents' Council. All department heads attend, if they are available to do so, and this includes the chief administrator.

Meetings have a two-fold purpose: announcements are made, with supplementary explanations and answers to our questions, and we are given the opportunity to comment and complain.

We met this (Tuesday) afternoon in the main dining room, which abuts the kitchen. Several residents expressed apprehension as they arrived, as to whether there would still be bingo. They were reassured by staff and, at 2:30 the meeting was brought to order after a nudge to the chairman from Kim. There were perhaps 18 residents present.

Meetings always follow a certain format. Each department is named in turn, and residents are invited to offer compliments and then to express dissatisfactions. Inevitably, the following things happen:
1. A resident will launch into a complaint about one department when we are talking about a different department.
2. The lady with the orange perm will announce that the nurses are doing a grand job.
3. Everybody piles on when it comes to dietary, and even after the meeting has moved on to other departments there are flashbacks.

Being subversive by nature, I have slightly modified how the compliments sections are handled. Although individual compliments are proffered, Marilyn (you haven't met her yet) and I now respond with "Yay administration! Yay maintenance!" and so forth. I complimented Natasha and Carol of the front desk for good-naturedly taking menu requests when I phone them from my room (that would be administration). And I all but burst into song when it came to dietary. Just that lunch we had had a generous cheese and bean burrito with a salad and cake for dessert, and Marilyn noted how much better the food was generally since Hermano's management had begun to be felt. The lady with the orange perm complained, as she always does, that the fresh fruit served for dessert was insufficiently ripe. The chairman complained as he always does that the cream of wheat was lumpy. [I'll be talking about food in a separate journal.]

But I have got ahead of myself. Point one was honored by a middle-aged man I haven't seen before. We were just discussing administration when he couldn't contain his indignation any longer. I'm not even sure what his point was because Kim asked him to wait until we got to Nursing or Therapy or whichever it was. And he subsided, but only briefly. We were on to Maintenance when he suddenly lost his temper and began speaking louder and louder, and then attempted to flounce out of the room only to be confounded by the doors which in the dining room are not wheelchair-friendy. Some staff fluttered after him and calmed him down, and the rest of us settled back into our routine.

Announcement: hot chocolate will only be served by special request at breakfast, due to its expense. That means residents can have it if they ask in advance, but it won't sit out in its own samovar any more.

Announcement: There will be a Christmas party as usual, but the charity that has previously provided presents can't come through this year. All its monies have already gone to families in need. The residents shrug, and someone calls out, "As long as we get turkey and cranberry jelly!" and we're back to talking about Dietary.

The meeting is adjourned at 3:30 and I roll out just in time to witness staff consternation in the skilled hall. A patient went AMA right at shift change. He and his clothes are gone. AMA stands for Against Medical Advice, and this seems to happen regularly; I've had two room mates go AWOL without being formally discharged. The DON is already on the phone to next of kin as I head for my room and my netbook. Can't wait to write about the day.

Another great read. Your journals are definitely the highlight of this NaJoPoMo!

Deb

AGreed... and those I've not commented on, personally, I have read, just not felt a suitable reply to

[Amy P]

deb and 2legs are right.
Thank you, lil.

Fascinating as ever.

Thank you, everybody. I had no idea that I had this much to say! We'll see come next week whether I'm still this prolix...

I want to thank you again Lil for posting all this. I feel badly I do not post everyday, but I have been anxiously reading your every post.
I hope you will combine all of these snippets into a single read when you are done.
My wife worked most of her career in health care, and around here there has always been a rivalry between Hospital, Nursing Home and Private Practice.

It is rare to get a view from the inside looking out. I have been sharing several of your Entries with her, but it would be good to have a final summation.

I really enjoyed today's post about the politics, I have seen too much of this in other settings. I assume the Chairman is a resident and all the other 'officers' are employees.

F S