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

I took a little tour of the facility today, to see the Christmas decorations, which went up since the last time I was out and about. There's a big fake tree in reception and a surplus of other decorations in the reception area, red tablecloths and individual table decorations in the main dining room, and tinsel streamers all over the ceiling. Move down South Skilled and there continues to be an abundance of tinsel, plus the framed prints on the wall all have been turned into wrapped gifts. A four-inch red velvet bow is fastened to the overhead sill of each door, right under the call light.

Over on north there's no tinsel; tree ornaments hang from the drop ceiling supports instead, but the wall art is wrapped just the same and the bows are over the doors. When you get to South Back, however, and Cross Hall (which is 90 degrees perpendicular to the main halls, not full of irascible patients), there are big swags at the entrances... and then just the little bows over the doors. Cross Hall is private rooms, so it's not the cost of the beds. It must be about how visible those halls are to the outside world. The effect can be increasingly dismal as you travel further and further back into the building.

Della came back from the hospital with a new pill and the news that nothing more can be done for her. She is being discharged to her sons and daughters at their request, and a bed will become vacant. Most often, I'm told, they move someone off Skilled if it's clear they're not going home again (a bed on Skilled gets a higher rent than a long-term resident, so if a long-termer is filling a skilled bed then Ladera is losing money), but if no-one fits that description then the person at the top of the three-month waiting list is invited to join our island paradise.

What an icky dilemma for some family, to be invited to institutionalize their ailing relative a week before Christmas! Imagine them wheeling that relative down the hall past the fancy decoratin' on Skilled and then going past the nurses' station and finding ... little red bows. But if the family are too morally finicky they risk losing the slot to someone else.

There's uncertainty for both residents and staff, too. I'll miss Della and her recommendation, whenever we talked, that I should try reading Danielle Steele. What sort of person will replace her? Will it be a horror like E, or a stroked-out cipher, or somebody we can talk to? Will the aides have to hoist her around and feed her, or will she require minimal assistance like our J__?

Forgive my curiosity;

Are the residents allowed to add their own decorations to their personal area?

A very small tree, pictures, display Christmas cards or add a string of their own tinsel?

Thinking of you over the Holiday.

F S

Yes, they're allowed to fit up their bit of space any way they like, within safety guidelines. But there aren't a lot of flat surfaces to go around. I'm lucky to have two across-the-bed tables, one for files and books ans kleenex boxes and such, and the other for eating and working on the computer. The only other flat surface I have is the top of the teevee, which is covered with medical supplies.