An Ode To Health Care Workers

In Canada we're called "personal support workers".. healthcare aids, or nurses aids

I found this today... it made me cry so i have to inflict my sorrow and joy on you lovely people!!


I’m “JUST“ a PSW...

I'm not a nurse....

Though I show up every day for report
I’m NOT a nurse

I wash my residents daily and do full body inspections for anything “ new “ or skin break down
I’m NOT a nurse

I know all my residents diets, meals, likes and dislikes, textures and whos at choking risk. I feed my residents who can no longer feed themselves
I’m NOT a nurse...

I apply medicated, doctor ordered creams and ointments, compression stockings and safety equipment
I’m NOT a nurse

I do colostomy, ostomy and catheter care.. but
I’m NOT a nurse

I take full sets of vitals for them and specimen samples for labs
But im NOT a nurse

I chart any changes in a residents daily behaviour and health

I’m NOT a nurse

I give the them the answers their looking for when the doctor asks how the resident is responding to a new medication
I’m NOT a nurse....

I tell them how a residents day is going while they are on the phone with a family member
I’m NOT a nurse

But I tell them which resident is which when their doing a med pass
I’m NOT a nurse

Yet I’m the one they come for when they need help getting blood from an aggressive resident

I am the one who gets a resident in bed, changed into a johnny shirt and ready for the paramedics to come

I’m the one to give them report on residents at the end of the day

I’m NOT a nurse

I’m the one who will sit with a resident who is scared, upset, or lonely

I hold residents hands, wipe away tears and put smiles on their faces

I do their nails and curl their hair

I sign for hourly breath checks, DOS sheets and turning schedules

But.. I Am NOT a nurse

But I open the windows while I wash their bodies and wrap them in a shroud...

we line the hall way and say a prayer while the body is wheeled out

We go to the wake and tell residents families how sorry Iam for their loss and how much we will miss them

We work 40+ hours a week during COVID-19 to care for the sick, and be there for residents who are looking for their family

We spend time away from my family to take care of yours

But...

I Am NOT a nurse

My residents have names, not just a number down the hall!

I see it all over Facebook


HOWEVER

I AM a PSW!

And even though we are constantly being torn down, we still show up
So no, if you ask
I’m NOT a nurse

Written by:Anonymous

a reply to: Akragon

It was a nurses aide who saved my life in 2005, in that she noticed I was dying when no other staff was around. She was the one who alerted everyone else.

a reply to: drussell41

Yeah.. we're in front of the "front line"..

way before this covid S**t..

originally posted by: Akragon
In Canada we're called "personal support workers".. healthcare aids, or nurses aids

I’m “JUST“ a PSW...
I'm not a nurse....

The only difference is that the nurse/doctor is qualified to diagnose.....

Just remember *Every brick in a building is equally important, they

all lean on each other for strength*?

Keep up the good work ......you are needed and you are valued.

I don't believe in putting nurses and these front line workers on pedestals. You're doing your job. You aren't heroes, you're just doing what you agreed to do by getting into a potentially dangerous profession.

Sorry. I just see people doing their job.

I know enough nurses through my fiancee to know that a lot aren't super HQ people, and nursing was just a fall back profession. The dancing videos should give you some clue.



a reply to: Akragon

originally posted by: hombero
I don't believe in putting nurses and these front line workers on pedestals. You're doing your job. You aren't heroes, you're just doing what you agreed to do by getting into a potentially dangerous profession.

Sorry. I just see people doing their job.

I know enough nurses through my fiancee to know that a lot aren't super HQ people, and nursing was just a fall back profession. The dancing videos should give you some clue.



a reply to: Akragon

We will remember that next time you come in to the ER.

a reply to: Oathkeeper73
Feel better now? You implied being part of some medical team that would treat someone because of their ramblings in the past, any different.

This mindset above is one reason why you are not a doctor. I hope I will never have to visit a ER where people like you have something to say.

Gonna get uber flamed...

Screw healthcare workers and their cush jobs!

What about the working Joes who work outdoors or on the road?

We work those double shifts and are denied every public restroom. You don't even know!

originally posted by: DietWoke
Gonna get uber flamed...

Screw healthcare workers and their cush jobs!
What about the working Joes who work outdoors or on the road?
We work those double shifts and are denied every public restroom. You don't even know!

Cush jobs

My grandaughter in her first year of paramedics was called out to a young man

who had over dosed in an open area and was unconscious....... she pulled him

round and he then attacked her and her partner and they had to use their panic

button and lock themselves in till the police arrived ........


Whats cushie about that /SMH.