Stories of taking care of the elderly in nursing homes

Once in, don't want to leave.

Ms. Ngo Thi Hong Tu (79 years old, residing in Hai Duong province) has been living in Dien Hong Nursing Home, Facility 2 (Thanh Ha Cienco5 Urban Area, Cu Khe, Thanh Oai, Hanoi) for more than a year. Before that, her husband passed away due to serious illness, Ms. Tu lived alone in the house with many memories of the old couple.

Nursing is close and caring for the elderly like their own relatives.

After losing her spouse, Mrs. Tu's health deteriorated significantly. Her son wanted to take her to Hanoi to live with him, but she did not want to bother her children and grandchildren. After discussing, the children found a nursing home for Mrs. Tu to live in.

At first, Mrs. Tu could not adapt and almost did not want to talk to anyone. After a week, with the care of the nurses and friends to talk to, Mrs. Tu gradually integrated into her new life. Every week, her children and grandchildren regularly visited and took Mrs. Tu home on the weekends. However, each time she returned, she just wanted to return quickly because she did not like the food at home and did not feel as comfortable as in the nursing home.

Next to Mrs. Tu's room, Mr. Nguyen Van Nam (70 years old, from Nam Dinh) was brought to a nursing home by his family 6 months ago. Before that, he showed signs of depression, and his children took him to Bach Mai Psychiatric Hospital for examination and treatment. After he stabilized, his family decided to bring him here so that someone would take care of him.

Previously, his children went to work all day, leaving him alone at home, which caused him to suffer from mental illness. Since being hospitalized, having friends to confide in and being taken care of, his spirit has been more cheerful and his health has improved.

Dien Hong Nursing Home, Facility 2, currently has 120 elderly people, with an average age of 70-90, the oldest being 105 years old. Of these, 100% have underlying medical conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and 60% have dementia. Every day, there will be a nurse on duty 24/7 to take care of their eating, sleeping, and resting activities.

The job requires perseverance and patience.

Up to now, Ms. Pham Thi Voc (37 years old, living in Ha Dong, Hanoi) has been working at Dien Hong Nursing Home, branch 2, for 2 years. Every morning, after changing shifts, she goes to the rooms to check the health of each elderly person, so that she can handle any problems promptly.

Currently, Ms. Voc and another colleague are in charge of taking care of 32 elderly people, aged 70-90. Most of them are still healthy and can walk by themselves. Her main job is to help feed, bathe, and massage the elderly.

After personal hygiene and health check, Ms. Voc invited the elderly to have breakfast. Each meal was carefully calculated for nutritional content, and for those who could not eat by themselves, she would feed them.

Looking at the way the woman talks and laughs, diligently taking care of the elderly, few people know that when she first entered the hospital, she just wanted to quit her job. She used to be a nurse at a hospital in Hanoi. Four years ago, she gave birth, when she returned to work, the workplace was far away, her young child was often sick, so she looked for a job near home for convenience.

Introduced by friends, she applied to work at a nursing home. At first, she was confident in her patient care skills, but when she started working, everything was far from what she thought. The elderly here were all elderly, absent-minded, had many underlying diseases, some could not walk or use the toilet. Many times, the elderly refused to eat or bathe, and no matter how much she tried to persuade them, she felt helpless.

"Once I carried an old lady to take a bath but she didn't like it, scratched me with both hands, and even spat. Or there was an old lady who sat for almost an hour without finishing her bowl of rice, just putting it in and spitting it out. I felt both sad and discouraged but couldn't raise my voice because they were all old, weak, and couldn't control their actions. At night, I just cried to my husband and wanted to quit my job. After that, I gradually observed and paid attention to each person's habits and personality and became close without realizing it," said Ms. Voc.

Ms. Voc confided that this job requires perseverance and patience because although the elderly are old, their souls are no different from children, always wanting to be pampered. It can take months to become close to an elderly person. Telling the most memorable story, she sadly said: "That time, I had just finished feeding an old man, then went to feed another, when I came back to check, the old man had passed away. At that time, I could only cry because I felt sorry for him."

When asked about her income, Ms. Voc refused to disclose specifics, only saying "it's a little better than her old job but much harder."

Love the elderly like your parents

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nhu (28 years old, from Phu Tho) has spent nearly 5 years taking care of the elderly here. He is assigned to be in charge of the elderly who are seriously ill, have poor health, or have had a stroke.

Taking care of the elderly requires perseverance and patience because although they are old, their souls are like children and always want to be pampered.

Every day, he helps the elderly with bathing, eating, health check-ups, physical therapy and massage.

He said that in the early days he was a bit bewildered, even embarrassed because he was assigned to take care of the elderly women. However, seeing the elderly people of his grandparents' age, in poor health, unable to walk and take care of themselves, he jumped into the job without thinking twice.

"In the nursing home, each elderly person has a different personality. Some are cheerful, while others are difficult and difficult to please. Being beaten and scolded by the elderly is common, but I also have elderly parents, I understand, I only feel sorry and do not blame them," the male nurse shared. For him and other nurses, the health and spirit of the elderly are the greatest joys.

Mr. Dao Quang Duc, Director of Dien Hong Nursing Home, Facility 2, said that the hospital currently has 54 employees, divided into many departments, caring for 120 elderly people. All employees have graduated from nursing, have basic abilities in medicine, health care, recognize vital signs, measure pulse and blood pressure.

"Every day, there will be nurses on duty 24/7 to take care of eating, sleeping and resting activities. Each elderly person has different health characteristics, personalities and needs. However, with closeness and understanding, the staff often talk and encourage to find suitable care solutions to make the elderly feel comfortable, optimistic, and forget all their illnesses and worries," Mr. Duc shared.

It is known that the cost at the facility for the elderly who do not need support is 8 million VND/month, for the elderly who need rehabilitation is 11 million VND/month and for the elderly who need a private room is 14 million VND/month.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/chuyen-cham-cac-cu-gia-o-trai-duong-lao-192240330222502836.htm