robs02elantra
02-03-2006, 11:11 PM
Ok, this is going to be one of the better flames that you find on here.
I work at a company that I will not name, but they look after Mentally Handicapped individuals. They are all put into houses, where they live full time, and there are four different shifts so that there is always at least 2 staff in the house (except between 9pm and 7:30am when there is just one person.) Anyway, at the moment I'm here alone, waiting for the 11pm person to come in.
I must preface this by saying that 2 our of the 5 individuals in this house are unstable to a point where they get violent if they can't have something. That's fine you say, just give them what they want, they are grown up people. That would be great, but none of the people in this house can talk, at all. They can't tell us what they want or need, so we have to guess most of the time.
I have got everyone to bed, except one person. Not the young lady who bit me in the stomach the other week...she's doing great this week, happy and fun. This is another older lady. She is currently upstairs screaming (how you ask, because screaming includes using your voice box, and if you can't use it the rest of the time, how come you can scream with it...answer, I'VE GOT NO BLOODY IDEA! and it scares the hell out of me.
So, without going into detail, because medical histories and medical things are personal and private, when this individual is upset, she needs medication to calm her down. That's fine, apart from that she doesn't ever just take stuff, you have to hide it in things like applesauce. Another thing, she doesn't like to have stuff like that when she's this upset. She just likes getting really violent. Including biting.
So when the time came that I had to start trying to give her this medicine, she won't take it. I'm a genius and I like to think that I think, but sometimes I put my job before me, and when that happens, I end up with my finger in the mouth of a disabled person, who is definately unstable at the moment, unstable enough that I wouldn't normally be within 10 feet of her for fear of being beaten, bloody, and at least having been attempted to be bitten once. I bet that you can all guess what happened. My finger feels like I put it in one of those car wreckers. She has one hell of a bite.
This is a normal day at work for me. It also includes all of the things that they can't do for themselves. Changing diapers, cleaning messes, helping them eat. Just that when it gets violent and you are trying to protect them first and foremost...but your instinct says to protect yourself...what do you do? Man, this job scares the **** out of me sometimes.
(I don't usually swear, and I apologize that I had to use the language, but it's a scary place). I do have to say in closing, that these people can be absolutely fantastic, they can be happy and we generally have a great time with them. Just not always the case. You and I get angry as well...we just know what social norms are.
I work at a company that I will not name, but they look after Mentally Handicapped individuals. They are all put into houses, where they live full time, and there are four different shifts so that there is always at least 2 staff in the house (except between 9pm and 7:30am when there is just one person.) Anyway, at the moment I'm here alone, waiting for the 11pm person to come in.
I must preface this by saying that 2 our of the 5 individuals in this house are unstable to a point where they get violent if they can't have something. That's fine you say, just give them what they want, they are grown up people. That would be great, but none of the people in this house can talk, at all. They can't tell us what they want or need, so we have to guess most of the time.
I have got everyone to bed, except one person. Not the young lady who bit me in the stomach the other week...she's doing great this week, happy and fun. This is another older lady. She is currently upstairs screaming (how you ask, because screaming includes using your voice box, and if you can't use it the rest of the time, how come you can scream with it...answer, I'VE GOT NO BLOODY IDEA! and it scares the hell out of me.
So, without going into detail, because medical histories and medical things are personal and private, when this individual is upset, she needs medication to calm her down. That's fine, apart from that she doesn't ever just take stuff, you have to hide it in things like applesauce. Another thing, she doesn't like to have stuff like that when she's this upset. She just likes getting really violent. Including biting.
So when the time came that I had to start trying to give her this medicine, she won't take it. I'm a genius and I like to think that I think, but sometimes I put my job before me, and when that happens, I end up with my finger in the mouth of a disabled person, who is definately unstable at the moment, unstable enough that I wouldn't normally be within 10 feet of her for fear of being beaten, bloody, and at least having been attempted to be bitten once. I bet that you can all guess what happened. My finger feels like I put it in one of those car wreckers. She has one hell of a bite.
This is a normal day at work for me. It also includes all of the things that they can't do for themselves. Changing diapers, cleaning messes, helping them eat. Just that when it gets violent and you are trying to protect them first and foremost...but your instinct says to protect yourself...what do you do? Man, this job scares the **** out of me sometimes.
(I don't usually swear, and I apologize that I had to use the language, but it's a scary place). I do have to say in closing, that these people can be absolutely fantastic, they can be happy and we generally have a great time with them. Just not always the case. You and I get angry as well...we just know what social norms are.