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This is a question Relief

Last week, I thought we'd run over and killed something. After steeling myself to get out and find the body of somebody's beloved pet, I found we'd squished a bin bag. When has something turned out not as grim as you first thought?

(, Thu 20 Dec 2012, 12:38)
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As I may have mentioned.
I used to work as a carer in group homes with people with intellectual (and physical) disabilities.

In 1 such place I worked with a young(ish) lady I shall call Mira. Mira had CP and some other disabilities. None of which hampered her in being an annoying bitch. She was fully ambulant and (EDITed for Gonz) despite being nonverbal she could express her needs & desires quite clearly but chose to spend her days writhing around on the floor, moaning and generally getting in both staff and other clients way, sometimes with injurious results to both parties.

I was attending a staff meeting at the house 1 day. Mira was home from her "day placement" as they were jack of her & had told us not to bring her back in a hurry.
She was rolling around on the floor during the meeting barking like a seal - despite being fairly ambulant and moderately cognizant.
1 of our staff members had recently begun a floral arrangement course and had brought in some of her bunches to show off to us - all the other ladies seemed to appreciate them with "Ohhs" & "Ahhhs". Bunch of plastic flowers to me.

Mira strangely went quiet at 1 point. No-one really noticed (it was actually a pleasant respite) until we all turned around and noticed Mira lying on the floor going blue and clawing at her throat.
Mary & I both jumped up, got her in coma and I (as gently but forcefully as I could) compressed her ribcage from the side as Mary (the other St. Johns Ambo rep for the house) dug around in her mouth.

*emadex- I'm pretty sure that's not what you're supposed to do anymore, pls correct me if I'm wrong*

Mira thankfully coughed out a bright green plastic leaf from one of the arrangements as I compressed her ribcage.
My relief was somewhat tempered as I watched Mira moan in complaint as her gnarled hand reached out for the leaf and promptly popped it back into her mouth.
At that point Mary and I both felt that we needed to start filling out our incident reports and left Mira in the capable hands of our manager and the rest of the house staff.
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 11:22, 21 replies)
did you use to work in one of them care homes on panorama?

(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 11:34, closed)
Umm no.
I used to work as a carer in group homes with people with intellectual (and physical) disabilities.
I take it by panorama you mean the British current affairs tv show?
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 11:47, closed)
stop beating on flids.

(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 17:48, closed)
"chose to spend her days writhing around on the floor, moaning and generally getting in both staff and other clients way"
:(
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 11:51, closed)
The randy bitch

(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 11:54, closed)
You would!

(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 11:55, closed)
please explain 'got her in coma'.
I have next to no first aid knowledge and can't see how putting her in a coma could possibly help the situation.

enlighten me, please.
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 12:14, closed)
Well.
I think you may have misunderstood the term coma - I used it to describe that lying on your side position (see link below)- that was what it was called when I first did my 1st aid. My understanding is that it opens the airway and places the person in a position where they cannot really injure themselves or choke easily. I was not suggesting you render the patient unconscious.
As I was taught, the Heimlich Maneuver is obsolete as you can seriously damage someones ribs by sharply thrusting your hands directly under their sternum.
I was taught the method as I have said where the patient is laid on their side (basically in coma position or Recovery Position - head slightly back, legs apart, hips slightly rolled forward). Then you *carefully* compress the side of the ribcage which should dislodge the stuck item from their throat and send it out of their open airway.
As I asked emadex (who from memory is an ambo) in my original post, I think even the technique I described is no longer used.
EDIT: I hope that has cleared things up.
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 12:46, closed)
Ah, the recovery position
When I was a student I used to try to go to sleep in the recovery position if I'd done massive drugs the night before
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 13:50, closed)
Basically.You're both fucking morons.
EMV slightly less so, As he's he's not being paid to look after the vulnerable. At least not those vulnerable individuals who've not gotten toys stuffed up them.
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 5:11, closed)
So your response is
Because I had done First Aid Training and was thus able to assist in ensuring that a client (to whom I had a duty of care) did not bring about their own demise & because EMV had the forethought, having ingested drugs which could render him unconscious (I'm guessing) he placed himself in a position that would ensure that his airway remained open - we are both "fucking morons"?
I'm not suggesting we're Einsteins here but, I don't think you realise that your response AB doesn't exactly make you look like you're hitting the heights IQ-wise either.

Might want to stop, take a breath and then post next time.

EDIT: "I used to" generally means I no longer do it. As in I did it in the past and I am not doing now. In the present.
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 6:09, closed)
Apologies.
I merely wanted to know the difference between 'coma' and 'a coma', or if there was an actual difference, and it wasn't merely a typo. I seem to have embarrassed us all.

I'm off to kill myself.

Happy now, cunts?
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 21:20, closed)
Please try not to leave a mess on the carpet.

(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 21:29, closed)
So are nurses like doctors who are too thick or lazy to be doctors?
I'm trying to settle an argument here
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 14:42, closed)
Not unless they are "Morgue Technicians".

(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 22:25, closed)
Is it the "I am incompetent and emotionally retarded" qftw already?

(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 16:04, closed)
No, you'll have to wait your turn like everyone else

(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 16:13, closed)
Only nine minutes for a classic "I know you are but what am I"?
You're getting better. Cutting down the methadone?
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 17:20, closed)
Or maybe
you've gone a bit overboard on the methamphetamine?
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 23:29, closed)
I would never deign to
suggest that you could possibly be incorrect when it comes to matters of spelling or grammar,Professor Shambleston. But....

"I am incompetent and emotionally retarded" is a statement not a question.
(, Mon 31 Dec 2012, 21:20, closed)
Hold up a moment here, she's copus mentis yet spends her days writhering around on the floor and moaning?
I thought compus mentis is that you had your were alright in the head. That doesn't sound like the actions of someone who is compus mentis. And just so you know, she's the reason your'e there. Whats the point in getting into such a potentially rewarding job if you're going to be that inhumain?
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 14:12, closed)
It's almost as if he's proud of being incompetent and emotionally retarded.
Or "Australian" to use the vernacular.
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 15:13, closed)
Stop being so racist, you're thinking of south africans.

(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 15:48, closed)
All those southern hemisphere lobsters look the same to me.

(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 16:36, closed)
Maybe I had become too inured to what went on in that house but I have to ask
how exactly was I inhumane?

EDIT: You are right about "compus mentis" tho. Ok without giving identities away or getting too indepth - she was nonverbal but could understand everything said to her. Her primary method of communicating was to smile when she was happy with something and shout (incomprehensibly) & throw stuff at the staff/clients when she was unhappy with something. Or to a lesser degree, roll around on the floor, moaning and often getting underfoot (often to gain attention) - we did have behavior management plans in place for that but as I said it was a staff meeting, she was the only client at home, we left her to it.
She was fairly ambulant - her gait was a little uneven due to her CP but other than that she could quite easily move around when she wanted to.

Whats the point in getting into such a potentially rewarding job if you're going to be that inhumain?
Ok. followed my own advice to AB. Stopped & taken a breath.
To answer your question - a paycheck.
There was nothing very noble about being a "social trainer" or "residential aide". Often it came down to being a glorified cook/cleaner & bum-wiper. & I'm not exaggerating.
We got paid (probably still are) less than a factory monkey got. I know because I was a union rep for the enterprise bargaining agreement (a kinda collective work contract) before I left that organisation and the field. Occasionally you had great days where you could come away with a sense of achievement but most of the time (depending on what sort of clients you were working with) I came away frustrated and smelly. Which is 1 of the reasons I no longer work as a carer. I'm guessing from your tone that you do or have worked as a carer and I'm sure there would be somethings we could share - everyone puts in and takes away something different.
Unless you are Anne - in which case, fuck off!
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 17:49, closed)
Because your attitude to her is parallel to that of someone in McDonalds who can't get the chip basket out of the fryer.
You see her as someone who got in your way, and although she might be really annoying, she's still people. She wouldn't choose that life. She could possibly hear and process what you're saying, but I don't think her understanding (including consiquence) was quite that of someone with full mental facilities intact.

As someone in charge with her care, I would have thought some more understanding would have come your way. But I wasn't there, it can't have been easy.
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 18:51, closed)
Just replying to your edits, two secs.

(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 18:51, closed)
It seems a bit silly if you're only working for a paycheque, and not only that, the paycheque is insubstantial to your requirements.

(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 18:54, closed)
To say you do a job
(no matter how noble you may see it I can't see it as a vocation) or vocation for no reward - financial or otherwise is just naive.
Clearly that wasn't my only job or you would've been right and my missus & I would've starved. We didn't.
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 19:24, closed)
That's not what I said, I said to _only_ do a job because of a paycheque, seems silly; a terrible waste.
It's not entirely clear you had a second job, on account of no mention of any other job and the vast majority of people in 'care giving' field having that as their only job.

Was your second job not important enough to hire you full time?
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 20:56, closed)
Again Ihave to say I think that's a little naive
We all work for some kind of payoff, be it recognition, financial gain, personal power etc.
In my case at that time I worked to pay the rent, put food on the table for me & my missus, have some cold beer in the fridge at the end of a long, hard shift and squirrel a bit away each week so that sometimes we could afford something nice.
Now my motivations to work a quite different but as I said, I still work for a payoff of 1 kind or another.
The 2nd job was cookie with a catering company - I wouldn't have wanted it fulltime either way as I hate "hospitality" hours (late nights etc.). It was just an income supplement.
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 21:25, closed)
Is there much demand for after-10pm cookies? That sounds awesome. I'm not sure I would class mass manfacturing of food with the same as Hospitality.
Yes, again, you've missed my point. We all work for a pay-off, but for that _________only_____ pay off to be money, seems sad to me.
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 13:31, closed)
cookie = cook.
Back then, at that age with the qualifications and skills I had then I'm not ashamed to say that making sure the bills and rent were paid was a fairly BIG motivator to work. If that was my only motivator now then yes I would have to agree with you - that would be quite sad.
Being a carer is a had job (both mentally & physically) - I did it for a good while & I was quite good at it. For every day where I was an inhumane monster (according to you guys) there were days where a client might achieve a milestone and my job was great - even if it was something as inconsequential as communicating the need to go to the dunny having worn a nappy for most of their lives.
As I have said carers tend to have a high burnout rate - I'm fortunate that I saw my limit and got out of the field when I did of my own choice rather than just stay in the job for a paycheck and become so jaded that I just didn't care at all.
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 22:37, closed)
"eight years" "cook/cleaner & bum-wiper"

(, Thu 3 Jan 2013, 8:07, closed)
I did it for 8 odd years and then I got out
(see the "Anne" link). Yes - the field has a high burnout rate. It took me more than 8 years. That was about 12 years ago too.
In light of these facts my attitude now may be somewhat different to what it was when I started the job. I don't agree with your comparisons but neither am I defending my current attitude.
EDIT: I must also say that you seem to be extrapolating a lot about a situation you have no knowledge of (as to my relationships to the clients I worked with). I have tried to express myself clearly whilst still keeping confidentiality and my duty of care - if I have have failed to be clear & concise I do apologise for that. But do be wary of making assumption.
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 19:21, closed)
It's OK, you don't have to justify yourself to me. What I think is irrelevant to you. I can only form an opinion on the facts given.
I'm only talking about the regard you hold this single client of yours.
(, Tue 1 Jan 2013, 20:59, closed)
I've worked as a carer.
You were incompetent and emotionally retarded. And you seem to be comfortable with the fact that you did something for which you had no competence or affinity for a shitty wage for eight years. No wonder you have such low expectations. Although the most depressing thing is that Australia has such a dearth of talent that they have to keep people like you employed.
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 8:53, closed)
It genuinely warms my cockles
to know that you've had to wipe someone else's arse other than your child or a loved ones.

I'm happy to be in the same boat as you for a change Shambo.
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 12:50, closed)
We're not even in the same ocean.

(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 17:32, closed)
I often wonder about the planet!
I have to bite here because - beyond your usual abuse you've given a little morsel of info.
How exactly by assisting in saving one of my clients using skills that I had learnt previously did I come to be perceived in your mind as incompetent and an emotional "retard"? Nice choice of words btw.
Do, please elucidate.
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 21:27, closed)
You don't need quotes around the word "retard". It was meant in its usual and literal sense.

(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 22:18, closed)
Nice answer Professor Shambleston.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 22:42, closed)
You need a comma after the word "answer".

(, Thu 3 Jan 2013, 8:04, closed)
This has turned out well.
New question, please, mods - the regulars are getting cranky.
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 11:31, closed)
Don't you know?
Apparently this is the end my friend.
(, Wed 2 Jan 2013, 12:26, closed)
Damn Mayans.

(, Thu 3 Jan 2013, 11:39, closed)

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