Philip Y. Kao PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

Grant was not the only person who clamoured for attention. Many of the residents
wanted the caregiver’s sole attention. Marcy was one such resident. She was not in
Grant’s section, but she also wanted to be taken care of first thing in the morning.
Whenever I passed her throughout the day, and when I wheeled someone back to their
room and forgot to say hello to her, she would get upset and let me know about it later.
Without exception, Marcy would always push her call button at 6:00 a.m. She was one of
the first residents to wake up. I passed out fresh cups of water before 6:00 a.m., and
sometimes I discovered that one of the residents in Marcy’s section needed help
immediately. This usually occurred when a resident had dirtied their briefs overnight,
and I had to change them right away. This took about twenty minutes, and I had to walk
back and forth past Marcy’s room, which was the first room in the section. With her door
wide open, she called to me from her bed, “Hello. Are you coming or not?” I had to tell
her to wait for a few minutes, and that I was busy with someone else. When I finally got
to her room, she would ask, “What was that about?” I would tease her and reply, “Well,
you know I had to help another resident and I can’t tell you because of HIPPA (the
government issued privacy rule).” She would laugh and say, “Well, I know everything
that goes around here.” Not only did she want to be the first resident to know everything
that happened on the fourth floor, she also was very possessive about how much time
the caregivers spent with her.
In a typical morning, I transferred her from the bed to the wheelchair and then helped
her into the bathroom. I then had her grab the bar affixed on top of the toilet roll
dispenser, and then hugged her from the back as she pulled herself into a standing
position. At this point, I dropped her disposable briefs. With Marcy still grabbing onto
the bar and hunched over, I unlocked the wheelchair brakes and kicked it a few feet
back. After she was successfully lowered onto the toilet, I turned on the faucet and
allowed the water to get warm.
Marcy asked me if there was any news around. I confessed, none that I was aware of. She
said, “I find out everything eventually.” As soon as I had wiped her face with a hand
towel soaked in warm water, I handed her a toothbrush, and squeezed some paste on it.
When she was brushing her teeth on the toilet, I went into her room, and quickly made
her bed, and picked out an outfit for her including fresh socks. I came back to the
bathroom with her clothes and shoes. I put on her bra, blouse, sweater, pants, socks and
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