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

Jennifer was doing so-so. He said, “Jennifer’s got good days and bad days. Some days she
is very passive. Her husband comes to visit, but her responses are getting delayed. It’s
almost like she’s in zombie mode. We have to keep an eye on her. I might even request
changing her care plan.”
It seemed to me that their exchange evoked a kind of gossip, despite the fact that they
were formally assessing the residents who were specially assigned to the recreation
department for their therapy services. Even as they were talking about these residents,
the staff members had a very sincere and concerned tone and look in their faces. They
were not mocking them, but their terms of reference and referring to certain residents
as ‘an emotional snap’ seemed to be particular. At one point, Eddie even asked me about
Ryan, and I told him, “He shows me around the place. I think he feels good about this
and he is engaged. We take strolls down the hall and he always says to me “what’s good
today” or “heard anything good today?”
I asked Eddie about how he knew whether or not someone was doing well. He told me
that if people are doing better, like Tom for instance, you could see it. He said, “Tom
used to be in bed like 99% time, now he is out of the room more.” He then told me and
the rest of the staff members to remind the residents that they have rights and to show
them the survey books and the informational materials on the bulletin board regarding
residents’ rights and information on how to contact the Tacoma Pastures’s Ombudsman.
He said this was important, because when the state government guys come to do the
surveys, and ask the residents about whether or not they are aware of their rights, most
of them act clueless and this gives us a bad inspection report.
Nathan encouraged me to familiarise myself with the various resident profiles and files
they kept in the office folders. He said that this would help me with my one-on-one
visits, and that getting to know the residents was very important. I read through some
of the profiles, which included such information as resident hobbies, ‘likes’ (e.g. food,
sports teams, ice cream flavours), and a discussion of various activities. Some of the files
mentioned the need to encourage residents to make friends. One of the files noted that a
resident was going through depression because her daughter was sick. Other
information I gleamed from the files, which were really evaluation reports, included
such advice as, ‘Take her for more walks’, and ‘Read to her, she likes that.’ As I finished
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