Volunteering With Physical Therapy (again!)

Last semester I volunteered at the VA nursing home, and I decided to come back this semester because I found my experience with Tricia and the residents very rewarding. As an EMT, I've picked up patients from almost every nursing home in the area, and I always find myself sort of dreading these calls because it's always really sad for me to see the conditions in which patients are living. There are nursing homes in the New Orleans area that are good for sure -- Lambeth House especially -- but the majority that I've gone into are for lower income patients, and it's obvious that patients' treatment reflects this. For example, Jefferson Healthcare (near Ochsner Main Campus) completely flooded after a storm and there was mold growing on the walls and leaves/dirt on the floors that was never mopped up, and the AC was out for days. At Wynhoven (near West Jeff Hospital), it was obvious that patients' rooms were never cleaned because I've seen urine and feces on the floor under patients' beds and smeared on the bedrails. Another patient had bed bugs, and to this day I'm not confident that the staff has treated this patient's room. At Colonial Oaks in Metairie, patients have told me that they have gone days without eating because their food was never delivered, and one patient told me that his ostomy bag burst because his nurse didn't want to "deal with" changing it. Many patients' families never bother to visit, and patients are left with bedsores and non-healing wounds that are not routinely cleaned, leading to infection that warrants an ER visit and weeks of heavy antibiotics. I always try to be extra kind to nursing home patients, because it may be the only social interaction that they will have all week. Almost all patients are on anti-depressants on top of a whole slew of other medications for their health conditions, causing terrible side effects and poor quality of life. I've seen patients that are left in nursing homes by family that are completely dependent on ventilatory support, feeding tubes, catheters, rectal tubes, tracheostomies, and some without limbs or even skulls. It truly saddens me to see these patients' quality of life, and to know that most of the time this quality only declines. 

Given this, the first time I volunteered at the VA nursing home I was nervous because seeing patients with such quality of life really affects me. However, I was amazed at how many residents came out of their rooms for physical therapy and the good spirits that they all had. It wasn't just physical therapy -- it was also a social outlet, and a place where real progress could be made to help improve many residents' physical health. I helped Ms. Betty make her coffee and talked to Ms. Carol again about her grandchildren, and it was so nice to see a different side of nursing home life that I don't usually get to see as an EMT. We did many of the same exercises that we did before -- medicine ball bouncing, going over using our wheelchairs and remembering to lock our brakes -- and this time I was able to assist residents individually in doing smaller exercises such as bicep curls and modified tricep dips. While these may seem like extremely simple exercises to you and me, many stroke patients have contractures that make it really difficult and painful to do simple things like straighten the elbow or straighten the leg completely, so doing these exercises to keep the joints in use is very valuable. I had residents sit in their wheelchairs and try to straighten their knees completely, and had them raise their arms above their head. It was also rewarding to see residents' progress from the last time that I visited, like when I watched Tricia increase the angles on patients' splints. I took the time to talk with some of the residents, which I loved because I think elderly people are absolutely adorable. Their motivation to be physically active made me really happy because keeping up with simple physical activity -- just getting in some form of movement -- prevents many conditions like bedsores, blood clots, and non-healing wounds just by improving blood flow and circulation. I was really proud of everyone for making an effort to be active, especially because I saw how difficult and painful it was for some people. I also find this physical therapy really fascinating because I go to the gym almost every day and feel pretty well-versed in the world of working out, lifting weights, and knowing which exercises target which muscle groups, so it was rewarding to use that passion of mine to help others. I really enjoyed getting to see a side of nursing homes that I don't usually see, and watch residents make actually progress towards recovery.

Hours: 2