Thoughts keeping me awake at night..

socks,

As you know I’m not a nurse and have no suggestions on the subject. I would like to tell you, I think your one special person.

You have one big heart. You care about so many different people through out your day and have so much talent. I think we need more people like you in this WORLD.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

How about an initiative to get volunteers to your area? I bet that if you call volunteer services at the hospital and state your plea you will get a hoard of loving grandmothers itching to hold a baby who needs love.

My mother in law lives at a retirement community where she is bored to tears. She loves kids. I bet if someone went into her rec center (where these women spend their days looking for something to do) and said we have babies who need to be held and read too they would jump at the chance. You could explain how human contact helps their brains develop. At that age many of the elderly feel they are not needed.
They are very much needed in your hospital.

The best stimulation is human contact but I know you know that already.

Oh my god Linda!

What an awsome idea:-)))) I am going to talk to the medical director on monday!

That is a GREAT idea! Thank you,Thank you.

Wind,
thanks for your vote of confidence:-) But I gotta tell you,one night of undistrupted sleep would be a gift from god.

I am LD. Dyslexic to be exact. Learned to read at age 12.Just thought I stand up on my box,just one more time.

I hope you do get some sleep. I have a bad habit about thinking to much during the night also. Sometimes it gets rough around here. Me not getting much sleep that is.

As for your LD stand point. I knew it. I didn’t think that made much of a difference. Your still one sweet person. But it does give me encouragement for my LD (dyslexic) son. It keeps my hopes up that he too will be one of the special people, whatever he plans to be in life.

HE WILL MAKE IT THROUGH LIFE. Despite what some of his teachers think.

Socks,

I am a nurse too but now stay at home with my children.

You have inspired me to go volunteer at my local hospital in the fall while my youngest is in preschool. I bet if there is a need I can convince some other moms to come along. I never was into other types of volunteering such as running auctions or other organizational type activities. Not that those aren’t extemely valuable but they are just not my style.

I have an itch to help a child.

Thank you for the work you do. You are an inspiration to us all.

Linda

I have another idea.

Organizations like the junior league, knights of columbus and rotary club could help coordinate this and get the word out in your community.

I know that there are other organizations in communities that coordinate volunteer activities. Maybe other people could come up with a few more.

Try students. Many highschools have community services requirements and are looking for appropriate places for their students.
Contact some the college student groups to organize a volunteer rotation. When I was in university, our university hospital actively recruited college students to come in and hold babies. It was the teaching hospital for a large, remote northern area -many of the parents were hundreds of miles away as the very sick would be medvac’ed by air.

Good for you!! Fight the good fight!!

Many colleges with education departments have student organizations that are a subsidiary of the NEA that are required to do service projects.
Try not to feel too overwhelmed. The current brain research says that the brain does not complete it’s “wiring” till 18 years although the first five years are very important. The most important aspect of development in infancy is social/emotional. The child’s needs for food, warmth and shelter, love, and security will do more to prepare them to develop cognitively than anything else. Look into Maslow’s theory on learning. Children can not learn till the basic needs are met. You are providing so much more than you realize when you are engaging in those basic care activities. I am sure you talk to them as you change thier diapers or are positioning them. I am sure you take the time to rub thier back or give a kiss. You are teaching them that they can trust the world around them and that is the greatest gift you can give at this time in thier lives. Respond to thier needs as quickly as you can and love them. That will do so much more in helping the developing brain then you can imagine.
On a more concrete note, your ideas are great as far as the music and mirrors. Do you have mobiles? Watching Sesame Street or Mr. Rodgers will help. Singing as you work is even better than audio tapes. Children crave the sound of the human voice. Talk as you work even if it seems like you are “rattling on” talking about nothing. Educate the parents on how to meet the emotional needs of the child as well as the physical.
I also want to thank you. I am recently unemployed and would love to work in this setting. I am an early childhood special educator not a nurse but these kids need the best of both. I think I will look at our children’s hospital to see if there is a need that I can fill.

Jean

This thread has taken me back to my own nursing career. When I was in nursing school I worked in a rehab center. Mostly young adults who suffered brain injuries or were quadraplegic or paraplegic. This was the place they went after the acute care hospital had done all they could.
I loved my job. The enthusiasm I felt was never matched in my subsequent career as an RN where the patient load made it close to impossible to achieve all that I wanted to do for my patients.
There was a teenager named Jason who had suffered a brain injury related to an accident. I will never forget him. I used to go into his room and chat with him. Eventually he started to respond by chatting back. His family was on the other side of the curtain and he would say “Please make them leave all they do is fight.”
I came out of the room and told his nurse about our conversation. She said that is impossible. Jason doesn’t speak.
I said what do you mean we talk all the time while I am feeding him giving him a bath etc.

She checked with the family who agreed he didn’t speak.

Well it turned out this kid made it all the way back. He went back to his regular High School. I remember him coming back to visit us and you would have never known anything had ever happened.

Kids are incredibly resilent.

Linda,

Wow:-) Gosh could we tell stories together:-) Prior to this job,I worked ten years at Shriner’s children’s hospital. It was pediatric orthopedic. We were the international unit so we recieved children from all over the world. We predominately operated and corrected birth defects,accidents,and chronic conditions. These kids are amazing,they not only stay in my heart,but I gained so much knowledge from them. We cared for kids from the Armenia earthquake,desert storm,landmine accidents from Guatemala,El Salvador. Kids who snuck out of their bed at night and get into a car with someone drinking,kids born with no arms,no legs. Listen, when you observe a kid putting contact lenses on with her feet,or a boy who beats you at Jenga with his feet,or a kid with no legs playing soccer,or a kid with no arms cutting out pictures from a magazine,you kind of lose all the sympathy for a kid who complains about their feet hurting,or saying I can’t do it,and knows he can. My poor kids,right?
Hey and speaking of a families resilence. Amazing was the stark difference in cultural backgrounds when it came to families. I had a boy who was 16,born with Cerebral Palsy. He was from the Ukrain.He spoke only russian,and not only did his family raise the money to send his Mother and Him to the states for the opportunity for him to be operated on and learn to walk,his entire village chipped in to pay for the journey. He knew this,he knew he needed to work hard at learning to walk,after the operation. He came during the winter,during Christmas and their St. Nicholaus day. He only said,”it’s okay,no problem. This was the extent of his english. While we had a russian translator for op consents and treatment explanations,they were not there often,so we had to communicate with gestures. Not that this was unusual,we had many different languages,but he would always say,”it’s okay,no problem”. We cut his tightened tendons in the back of his legs and straighten them,after this procedure was done,we casted his entire legs. Once this is done,they must build up muscles they had never used,and walk. Well,let me tell you this kid walked,and walked,and walked. He wore out the bottom of his casts,and the rubber tips on his walker. He was mad as a wet hen when we took his walker away and gave him a wheelchair,because he wouldn’t take a break. The kids would go on outings,to the movies,and such,and we could never convince him to go. He told us finally through his interpretor that he didn’t come to the hospital to have fun,he was there to walk,to walk for his family,and in most ways,his whole neighborhood.He did, however, know every baseball team,and players,in perfect English,I might add. But what a difference in his cultural and ours. Gosh the American kids would complain and fuss when we made them walk,I had a nickname,”the nurse from hell”,if they were supposed to walk out,by god,if I had anything to say about it,they would! Yup so sometimes it wasn’t a pretty sight. Imagine,the Mother from hell,well you can picture it, right? But this boy from the Ukrain,he walked out of there,and it was his own pure determination that got it for him too. On his last week at the hospital,the hospital had a surprise for him. His all time favorite hero ever,Wade Boggs came to see him and presented him with an autographed base ball helment. The look on his face was something I will never forget. He looked like the kid he was supposed to be…

Kids are definitely resilent. They will always find a way to play,or function.

To all the people who posted,of course I knew everyone here was great,but I am overwhelmed with the thoughful responses. Thank You.

Your post is truely a lesson for those of us who think the job a being a parent of an LD kid is just too overwhelming.

Kids can do so much. I think sometimes way more than we give them credit for being able to do.

My first teaching job was in a nursing home for the severely disabled. Doesn’t your state mandate education for these children? Michigan provides education for children ages birth through 26 years of age. I have worked with the severely and profoundly impaired for many years. I tube feed, suction, and sometimes catheterize students. There are 235 students in my program. I have 11 students in my class room and work with two paraprofessionals in my classroom. We have three nurses on staff. We have 3 physical therapists, 3 occupational therapists, two speech pathologists, and one music therapist working at our school. Students too health impaired to attend school a full day are eligibe to receive home bound services. My school is not unique, just a typical center for the severely impaired and there are many here in Michigan. I am surprised that your ‘children’ do not have access to similar services.

You are one incredible lady you do all this and still always come through for parents when they need you.

I agree getting some Sr. Citizens in there is a great idea. There was in fact a 60 Minutes about that kind of program.

As great as you are one person cannot do it all you need some extra help.

Take care and hope you soon get sweet dreams.

Actually you are correct , we also have early intervention teacher’s ,but they seem to only see,three’s and four year old,and that is only for 30 minutes,and I honestly do not remember the last time I seen the teacher. I am going to have to ask about this. I haven’t had a parent to ask me about it either. It is almost like a related service,and some of my patients get vision therapy,which they haven’t been getting this either?? I geez,here I go again…. Thank you for bringing this up,hmmmm…