In Rehab

Not me and not that kind of Rehab.  I am doing fine.

A friend had a toe amputated and is still in need of antibiotics for several more weeks. They transferred him to a Rehab facility here in the valley. I visited him yesterday to help him set up a computer to connect to the Internet. My experience with those sort of facilities is very limited, and I know that the quality can vary by what the insurance will pay. This one is not the top of the comfort level, but sadly it is probably not the worst of them.

It is clean and the nurses are pleasant as they can be but it is like visiting Bedlam or some other asylum.  Half drugged and fully crazy people wondering the halls in walkers and wheel chairs.  Some just sit in a wheel chair outside their room staring at something that doesn't appear to me.  

There are three people to a room.  My friend has the bed closest to the window. Not a great view from a first floor but it makes his cubical seem larger. 

The guy in the middle bed did not make it through the night.  He was gone the first morning.  Don't know what happened... in my best Pollyanna voice I hear myself saying... "Oh they must have released him." 

The guy in the bed nearest the door watches the History Channel and the Military Channel 24/7.  As if that was not distracting enough he also yells back at the screen.  No rhetorical questions are left un-answered and his political leanings are very clear in his comments.  So much for resting and trying to rehabilitate. 

When I tried to set up the computer I found that the outlets in the wall were so old and worn they would not hole a plug.  The plug would just fall out of the wall disconnecting everything I had plugged in.  I ended up having to use adhesive tape to secure the plug in the socket. But I did get him back on line so he can at least FaceBook to people who aren't "barking mad."

Our health care industry really needs to be better.  One really doesn't know what it is like in that industry until they are forced by some crises to deal with it.  The problem then becomes trying to manage a huge system when you are not in 100% great health.

So here is a shout out to every nurse, every doctor, every receptionist who works in that arena. They are great people who are not paid like a rock star and what they do is so much more important. They take care of the people who have no one else and can't take care of themselves.  It is a noble calling and one that should receive much more respect than it gets.

Thanks from a person who saw what you do yesterday. 

As you were,

Jay