FARMville craziness

So currently I'm in FARMville, Virginia.  Yes, that's how it is written.  ;)  I am working for the very first time at a nursing home, or in PT terms, a SNF (pronounced "sniff" = skilled nursing facility).  When speaking with the manager during my phone interview, he told me they have a pretty good variety (I am still finding out that variety) and expect 90% productivity.  I had no idea he meant on the very first day.  So needless to say I was a little overwhelmed the first day with my 10 minute tour followed by a day of patients without even getting into the computer documentation system.  Thankfully all that has now been figured out, and I'm more in the swing of things.
FARMville is a super cute little town - a main street where most of the shops close at 5 or 6 pm, lots of fields, the smell of honeysuckle abounds.

I am renting a room from a lady who owns Arabian horses,
which I have now met once (I joined the YMCA, so I've been going there after work and it's usually about dark when I return).  There is 30ish mile trail nearby that I have gone down and back via bike last weekend, and hope to do the other half soon (FARMville is basically in the middle of the 30 miles).  Here are a few pics from the High Bridge trail, and you can see why I'm enjoying the scenery around FARMville - "it's so green, it's so green" to quote my mother ;)

The Appomattox river flows under the bridge, but the bridge is much longer than what would be needed to cross the river alone - the bridge is 2400 ft long and 125 ft high.  My trusty bicycle and I were able to conquer it, however.  ;)  The bridge used to be a railroad bridge, and during the Civil War both sides tried to destroy the bridge before Lee surrendered at Appomattox.  The bridge was rebuilt/repaired after the surrender, and had traffic on it until Norfolk Southern Railroad's last train crossed in 2004, then finally it was redone into a VA state park with a 30 mile trail system.  Pretty nifty!  :)

So back to that "variety" I was talking about at the SNF.  The patients have some CRAZY stories - because some of them are a little off their rocker, whether it be dementia, schizophrenia, or other mental illness related.  I've had patients tell me they've lived on Saturn, had an affair with Jesus Christ, have ESP, could ride motorcycles backwards (that one I believe), had a husband shoot at them (again, that one I believe), dated a gay porn star (again, this one I believe).  You also hear some stories that are sad about kids that didn't turn out well and they haven't talked in years, or they steal from their parents, as well as stories of questionable actions by family members or authorities figures when these patients were children or young adults.  Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you want to cry, but above all, you realize how despite what comes off as a little crazy, everyone has a story to tell, everyone has worth that is not governed by what they can do now, but who they are and Jesus loves them for who they are.  It reminds me of the passage in Matthew 25 separating the sheep from the goats:

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

There are so many times I feel limited in giving what someone asks for - on an hourly basis in the nursing home.  There is one lady who sits in her wheelchair in the doorway, and every time you pass by she says, "ma'am, ma'am, will you help me get back to bed?"  It's a struggle sometimes to pass by, she's not a PT patient, and if I take time to work with her I'll be missing time to work with my patients.  Or when I'm going to get a pt and someone else calls out from their room wanting to go to the bathroom who I don't know and I don't know how much assistance they need to transfer safely, to push the nurse's call bell when I know it might take 10-30 minutes for that person to actually get to the bathroom due to the demands on the nurses' time.  

Sometimes we are limited by different things, in this case I feel like it's time.  I pray that I can treat each of these nursing home residents like they are the Lord himself while doing what I need to do for my patients.  This week, I think that looked like pulling out the African tunes to get a little old lady moving and grooving.  However, I'm unsure of whether my attempt to bribe another pt to walk with sugar free peppermint patties was a good decision or not (it still didn't work, so she didn't get any...called me mean...what can I say, I'm a PT ;) )  Always learning.  :)

I will be starting my next adventure elsewhere on July 3rd as I start my journey to Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific (think in between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea) for 6 weeks on an Air Force base!  I'm super excited to get back into a little outpatient and enjoy the island life.  woohoo!!  :)