I always wanted to be a home care nurse and take care of people who weren't capable of taking caring of themselves. The thought of someone relying on you for help made me feel like I was doing something good and I mattered. In the summer I visited a home care nursing business that a family friend owns in West Hartford. I asked if it was appropriate to shadow one of her nurses and she said she'd have to get permission from the client and the client's family before letting me, thankfully they approved of my shadowing and I was able to shadow.
That morning before my shadow I had so many questions ready to ask, some about school and how long it took to get certified, what I had to be certified in, and things in that matter. The nurse I shadowed was Avigail Ortiz, her patient is Maria Ojeda, she is 85 years old. Avigail drove me with her to the patients house and let me assist her on what she does as her daily routine. When she first gets there she wakes up her patient. She checks to see if she needs a shower, if she does Ms. Oriz takes her a shower and then dresses her. After the shower she makes her breakfast and gives her the medications she is required to take every morning. They do a morning exercise together and relaxes until lunch time. While the patient is relaxing Ms. Ortiz picks up around the house and cleans what she feels should be cleaned or whatever the patient requests her to clean. During this relaxation time I took the chance to ask her questions, my first question was how long did she have to go to school and surprisingly she said only one year and her nursing assistant degree. I also asked her what she needed to be certified in to qualify for this job and he said she needed to be first aid and CPR certified. After a couple more questions she had to get back to wrapping her day up. She took the patients vitals and gave her dinner following with her medications for the evening.
After the day was over I took some time to think if this was really something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Do I really want to shower someone and wipe them after they use the bathroom? It was all questionable but I then had another job shadow with an elementary school teacher and instantly I knew that becoming an elementary school teacher was where I wanted to be for the rest of my life and why I started early with my capstone.
That morning before my shadow I had so many questions ready to ask, some about school and how long it took to get certified, what I had to be certified in, and things in that matter. The nurse I shadowed was Avigail Ortiz, her patient is Maria Ojeda, she is 85 years old. Avigail drove me with her to the patients house and let me assist her on what she does as her daily routine. When she first gets there she wakes up her patient. She checks to see if she needs a shower, if she does Ms. Oriz takes her a shower and then dresses her. After the shower she makes her breakfast and gives her the medications she is required to take every morning. They do a morning exercise together and relaxes until lunch time. While the patient is relaxing Ms. Ortiz picks up around the house and cleans what she feels should be cleaned or whatever the patient requests her to clean. During this relaxation time I took the chance to ask her questions, my first question was how long did she have to go to school and surprisingly she said only one year and her nursing assistant degree. I also asked her what she needed to be certified in to qualify for this job and he said she needed to be first aid and CPR certified. After a couple more questions she had to get back to wrapping her day up. She took the patients vitals and gave her dinner following with her medications for the evening.
After the day was over I took some time to think if this was really something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Do I really want to shower someone and wipe them after they use the bathroom? It was all questionable but I then had another job shadow with an elementary school teacher and instantly I knew that becoming an elementary school teacher was where I wanted to be for the rest of my life and why I started early with my capstone.