Please Give a Hand to Friday!

"Home is the seminary of all other institutions" Spurgeon

This morning as I prepare to head to my work place I wonder about things related to workers and their homes.

Yesterday following a meeting with nursing assistants one woman stayed to talk to me. She wanted to know why I was not stricter about people using their cell phones on the care units. I asked "are they?" and she told me indeed they were and doing it while they were giving care. I can not be every where and the cell phones are a problem. The image that is glued to my mind is the elder who is receiving intimate care while their care giver is texting a friend. How does that feel? You all will be old one day - if death does not nip you out of this world before the rest of us, that is. When you need someone to assist you to bath or toilet how will it feel if your care giver is snickering because her boyfriend just texted a loving message? Or perhaps it is the teen at home is asking about permission to hang out with friends or your spouse wants to have hamburgers for dinner... Will we feel safe? Will we feel that the care giver protected our dignity? Waiting is not the strength of this generation. This nation of people with cell phones and other I need it now gadgets. What are people who break rules at work teaching their children at home? How do I ramp up discipline in this environment and not inadvertently punish the Innocent or perhaps worse insult the Innocent? This is mightily on my mind as I prepare for the day. Most of the care givers are good caring people...the few who are not, leave large dirty footprints over the carpet of our work. Time to shower, make-up and dress and all the while designing a how to in my head. Drawing that line in the sand and daring the malingerers to cross over it....