Anyone On Here Work In Assisted Living Or A Nursing Home?

[innocentagain]

My family knows I wear diapers, and they're okay with it- as I have an overactive bladder, and some IBS, and I told my mom I simply prefer to use diapers. But I've always wondered if I would feel comfortable working in a nursing home, due to being surrounded by many other adults who wear diapers. My lab partner at college does, and so I don't even try to hide the fact that I wear them around her, or at school- no more than someone would hide glasses. She's always been cool about it. Anyway, I've worked around food before, and had bosses who knew and seemed okay with it (I'm an EXTREMELY CLEAN diaper changer), but I've always wondered if I'd rather work in a field where adults wearing diapers was just a fact of life.

[sarah_ab]

ok some questions...

do you enjoy working with people?

do you have infinite patience?

a great sense of humor?

the ability to consistently cater to other peoples needs?

can you change messy/wet diapers?

can you clean up someone else's vomit and not vomit yourself?

can you handle sometimes be hit or slapped by someone who doesn't understand what is going on? and can you do this without hitting or slapping back?

do you want to work in a medical setting?

Can i handle doing physical transfers, walking at a snails pace down the hall next to someone, repeating the same question 5 times in a row, helping people wipe themselves, helping people bathes themselves etc.....?

THESE ARE THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK!!!!

what you are asking is like a female saying "oh hey i get a period so maybe i should be a nun because then i'll be aorund other women who have to use tampons to" it makes no sense and is definitely not even a reason that should be considered when looking at a future career.

[square_duck]

Sarah pretty much hit it on the head.

If you have never been to a nursing home, or a assisted living facility (AKA a "sniff") I suggest you visit one. I have been in both, doing what I do, making deliveries...and all I can say is they have to be the most depressing places I have ever been in. My grandfather died in a nursing home, dumped there by my dad. I was the last family member to see him alive, if you want to call it that. We put my dad in an "assisted living' facility for a while, until he wanted out...he didn't want to be around "old people"

It takes a hell of a lot of character to work in such places, a positive attitude, good sense of humor, a strong desire to help others, a strong stomach, the patience of Job, besides all the nursing background and training etc.

They are very hard places to be, let alone work in. Essentially, nursing homes are a dumping ground for family or society's refuse. People who cannot (or will not) take care of themselves, suffer from a wide variety of physical or mental (or both) disorders, people who no one else seem to care about enough to try and care for them...or simply cannot care for them anymore. or worse yet, people with nowhere else to go, no family to depend on and are simply abandoned and taken care of through what ever financial means available....family or society's flotsam all simply waiting to die.

Very depressing places, I get in and out as fast as possible and am usually depressed for the rest of the night

I'd look elsewhere if I were you...

[d_drew12]

Nearly every time I walk into a nursing home to visit a family member and see the sad farm of old people who are so depressed, so broken, and so incapable, it makes me think how REDICULOUS I am for wanting to even wear diapers. When you see some old man, who's uncontrollably crapped himself, is stinking up the halls, and a caregiver has to change him, all the while he's completely embarrassed, disgusted with himself, etc. It's not fun!!!! Our world of diapers is a fantasy world. There's is far, far, FAR from it. I've had family members work in nursing homes and they'll tell you how much of a depressing atmosphere it can be. Sure, there's the occasional laughs and good times seeing some of the patients but changing diapers, and wiping butts are not something that's going to be that great of a gig, especially if you have a fetish for them in some sort a way. It will likely not play out the way it is in your head right now, trust me. There isn't just some guy walking down the hall with a cart of diapers, smiling and taking people one by one into their rooms for a diaper change. It's very, very, different. Just FYI.

My two cents.

[ldatsea]

i would say if you have to ask than the answer would be NO!... especially since your only thought is diapers... you can do any job wearing diapers ...

[innocentagain]

Nearly every time I walk into a nursing home to visit a family member and see the sad farm of old people who are so depressed, so broken, and so incapable, it makes me think how REDICULOUS I am for wanting to even wear diapers. When you see some old man, who's uncontrollably crapped himself, is stinking up the halls, and a caregiver has to change him, all the while he's completely embarrassed, disgusted with himself, etc. It's not fun!!!! Our world of diapers is a fantasy world. There's is far, far, FAR from it. I've had family members work in nursing homes and they'll tell you how much of a depressing atmosphere it can be. Sure, there's the occasional laughs and good times seeing some of the patients but changing diapers, and wiping butts are not something that's going to be that great of a gig, especially if you have a fetish for them in some sort a way. It will likely not play out the way it is in your head right now, trust me. There isn't just some guy walking down the hall with a cart of diapers, smiling and taking people one by one into their rooms for a diaper change. It's very, very, different. Just FYI.

My two cents.

I visited my grandma all the time in hers before she died. She was in a pretty kickass one, though. But, just the opposite for me, when I see the people in there I think about how I'll be in there one day and how I'd rather live life to the fullest as a completely self-actualized person. That, and I won't even mind the diaper aspect when I get there. I think it's misplaced guilt to see them and feel bad about choosing to wear them. You wearing them has no impact on them one way or another, and hey, maybe some of them would rather be around someone who can identify with them and their problems. I loved going in there and eating in the cafeteria with my grandma and her friends. Those people are a goldmine of life experience, and I listened to whatever they had to say, since they're eager to talk to someone.

[waynecook52]

ok some questions...

do you enjoy working with people?

do you have infinite patience?

a great sense of humor?

the ability to consistently cater to other peoples needs?

can you change messy/wet diapers?

can you clean up someone else's vomit and not vomit yourself?

can you handle sometimes be hit or slapped by someone who doesn't understand what is going on? and can you do this without hitting or slapping back?

do you want to work in a medical setting?

Can i handle doing physical transfers, walking at a snails pace down the hall next to someone, repeating the same question 5 times in a row, helping people wipe themselves, helping people bathes themselves etc.....?

THESE ARE THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK!!!!

what you are asking is like a female saying "oh hey i get a period so maybe i should be a nun because then i'll be aorund other women who have to use tampons to" it makes no sense and is definitely not even a reason that should be considered when looking at a future career.

Sarha,I dont think anyone could have said it better.I know I worked in a nurseing home kitchen fo 20 years and that is just about what our directure of nurse's use to ask the aide's.

[WAbedwetter]

The replies all contain some good information and suggestions. However, what they all leave out is that being an aid in a nursing home is very hard work for a low wage. It is essentially a deadend job with little room for advancement. Even the professional staff (Registered and Licensed Practical Nurses) tend to be paid on the low end of the scale. Vital, necessary yes, a great job NO.

[innocentagain]

Oh, I'm not worried about low pay, deadend jobs. My punk band's gonna take off eventually, I'm sure.