~a little story~

I have a little story to tell. In my first semester we spent our time in the nursing home. It seemed like everyone was ready for the time to be over before we even started. We showed up the first day in our freshly ironed uniforms, freezing because it was winter outside and we were not allowed inside without the instructor on the first day. So many thoughts of the horrors that could go wrong were running through our heads. We quickly became a family as anyone would going through something so stressful together. It turns out our fears were completly wrong. We all had the best time in the nursing home. Our patients absolutly loved us. They loved seeing us coming and would always complement us on looking so pretty in our white uniforms. The one on one time we gave them meant so much to them as it did to us. They taught us our efforts to succede were indeed worth it.
There was one day I won't forget. My patient was feeling very ill, a very bad cold. They had such a tiny body with so many clothes on just trying to keep warm. All they wanted to do was feel better. They were having a difficult time breathing, coughing, and having chest pains. They were crying out to God to heal them or take them they were ready to go home to be with him. I was starting to feel hopeless because I didn't know how to help, but for the first time I started using some of the things I was taught. With the help of a fellow nursing student we found some vicks vapor rub for her chest, cold medication, for the breathing we raised the head of her bed, and for comfort I sat holding their hand until they felt better and was sleeping. I knew at that moment when all I heard was cries of pain and them wanting help from me and being able to actually help someone for the first time even in that little way, I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do.