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TN: How horrible! I send deepest condolences.
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I'm making a little progress. I can now transfer from my bed to wheelchair and from wheelchair to toilet. Don't have to call for assistance. PT guy approved to do by myself. Hoping to get a shower wheelchair later on when I don't have a cast.
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Becky: That's great news!💗
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TN, I am so sorry. What a horrible story. My sympathy goes out to your family.
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Tntechie, I am sorry for your families loss.
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😏😏 Stolen heads?I

Imagine the surprise, fright when opening the box they stole?! We need more surprises like this, then maybe some of the craziness will so a down.

https://kdvr.com/news/local/box-of-human-heads-stolen-from-a-truck-in-denver/
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TN, addiction sucks. And meth is arguably the worst drug out there for causing psychosis in the user. Terrible stuff. Sorry for this tragedy.

Barb, I hope granddaughter has a nice birthday. I wonder why this suddenly became such an issue for him, if he had no real contact with her for years. I hope he gets help and this can be resolved for everyone's sake.

Glad... that is a story that will stick with me. lol Not every day you read about stolen heads off a medical supplies truck.

I finally get to start working with some aging-related research in my schoolwork. I'm writing this week about a research study conducted in a care facility on 7 subjects with dementia, published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. The goal of the treatment was to see if it would increase "appropriate engagement" in social/leisure opportunities in the facility. It did, but not across all subjects. I'll be writing about the research methods and whether experimental control and a functional relationship was demonstrated.

Then I'll work on my final paper, writing behavioral plans to help kids with learning disabilities and skill delays. That's by far the most common application for what I'm learning but I like to look at the gerontological possibilities. We all know that a great antecedent set-up is key to successful bath times, for example. Getting things just so for the individual -- grab bars, water pressure, temperature, etc. -- means compliance with and an increase in important social behaviors. So I see a lot of ways ABA can help older adults who have limited cognitive or daily living skills, mostly by training staff to implement little things that would make a difference in their daily lives. In the study I'm referencing this week, all that was done was offering/encouraging the participant to get involved in something social, aka a prompt in ABA terms -- such as singing with others, looking at magazines of interest. And it worked to cause increased engagement. So simple but effective.
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Ali, what was the treatment that worked?
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It's mystifying that despite the fact we've insisted front line workers are now educated and that they continue training annually many seem to be completely unaware of best practices that would make their lives and those of the people in their care better. My own time dealing with the nursing home and since then listening to sis vent about her job (NH scheduler) has convinced me that much of the dysfunction in facilities could be alleviated if enlightened benevolent management ruled with an iron fist - good workers should be rewarded, bad workers should not be tolerated. Easy, right?🤣
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TN, I'm sorry for your loss.
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My son and family came early today and had breakfast with me and DIL's mother in the dining room. My youngest grandson is working on a cub scout project. He talked to a number of the older men asking if they had been in scouting. Several of the women told him they had been Girl Scouts and Brownies. He was impressed with an older man who still had his Eagle Scout badge. One of the aides had told the men that Jax was going to be asking about scouting and he had brought his badge to the dining room.
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cwillie, bad workers now have to be tolerated because of the labor shortage. In some instances (like in NHs) a bad worker is better than no worker. Many young employees entering the working world have a terrible work ethic. The good news (for that generation) is that they don't need a college degree to advance -- just good people skills and a solid work ethic and they will be advanced in any organization that doesn't require a specialty credential (like MD, lawyer, architect, engineer, etc). My son's ex GF is dumb as a box of rocks and is a nurse, with a job, in a hospital...ugh.
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I know it Geaton, sister's job is a constant need to replace workers who are no shows and trying to balance workers that actually work with those who don't, plus drama about refusing to work with certain people or on certain wards. They are filling shifts with an outside agency and still often working short and everyone is so busy just plugging holes and trying to CYA that nothing ever improves - it's systemic dysfunction.
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Glad, it was very simple: The researchers trained members of staff to engage with the 7 subjects (all with Dx of dementia/Alz, limited verbal skills, ambulatory but usually sedentary) by doing a "check-in" every 15 minutes. The staff offered items/activities of interest based on preference assessments done prior to the treatment. The "check-in" procedure offering preferred items is the treatment.

Part of me says "duh," of course this would likely increase engagement, but also I guess you have to start somewhere. It took some digging to find this article from 2013 while searching across the entire last 10 years of JABA with keywords like "older populations" and "dementia." Just seems like there isn't a lot out there. Ran into this same thing a few terms ago while looking at research on psychoanalysis/CBT used with older adults. There's a little bit but doesn't seem like much. I wonder why because it's a demographic that receives a lot of care.
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March 6 = a really bad day for me many years ago when my ex threw me and our then 3 year old daughter to the curb, literally so he could have his mistress move in. It affected me with zero sleep. I will hope to catch up tonight. Insomnia is the worst, especially when you're old. Perhaps what triggered the sleeplessness, come to think of it, was that right before lying down I looked at the husband stealer's social media page. Why I don't know. Ugh.
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(((((((llama))))))) Unspeakable!!!
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Llama, so sorry you were mistreated. Some people are just scums of the scums.
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Golden and polar: Thank you. It was h##l since I had no family here in this state.
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sending huge hugs to everyone!

this is just a general comment.

it’s such a rollercoaster of emotions, helping our LOs. emergency/calm/peace/emergency/calm, etc.

wishing us all lots of strength.

bundle of joy :)
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Busy day. I had early dialysis and then two doctor appointments. I didn't care for either of my new doctors. Not sure what I can do about that. Miss my Maine doctors that I've had for several years. I'm ready to crash.
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i’m sending out a prayer to all of us, facing difficult situations right now.

hug!!!
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Becky: Get some rest.💝
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Hello!

It’s on my mind:
A few days ago, I made a terrible mistake (mistake with medicine). I misunderstood the doctor.

I understood, don’t give the antibiotics.

Today I discovered, the doctor actually said: give the antibiotics.

Today suddenly, my LO has a big infection. Hospital. Not sepsis, but on the way to sepsis. Now IV antibiotics, trouble breathing. Doctor hopes only 7 days hospital.

My LO was in great health, full of energy.

I made a mistake.

I really hope my LO recuperates.
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Your LO is in the hospital now and recieving treatment. It is very likely he will recover. Unfortunately you are not the first person to make this type of horrible mistake. My friend, a young first rate working RN, gave her 2 year old the wrong medicine (the 10 year old's mix) and poisoned him. He was very sick for a couple of weeks but he survived with no lasting effects. The mother's greatest challenge was forgiving herself for making a mistake between two identical bottles. A human mistake; just like mishearing a verbal direction.

I pray for your LO's recovery and for you to be able to forgive yourself soon.
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Poodledoodle, I’m praying, too, for your LO’s recovery.
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Poodle - (((((((hugs))))) and prayers. I don't think there is a caregiver anywhere who cant recall something they wish they had or hadn't done. We are only human. Know you are not alone.
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Thanks a lot!!!

Terrible mistake.

Hard to explain, but I’m not at fault. The dialogue between the doctor and I was more complicated than I described. I summarized to keep it short.

There was a big misunderstanding between the doctor and I.

I understood, that under “the following circumstances”, never use antibiotics.

That was right.

But there was an additional — unsaid — statement, which I could not have guessed:

Never use antibiotics “under the following circumstances”, EXCEPT…

Big misunderstanding.

Terrible…

Thanks a lot for your prayers and kind words!! Really!!

(My LO is now in hospital. Very weak).

My LO was extremely healthy just a few days ago.

Big hugs back to you all + thank you!! I’ll let you know.
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I’m just sending more hugs and thanks for your very kind messages.

Looks like my LO “heard”
your messages, because already, hours later, things are looking much better.

I’ll let you know.
Thank you!!
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I topped up the car today at $1.85.9/L - ouch. I'm lucky I can get by without driving very much, I feel for those who can't easily reduce their gas usage.
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0.2641722 gallons
1 litre is equal to 0.2641722 gallons, which is the conversion factor from liters to gallons.

Here in So.Cal, U.S.A., gas is selling at over $5.00+ a gallon this week.
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