Today I present to you a different kind of article. Today, instead of just putting facts across the page, I want to inject a little of creative writing, various ideas into my usual way of presenting information here. Bear with me, hoping you understand the message here. Yes, sometimes I can write words that might be a little confusing but that is not a problem on your end but here. I will explain that at a later date.

Some creative writing ventures in here, here on this white space, here in this computer space. Well, honesty be told, all of my writing is creative in one way or another, even my factual stories are presented in a very creative way to keep your interest, to keep my interest. After all, how much can you write about apples and not be bored of apples or any other topic for that matter?

So my story begins here,

Meanwhile, I went to look into my journal yesterday and was not surprised to find the writing, writings that came from my mind, heart, soul and spirit. These were writings of my thoughts, ideas and suggestions that flooded through, begging to come out onto paper. And yet day after day passed and not one word dared venture out onto the paper. After all,once the ideas or thoughts are on paper, it is so easy for people to steal or borrow them. So for years, I kept the journal private and now soon this year I will reveal it to the public.

Yesterday I visited again. Without too much hope in my heart, I entered the parking lot to this nursing home. Funny thing, this nursing home has had the reputation of being very good. That being very good, that is what interested me in it in the first place. Who would not be relieved to hear that a nursing home is very good? And indeed, this one was classified as being very good. I walked from the parking lot to the walkway of the building. It was a crystal clear day, and the weather was just begging people to come out and sit by the ocean. The invitation was nice and very timely but the smarter part of me kept saying, no, today is not the day for the ocean. Today is your visiting day. Do that first. Uhhghhg, the feelings I got after that order. Suddenly, I felt depressed, sad, and seemingly overwhelmed. I feel sad and overwhelmed every single time that I visit there. And now just the thought of going into another nursing home, another hospital or another medical center make me sick to my stomach. Perhaps I have too many memories of the extremely bad facilities. Perhaps I just did not read enough. Perhaps, perhaps and perhaps, these are the important bits of my description . Perhaps is a very prevalent word when it comes to talking with someone who is in a medical center or nursing home.

I creeped up the walk. Turned into the curve, yes, it was a driveway from the parking lot. There at the ocean you would prepare to visit and then go up at exactly visitors' time. I think things over and I remember the things that bothered me, even about the good place. Yes , even about the good nursing home. This is what people do not realize. They do not realize that even the good nursing homes are bad. Why are they bad? They are bad because their first priority is getting paid and making more money and filling beds and making sure that each and every thing is paid for immediately and as quick as possible. Even the good ones have billing problems. In some of the good ones, what happens is that when the patient is alone in the facility --perhaps he or she has no visitors for an hour or so, while that patient is alone, there can be one or two or three specialists sent in to examine the patient even when the patient does not want the examination, even when the patient or family never asked for these extra examinations. The patient and family just have t o put up with this because they are unaware that it is happening.

For example, figure this one out. Patient has ulcers that came from bedsores. Patient had quite a few here and there. Patient was admitted to the hosital for heart failure and then sent to another nursing home, a good one. At this nursing home, instead of asking the family or patient where these sores were from or how he or she got them, they automatically sent a plastic surgeon to check the patient's sores and ulcers. When the family asked why that doctor had come for a consultation, the doctor replied that the patient had sores and they had to find out why he had sores and why so many. That is odd. The odd thing is that the sores were from a previous nursing home. And both the family and the patient knew this. Yet they had a consultation with a plastic surgeon to see why the patient had these sores. Now, of course the family wanted the patient to see a doctor, of course. But would it not make more sense for a skin specialist to be brought in, and would it make more sense to bring in an infections specialist ? Would it not made more sense to contact the family first and let them in on what was happening to the patient at that time when they were not in the nursing home? No skin specialist was brought in; no infections specialist was brought in. Even no heart specialist was brought in even though this patient had a history of heart disease, heart problems, heart stents, heart murmer and past congestive heart failure, this nursing home did not send a heart specialist but sent a plastic surgeon. Interesting? Yet, it is typical of what happens in the better nursing homes. There is not enough of the correct examinations and too much of the examinations that are not necessary.

And, that incident was a minor matter, not a major matter. But it was not a major matter because this was one of the better nursing homes. So what happens in one of the rehabiliation and care centers? What if you live in Staten Island and need to go to a rehabilitation and care center? Which one do you choose? Do you dare choose? In the past, I have visited many nursing homes and also some rehabilitation and care centers. And what I have found is that these things are synonmous with almost all nursing homes and especially with bad nursing homes. These things happen and these things exist:

1. Staff has no time for residents and patients. She seem to be busy running back and forth but it appears that the bulk of their time is spent filling out reports, conversing amongst each other and talking to doctors and filling out more reports.
2. When staff does have any time for residents, the staff seems impatient, and in a hurry. The residents wait and wait and wait for service here and there and when the service finally comes, the aids and staff are in too much of a hurry to give good, friendly service.
3. There is rampant kinds of different neglect and abuse in the bad rehabiliation and care centers to the point of the administrators and seniors and supervisors seemingly doing things that might be illegal, yet no one stops them and no one knows because these senior staff have so much power.
4. Everything is a secret. You will find out later. No one has the answers to the questions you ask and you just get pushed from one place to another.
5. Residents are basically prisoners. They have schedules that they do not want. They can not eat, or sleep when they want to. Most cannot go outside the place if they want to and there is everything else wrapped up in red tape.
6. Humans sit in urine and in feces in diapers for hours at a time. Humans beg to be brought to the bathroom but no one hears their cries.
7. Humans sit in hallways begging to get out of these places. And then more happens.

Is that the kind of place you want to visit in or live in ? And that is just a sample, a small sample of what is happening in those places.