By Susan E. Wagner, BA, ABD
Late on my second day in the hospital last winter, an elderly woman arrived and took the bed next to me. She slept through that night. The next morning she woke to a foreign environment.
She shouted, “Help me. Help me,” over and over. A nurse rushed in and tried to explain to the woman where she was. The woman kept shouting. The nurse explained that the woman’s own home health aide would be there soon. That didn’t work either. More and now louder shouting continued all morning.
By afternoon, the woman was hoarse and the aide finally arrived. The aide went immediately to the woman’s side to try to calm her. Nothing worked. The woman didn’t seem to recognize the aide. It was clear she was disoriented. The aide huddled with the nurse and explained the level of dementia the woman exhibited before this latest incident sent her to the hospital.
Of course, I heard every word, there being no privacy in hospital rooms. Continue reading “A Moment in Time”
Pearl S. Buck Writing Center 