Speaking of Immigration:
"It doesn't Matter Which Boat You Arrived on, Because We're All in the Same Boat Now!
I just finished the Certified Nurse's Assistant Course,
Yay!
Virginia is pretty strict, compared to some other states, and
I am pleased to say that my exams were high scoring and they praised my performance in the clinical experience.
Now I have to pass the state exam which is written and practical and then I can work in a clinic, hospital, but most jobs are in nursing homes.
Enough bragging.
We did the clinical in the medical wing of a long term care facility. I learned that it is one of the finest in Northern Virginia, but here are some observations.
1) Time is the great leveller.
I knew that,
but now I saw people who had money all their lives (or else they wouldn't be there) and they are all at the same needy place in their lives.
One was a physicist, one worked at the city news desk during the war, they were teachers, government professionals, laywers....but they had come to a time when they needed to be spoon fed their meals, and helped to the bathrooms. We were reminded : "once a man, twice a child"
2) Be nice to people, even the young woman with the zig-zag hair part-- because you'll meet them again when they care for you later in life.
3) Another reason to be nice to strangers and foreigners:
All the nurse assistants (CNAs) were from Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Liberia.... I remind myself to be nice to everyone because one day young foreigners will care for me (one way or another. (Vietnamese have a monopoly on nail places, Guatemalans do all the yard work, everyone in restuarants is from India...and the hospitals are all staffed by Subsaharan Africans)
4) get used to accents NOW, because the whole world is struggling with English as a second language. When you start losing cognitive ability is NO TIME to start.
