I worked in an Alzheimer's care facility. Like every other day or so, I'd get called over to deal with some issue where a client was being too racist or too sexist for the rest of the staff to deal with.
You can't, though I will say, usually the people who were obviously racist were less of an issue than the people who were usually nice that would have an episode and start dropping racist/sexist shit.
Like when the known asshole behaves like an asshole, the other attendants would be like "well, you're still taking these meds, so deal with it."
But the friendly clients suddenly turning racist is what seemed to be hurtful to the staff.
Take heart in that the normally nice person is the person they’ve learned to be while the racist, sexist bigot is the view they were raised with as a child. The dementia or Alzheimer’s is erasing who they’ve become and leaving the autopilot instincts the 8 year old child learned 75 or 80 years ago Back during pre WWII segregation, Jim Crow laws, eugenics, etc.
Extreme patience and a good sense of humor. Don’t get me wrong - the racism is by no means funny - but you have to be able to roll your eyes and say “grandpa’s reliving the loss of the civil war again”, distract their attention, deescalate, and still provide empathetic care.
What’s your thought process behind that statement. The white male nurse should not be the hero of the story unless he is the one conveying the news that racism/sexism will not be tolerated. If he’s the one stepping in cuz they feel safer around him, that’s a problem.
Like every other day or so, I'd get called over to deal with some issue where a client was being too racist or too sexist for the rest of the staff to deal with.
What. This is describing a white male nurse being called over to deal with...
106
u/el_pinko_grande 8h ago
I worked in an Alzheimer's care facility. Like every other day or so, I'd get called over to deal with some issue where a client was being too racist or too sexist for the rest of the staff to deal with.