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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1999)
University student Shane Reilly finds simple truths at a nursing home Photos and Story by Nick Medley A thick sanitary smell fills his nos trils as he runs the long halls of the Good Samaritan nursing home. The soft sounds of Glen Millar’s big band swing make their way through the half-open doors. But Shane Reilly doesn’t have time to hear them. Around the comer, a sweet, vibra toed whistle grows louder. A young man with the Club Mfed look, white shoes, pants and shirt, races to his first resident. “Hey, Stan,” Shane says, “Is your catheter full?” Stan smiles. Shane empties the plastic container. “See you later Stan the Man.” He grins, races and whistles his way to the next room. “He doesn’t know how to walk,” says head nurse Vivian Mendonca with a laugh. “He runs everywhere! ” One resident down. Fourteen to go. The 21-year-old exercise and movement science major has been emptying catheters and bed pans as a certified nurse’s assis tant since the summer of his sophomore year at the University. “My girlfriend’s mom at the time thought I’d be a good nurse because of my personality,” Shane says. So a nurse he became.In his home town of Beaverton, he took a course at Mary ville nursing home to be come certified. Six weeks later, he was on the sum mer staff learning skills that would land him his current job in Eugene. With six classes left in his college career, Shane spends most of his time sleeping, studying and silently protesting Knight Library’s limited availability on the weekends. The rest of the time he works. 2 p.m.: Clock in and check the bath chart. Bathe Gordon. 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.: Pass out night gowns. Check vitals, and make sure all residents are clean and dry. Change those who aren’t. Help Pauline arrange her pillows for tonight. 3:30 to 4 p.m.: Lunch at the Jiffy Mart across the street. 4 to 6:00: Get residents up for din ner. Check residents to make sure they’re clean and dry. Change those who aren’t. 6 to 7:15 p.m.; Feed residents in dining room. 7:15 to 8:30 pan.: Wheel residents back to their rooms. Dress them for bed. Brush their teeth or dentures. 8:30 to 8:45 p.m.: Fifteen-minute break at the Jiffy Mart. 8:45 to 9:15 p.m.: Take out the trash. Bring dirty clothes to the laun dry. Put wheelchairs downstairs to be recharged. 9:15 to 9:45 pan.: Chart residents’ daily activities. 9:45 to 10 p.m.: Last rounds. Put people to bed. Check residents to see if they’re clean and dry. Change those who aren’t. 10 p.m.: Update the next shift of aids and nurses. 10:30 pan.: Dress down. Bike home. He claims the whole time he doesn’t like it, but he does,” Mendonea says. That’s the concensus at the nursing home when it comes to Shane. The staff talk about his energy. The residents talk about his com passion. Shane talks about what he’d like to do if he had more time. “I have eight hours and 15 resi dents. I have time to make sure they’re dean and dry and fed. I don’t have much time for interacting with them on a personal level.” Working with the elderly 40 hours a week gives Shane an experience he says people his age don’t usually get. Each resident has a story that Shane tries to discover. In the process, he’s learned about life and his future. “Don’t settle for anything that doesn't make you happy,” he says. He recalls Oran Marsh, a Good Samaritan resident who gave up an en joyable career in the Air Force for a stable job in quality control for Goodyear Aero space. “That was his real passion, and he gave it up.” Shane plans to nev er waste a second. He has learned a little about love, too, he says as he feeds chocolate pudding to a resident in Good Samaritan’s dining room. “Mac and Helen over there," he points his spoon toward a table in the center of the room. At the table a man slowly brings a morsel of pureed food to his wife’s dazed face. Shane explains that He len McCollom is in the late stages of dementia and her husband Floyd is n’t too far behind. They have been married since World War EL “These people are still together un der all this stress,” Shane says. “Peo ple are always talking about what is love, and they can’t figure it out. Well, I can point to these people, and right there— that’s love.” Not all of Shane’s experiences have been so optimistic. “I feel I’m real in touch with the dying process,” he says. The first death was devastating, but he quickly learned what watch ing people die does to a person. “That’s what that job’ll do to you. It’ll make you numb to things. “ He’s also discovered that nursing is not the career for him. As licensed practical nurse Bill Schrempp will tell you, “Being a CNA is just a back-breaking, thank less, sort of low-status type job.” So as soon as he finishes his de gree, Shane plans to pursue his pas sion-flying. But until then he’ll be racing through Good Samaritan’s wings, whistling a sweet vibratoed tune and never wasting a second. Shane lifts Irene Schutte out of bed for dinner Irene usually prefers female aides to take care of her, but with Shane rt doesn’t matter. “He has so much compassion for the people, ” she says. I C * - mm—_um._- .... Shane checks on Harry Donnelly who has fallen asleep listening to television in his room. l..-,,..&.,.■-rTr~~~~ nm ~ •. - Feeding residents in Wing 400 takes patience because most of the people there have Alzheimers. It may take Shane up to an hour to feed one or two of the residents. Pauline Post is carefully put to bed while her roommate, Edith Stain, tries to sleep. AMhe end of each shift. Sham fiUs out f»e charts for each of his rwktents. The charts de - tail everything that took place during Mr day. I _—- IN"".. Fellow CNA, Natasha Willis, greets Shane at the entrance of Wings 100 and 200 as he wheels res lUCIIla Uul/CV IU Uioii iwwuwm»»v. Jessie Aurand emits in her wheelchair as Shane makes up her bed. Unfortunately, she re cently passed away. “Jessie was a fun person to take care of,” Shane remembers, “She was the wife of a preacher, but she was wild.”
