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Saturday, May 29, 2010

My Big Bingo Win

"You will be helping 'Hilda' with Bingo today. She has dementia and is rather ummm... difficult. Just go along with anything she says."
Shit! Firstly, I have never played Bingo! Secondly, I know nothing about dementia! So I am left standing there trying to wrestle the querulous old so & so into her chair while she mutters about not knowing how to play either and the blind leading the blind. So I plant her in her seat and steal her stick just in case she decides to whack me with it and firmly tell her 'We will figure it out. How hard can it be.'
Seems that you don't have to remember that you play every week, the instinct just kicks in. Well we didn't win a thing!!!! Damn it, not sure who was more pissed off! We watched everyone else's piles of chocolate bars and talcum powder get bigger and bigger and never even got close! So, every 10 mins or so she would start to sulk and tell me that she wasn't going to play any more and that I would have to do it, but she would soon take over again as soon as I got a few numbers. Somehow we got through it and I found that I had quite enjoyed myself, between dealing with 'Hilda' and placing markers on numbers for the lady on the other side of me during her very frequent micro-naps I had been quite busy and time had flown.
My only concern was that 'Hilda' had not enjoyed herself. But as I was leaving the woman in charge pulled me aside and said 'That was great! We told you she was difficult but you handled her really well. That is the first time she has stayed for a full round of Bingo.' Wow! Must admit that then I felt great! Didn't really do much for my first shift, but I left feeling like I had had a big win!

2 comments:

  1. Great post! LOL at them giving you the difficult Miss Hilda, and at the poor dear 'sulking' because she wasn't winning. She was obviously quite competitive in her past life and still has some fire left in her, as she'd take over from you! LOL. Glad you enjoyed yourself in the end, wise move for taking her stick away, and congrats on keeping Hilda stimulated enough to stay for the whole round.

    Be good to start doing some background research on the old biddies history of dementia etc when you have free time. Learning to manage residents with dementia and alzheimers is challenging, but will give you a head start, and look great in your CV in the long term!

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  2. Awesome first day!!
    You're a natural :)

    Good call on removing the "whack a CNA" stick - lol

    Now you can add Bingo to your CV!

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