Nursestories

Posted on October 24 , 2011

Grown Ups rss

The other day in triage, a 42 year old man shows up around 5pm. First thing he tells me is: ‘‘I’m not here to see a doctor.’’ The way I tend to react towards that sentence will depend on what comes next. Sometimes people just want to consult a nurse, sometimes they want to validate an information, or sometimes they’re just lost and end up in the emergency by mistake. This man, wanted something to eat. Ughh! He didn’t seem homeless, he was actually well groomed with proper hygiene and manners. ‘‘I haven’t eaten all day, I’m very hungry and I was hoping you could give me something to eat, please.’‘, he tells me. ‘‘Well, you could go to the cafeteria, it’s open now.’‘, I answer back. ‘‘But I don’t have any money and I’m really hungry.’‘, he keeps on repeating. So the investigative side of me starts: ‘‘Why haven’t you eaten all day?’’ With a whining voice, he finally tells me his story: ‘‘My parents kicked me out of the house this morning with no money and no keys.’’ My obvious answer being: ‘‘Why?’’ ‘‘They do that sometimes.’‘, he says.  Again, ‘‘Why?’’ ‘‘Sometimes they get fed up of me. They say it’s to teach me responsibilities, so they kick me out on the street for the day so that I learn how to cope on my own.’’ Wow, I love those parents. ‘‘So you still live with your parents?’‘, I ask. ‘‘Yeah, but if I could I would leave.  They make me so angry. I’ve stayed here before you know.’‘, he says. ‘‘Here meaning the hospital?’‘, I wonder. ‘‘Yeah, I’ve been staying on the 4th floor for a few weeks.’’ Ah, figures. ‘‘You’ve been hospitalized in the psychiatric department.’‘, I make sure to precise. Time to start with the real questions. ‘‘What medication do you take?’’

So the big picture is this: Grown up man, known for schizophrenia. Gets hospitalized on and off. Regardless he’s on medication he can’t cope with basic life issues on his own, so he stays with his parents, which could be the reason why he looks decent and has polite mannerisms. When his parents can’t deal with his mental disorganization, they throw him out of the house early in the morning with no money and just a buss pass until 10 at night. Allowing him to figure things out, on his own, by himself, like a grown man. Drastic maybe, but it seems to work somehow. The parents get a break during a full day and the ...kid / child / man learns to manage on his own.

Now, what’s my role in all this. It would be easy for everybody to just give him a sandwich and ask him to leave afterwards. But will he learn anything? Yes, that every time he’s kicked out of his parents’ house he can come to our hospital for some food. And why not hang out all day in the emergency department so he can get his three meals before returning home. No, that won’t work. Again, he’ll be relying on other people to find solutions for him. Instead, I make sure he understands that the hospital is not a restaurant. We don’t hand out food to whomever is hungry. If you’re not a client you don’t get our services. But being a health care facility, we also act as a resource for people in crisis. Which means I can’t just send him back outside, completely discouraged without giving him some references that could help him. So I gave him a list of different establishments that offer free food to either homeless people or anyone else in need of such services. Hoping he will preciously keep that list for further usage.

Posted by: RN13 0 comments