Pressure bruises and tv

11/30/07 L1050733.jpg, originally uploaded by Susan NYC.

This is from November, 2007:

My father usually has pressure bruises like this on the inside of his arm. They're from being steered around by the aides at the nursing home.

The past Friday night as people finished eating dinner, I watched the aides steer some residents around by holding them by the upper arms, thumbs inside the elbow on both arms, then squashing them into rows of chairs placed in tight rows with less legroom than a greyhound bus, making them watch television.

I watched this while I sat with my father in the dining room. Channel 7 was blasting the whole time dinner was served - I don't know what time it's turned on, but an aide who had come on duty at 3pm said it's always on when she's there. She said it's always Channel 7. I don't know what's usually on, but the hour and a half I was there it was the typical bloody disaster news - local murders, kidnappings, etc.

The flat-screen tv is mounted high on the wall above the opening between the hall and the the dining area, in the dining area itself. There's barely enough room for the "tv watching area." If someone has been parked in the rows and doesn't want to watch tv, they can't get out until the whole row gets out., and since the walker is parked alongside the sitting area, they also need the help of an aide. So they have to stare either up at the tv or straight ahead at the back of the neck of the person in front - about three inches away.

Keeps them from wandering around, that's for sure.

Shameful, I say.