Report of 12 Sept '07
Well, here we are - having just celebrated Vaishnavi's b'day. She turned 36 today, and founded the Banyan 14 years ago. She is quiet, unassuming and very funny, and shuns publicity; she is also a big dog lover (as is Vandana) and brought ice cream for the dogs at the B to celebrate her b'day. I watched her traipse around, having established a nationally known service orgn, having accomplished much more than people twice her age, and wandering about as though she'd done none of this. One of the residents prayed w/ her and blessed her, and Vaishnavi seemed very grateful.
I got to see Scott over the weekend (it had been 2 weeks since the last sighting) and suddenly, all was ok w/ the world. The apathy, dispiritedness and doubt vanished, and I am enjoying life (and work) again. One of the women at the B is pregnant, I am yet to ascertain what happened w/ her husband and in-laws that she is here, and she told me today that her belly hurt. The staff said she mentions this often, but I cannot blow off a mentally ill person's complaint on that ground alone. So I asked that she be sent to the hospital, she has gone and been admitted, on the presumption that she has contractions. I feel for this lady, that she is away from loved ones at this Hormonal Harini stage. She is well tended at the B, and I suppose I must feel grateful that she is not on the street. When I was preggers and craved a muffin at 10 PM after my chemistry class, my husband stated he craved 1 too and simply waltzed out and got 2. Life is so good when one's spouse is nice.
We are on a massive kick to clean up the B as there is more than expected illness - lepto, dengue, gastroenteritis. Preventable illnesses must not happen, esp when we are in charge of caring for the destitute, and I go on rounds every morning in an effort to improve hygiene. My father, when in Government service, ran one of the few clean wards in an otherwise apathetic hospital (Govt. hospitals are like County hospitals, and not known for sterling care), and I asked him what to do. He stated that all his staff had consequences, like losing their day off, if the ward was not clean; I am trying it here and today's results were very good. They need to be sustained, as do my rounds. I've told the social workers that this can only work if they are energized also.
Tutoring did not happen, as a couple of the kids were ill. We will get to this w/ gusto soon, as we find there are benefits for all here: tutors and students. Naren was even bringing in classmates from his new school to assist, and we were grateful.
Enjoy your week! We'll chat next week -
R
I got to see Scott over the weekend (it had been 2 weeks since the last sighting) and suddenly, all was ok w/ the world. The apathy, dispiritedness and doubt vanished, and I am enjoying life (and work) again. One of the women at the B is pregnant, I am yet to ascertain what happened w/ her husband and in-laws that she is here, and she told me today that her belly hurt. The staff said she mentions this often, but I cannot blow off a mentally ill person's complaint on that ground alone. So I asked that she be sent to the hospital, she has gone and been admitted, on the presumption that she has contractions. I feel for this lady, that she is away from loved ones at this Hormonal Harini stage. She is well tended at the B, and I suppose I must feel grateful that she is not on the street. When I was preggers and craved a muffin at 10 PM after my chemistry class, my husband stated he craved 1 too and simply waltzed out and got 2. Life is so good when one's spouse is nice.
We are on a massive kick to clean up the B as there is more than expected illness - lepto, dengue, gastroenteritis. Preventable illnesses must not happen, esp when we are in charge of caring for the destitute, and I go on rounds every morning in an effort to improve hygiene. My father, when in Government service, ran one of the few clean wards in an otherwise apathetic hospital (Govt. hospitals are like County hospitals, and not known for sterling care), and I asked him what to do. He stated that all his staff had consequences, like losing their day off, if the ward was not clean; I am trying it here and today's results were very good. They need to be sustained, as do my rounds. I've told the social workers that this can only work if they are energized also.
Tutoring did not happen, as a couple of the kids were ill. We will get to this w/ gusto soon, as we find there are benefits for all here: tutors and students. Naren was even bringing in classmates from his new school to assist, and we were grateful.
Enjoy your week! We'll chat next week -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
12:11 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home