It is a tradition here to have a “camp”. These camps are cabins that are located in remote areas and do not usually have electricity or running water. They can vary in their primitive nature and are usually located on a body of water. Some of them have been in the families for generations. If you have ever watched “Maine Cabin Masters” on television, then you know exactly what I am speaking of. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit one of these special places this past weekend. The cabin did not have running water -it had a hand pump at the kitchen sink and an outhouse; It did not have traditional electricity, but it did have a single solar panel to run a few lights. It was absolutely wonderful and I am so glad that my dear friend at work decided to share it with me. She, Wookie, and I spent the day in a peddle boat on the “pond”, as they call it (it was more like a lake by my definition). The weather was beautiful and I left completely sunburned, but it was totally worth it.
I finally gave up on my “race car”. It has caused too many problems over the past year and I don’t trust it to get me across the country to my next destination. I am currently in the middle of purchasing a truck. It is not easy to purchase a vehicle out of state, but the dealership is doing their best to coordinate the purchase/registration process with Texas. We have a few weeks to accomplish the task, so hopefully we can complete the transaction in time to leave for the next assignment.
We had a recent visit by the state surveyor for an investigation on complaints that had been submitted against our facility. This is common in the long term care arena. We were cited for a few items -this is also common in the long term care arena. When this happens, we are required to submit a plan of corrections (our plan to address/mitigate any future issues with the same items) to the state. Most of the plan usually involves process improvement and staff education. Our unannounced revisit from the state surveyor to verify our compliance was today. Unannounced visits like these can lead to more citations and tags, depending on what they observe. I am proud to say that all of our citations were found to be corrected and no further issues were found. This isn’t an easy feat, it requires an interdisciplinary approach and collaboration across the facility. I couldn’t be more proud of this team and their pursuit of excellence.
I am winding down my last month here and the staff and residents are already beginning to grieve our absence. They mention daily that they will be sad to see us go. We will miss them, too. The staff have been collaborating on how they can get a dog to take Wookie’s place permanently. One specific resident named Kinney (he prefers to be recognized as Uncle Kinney when referencing anything with Wookie), absolutely loves Wookie and Wookie loves him, too. They have a very special relationship, and will likely grieve the loss of each other. But, neither of them know that now and I prefer to keep it that way until “Good-bye time” gets closer.
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