I've gotten several emergency pages so far at my new job but none of them have been real emergencies. Once it was a lady who was lonely and wanted to chat, a couple of times it was someone who got locked out of the building by accident, or someone who didn't have any hot water in their apartment.
Tonight, it was a lady who had fallen down in the bathroom. She was wearing a chamise and underwear, and couldn't get herself up to hang on to her walker again. She wasn't hurt, but she was helpless. She begged me to just help her up myself, tears in her eyes that she was so ashamed. I had been warned of this. That they would ask me desperately to help them myself, or that other residents would try to intervene and help them up. I was told that I was not allowed to help physically in any way, except for giving the heimlich if they are choking. I explained to her the policy and put in a call to 911 for a public assist. Three policemen came, assessed her, and helped her up.
While they were on their way, I sat and talked with her. She was very ashamed that she needed to ask for help. She said she has a big family, and that some of them are local, but that she feels like they are too busy for her sometimes. Most of her friends went somewhere tonight so she didn't bother going to dinner; she thought she'd just go to bed early. And then she fell.
When they helped her up to her walker, and it was clear she was fine, the police left and she got in bed right away. I brought her a glass of water and tucked her in. She patted my hand.
When the on-call night staff came over at the end of the day, I told him what had happened and he said she falls like "once a week", and made a sign with his hand indicating that she's a drinker.
I never would have guessed that, and didn't smell alcohol on her breath.
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