A holiday

Queen Victoria's birthday is still celebrated here in Canada. On the Island here where the capital city bears her name, things can get a little crazy around the 24th. This weekend has the distinction of being one of the most dangerous times to drive the highways of this Province. Everyone is going somewhere in a hurry.

I work the holidays since I cannot afford to have a day off without pay. Hourly wage slaves have that pesky thing where we have to WORK for our money. Unlike the Premier of this Province who thinks a 29% increase in salary is acceptable for himself and his elected henchmen, we had to settle for the crumbs they threw us. And that only after having our legally drafted contract ripped up and our wages peeled back. You see that way when our contract was re-done by the current Government, it looked like we were getting a bonus when in fact it was just our own money given back -- at a decrease. Public service employees do not get the same sweetheart deals that Publicly Elected Representatives do.

I worked my usual area with one add-on. The add-on was a rural client. Way out there of course. The Office somehow gave me the wrong address, so I was driving up and down this road looking for a non-existent place. It is not advisable in some areas to lurk around, this being one of them. A very large muscular man on a drive-on mower was watching my every move. I had the distinct impression it would not be wise to pull into his driveway unannounced.

I finally consulted my phone book and got the correct address. When I got to the client's home, they were not expecting anyone as they had been told they would be informed if they got holiday service by the preceding Thursday. This was Monday after the Thursday in question.

The first thing that struck me was the colour of the client. He was blue. I inquired to the spouse, and she told me that earlier in the morning someone came but refused to assist him use his nebulizer. (!!) I asked her if he had other medications or patches, and she suddenly said:
"Oh PATCH! I didn't get my patch this morning." Her nitro patch. For her heart. She had a heart attack 3 weeks ago.

Now I do not know why the morning person took such a stance, but I do know that blue people are in trouble. Jeez Louise. The high road can have carcasses alongside it too.

I told the spouse that should that happen again, she should ask the person to lift the machine to in front of herself or the spouse and THEY can switch it on. And the wife can put the mask over the gentleman's head. He cannot do it himself, and the doseage has been pre-poured by another family member who works. All that must be done is to turn it on and assist to put the mask on. I suppose it made more sense to this woman to leave it undone in the care of a spouse with severe memory loss and heart trouble.

You can't train stupid.