A Time Of Tears

Christa was an EMT, an Emergency Medical Technician, who worked for a Non-Emergent transportation company. She and her partner, Jon, worked as a gurney team transporting patients to and from doctor's appointments, hospitals and convalescent homes twelve hours a day.

One of the convalescent homes had been steadily going down hill and Christa, along with Jon, had been noticing numerous skin tears, bed ulcers, and general neglect for weeks now. They would enter the Water Glenn Convalescent and the ammonia in the air would cause their eyes to water and lungs to burn. The nurses walked around with masks on instead of just changing the patient's diaper pails and linens.

"Jon, I swear, if I have to come in here one more time and see these poor patients in this condition, I'm going to go off on someone. This can't be responsible care and I definitely don't think it's legal!"

"Hey, Christa, get a grip," Jon said as he shrugged a non-committal shoulder. "We gotta do our job, they gotta do theirs."

"The difference is they aren't doing their job! You can't tell me this stench doesn't want to make you hurl your lunch up into the nearest toilet!"

"I've seen and smelled worse than this. This is almost a walk in the park."

"Man, sometimes you can be such a jerk, you know that?" Christa pulled on her gloves and finished prepping the gurney, their patient, affectionately called Grandpa Frank, had an HBO treatment scheduled and she didn't want to make him late. His foot wound was beginning to respond to treatment and that meant he could go home soon, away from this place.

Jon and Christa walked into Frank's room, hoping to see him dressed and ready to go, but of course it wasn't in the cards for today. In fact, it looked like they hadn't even fed him the early breakfast he was supposed to get on the days he had Hyper-Baric Oxygen therapy.

"Oh, man. I'll go grab an RN, you try and wake him up," said Joh as he strode from the room.

"Frank? Grandpa Frank? It's me, Christa. You remember me from Tuesday?"

Frank opened his eyes and stared silently at the girl in front of him. She looked vaguely familiar and was smiling at him so he smiled back. She was talking, but his hearing aid had been taken from him by one of the nurses and he couldn't make out her words.

Christa opened up his wardrobe and pulled out the clean pajamas he'd worn to therapy two days prior. She also pulled out the non-slip slippers for his feet, and his beret. Frank didn't like to go outside without his head covered.

Jon swept back in grumbling. "No nurses, aides, nothing. We'll have to do the usual, I guess. Oh," he stumbled as he noticed Christa with Frank's clothes in her arms.

"Yeah, I kind of figured."

Jon and Christa got to work, they stripped off the soiled bed gown then Christa pulled the curtain while Jon assisted Frank with his underwear.

"Ok, Chris, done."

"You two taking me down to the oxygen chamber? My , but you two sure work fast!" Frank flashed Chris and Jon his beautiful smile, it reached all the way to his eyes.

Chris nodded her head up and down, guessing by the volume in his voice that he couldn't hear well. She winked at him, then picked up the pajama top.

They pulled his arms through his top, then his legs through the pants, put his socks on and his beret.

"On three, one-two-three." Jon, at the head of the gurney took the call. They lowered the gurney smoothly to the level of the bed and prepared to transfer Frank over onto it. Once again, he called out, "On three, one-two-three." Frank was gently lifted over, strapped in securely and wheeled from the room.

If they were lucky, he would just get to HBO on time and get his full treatment.

"Wait! Wait a minute. Where is that patient going?" One of the nurses finally appeared in the hallway and sauntered over to the gurney. "You can't take him out, he hasn't had his meds or his breakfast yet."

"He has a scheduled therapy appointment at the HBO chamber. He was supposed to be served an early breakfast, dressed, and ready to go fifteen minutes ago. As it is, if we don't leave now, he'll be late and not get his full treatment. What happened to the schedule around here, you guys lose some nurses or something?" Christa was being polite, but firm, she'd had enough of this place.

The nurse looked from her chart to the patient then threw up her hands. "Ok, fine, go!" She turned around and huffed off back down the hallway.

"Jesus, Chris, you trying to get us in trouble?"

"I'm trying to get our patient out of here. Let's go or he will be late."

One Month Later

"Hi, Grandpa Frank! Remember me, I came and picked you up a couple times before for therapy." Christa smiled kindly at Frank, but noticed he didn't seem his usual lively self.

His foot was well on the mend now, and today they were taking him to the doctor for his final check-up. If all went well, he would be released to go home later in the week. Christa hoped so, he deserved better than Water Glenn, that was for sure.

Jon entered the room, shook his head no, and the two got to work getting him ready to go see his doctor. As they pulled off his gown, Frank cried out in pain. Jon and Christa froze. The bottom of the gown was crusted in dried blood and was stuck to an oozing bed ulcer. If they tugged, it would rip his skin right off.

"Oh, my God! Frank, when did this happen?" Jon flinched as Frank's trembling hand gripped his.

The watery blue eyes looked at the compassionate pair in front of him. "They took my hearing aid, I can't hear you. But them lazy good for nothings won't come when I call, so here I sit, day after day. They won't bring me my book, they won't give me my bath. They won't even help me up to the bathroom so I have to lay here and mess myself, then sit in it for hours on end."

His eyes. Chris couldn't look away. He had knowing, sad, teary eyes. They must have once sparkled with mischief and humor. She knew he had seen the devastation of war first-hand. He had witnessed his first child's breath, and his beloved wife's last.

He had seen the wonder in his grandchildren's faces; there wasn't much he hadn't seen in his life time. Christa looked into Frank's eyes and saw pain there. She saw pain in a lot of places she looked lately.

"I'll take care of this, Jon." Christa walked out into the hallway and down to the nurses station. A unit secretary sat watching t.v. behind the counter and ignored her for a moment, then looked up.

"Oh, I thought you was one of the patients. What can I do for you?"

Christa smiled politely, "May I use your phone? It's a local call."

The woman set the receiver up on the counter, then went back to watching her program.

Christa dialed the number quickly. "Hello, my name is Christa Jefries. I'd like to report the neglect and abuse of an elderly patient...."

End