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I began work in one of the homes as an extra, working shifts as a fill in. The first home I worked in had 8 patients. Not one of these patients could have survived on their own. Not only were they incapable of cooking for their selves, but many needed some one to bathe them. A few were in wheel chairs and some were even incapable of moving from the wheel chair to their bed. As I have mentioned earlier, they were incapable of even reading. Of the patients I dealt with during my stay as a helper, the one who had the least amount of control over himself was a young man, only slightly better than his twin. This young man looked almost like a body builder, but was incapable of walking. One of his legs would not extend and support his weight. When we took him anywhere, two of us, one supporting him on each side, helped him struggle to the van. In the home, he roamed the house by crawling. He had his own room, but spent most of his hours on the floor in front of the television. I never heard him speak. He never appeared to be watching the TV, just laying there. Occasionally, I would see him look at me or someone else with his head cocked to the side and his mouth opened wide as if he could bite someone. If you have ever seen a picture of a bear roaring, you would have an idea of how he looked. In fact, any time I walked by him close enough for him to reach out to me, I kept a wary stance around him. He had attacked staff and even took a bite out of one lady’s breast. Although he reminded me of an animal, our job as staff was to treat everyone as humanly as possible. I would speak to him as I passed him and sometimes lay my hand briefly on his shoulder. Never was their any response. As time went on, I noticed that sometimes he would lay on a couch across the room from the TV, still without any response to outside stimulus. There were times when feeding, bathing, and other chores were done and we would have time to socialize with the patients. One evening I noticed this young man lying on the couch and I went over and sat down at the end where his feet lay. After I had did this several times, I picked up his feet and lay them on my lap and for some time massaged them. I never saw any response of any kind from this man, but he would allow me to massage his feet as long as I had time. Earlier, I mentioned another man who was losing all control of his muscles, yet his mind was still clear. Whether this man that I just described, was even able to have a thought was unknown to me or the rest of the staff. At one time in the near past, he would have been stuck in a room with maybe a mat and maybe a change of clothes and allowed to spend his life in solitude. I think of both of these men, neither able to care for their selves through no fault of their own and think that I could have been either man. Today we are caring for them. Maybe we have become a little more civilized.
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