RIGHT OR WRONG?

When admitting a new patient to our hospice program, the hospice nurse and I, as the social worker, both receive paperwork indicating the patient's address, diagnosis, contact people etc. Our intake nurse is very thorough, detailed and meticulous when completing the paperwork. She rarely gets anything wrong. Typically the admission nurse gets the original paperwork while the admission social worker gets a copy of it all.

I was to meet, “Agnes” and her niece, “Rita” at a nursing home, where Agnes has been for ten days. Agnes is eighty-nine years old and suffers from cardiac disease. She has been in a recent decline to where she has stopped eating.

I noticed the name of a Residential Care Facility on my paperwork as well, but followed my GPS directions to the Nursing Home. I walked into the lobby and met Agnes, her niece, Rita and nephew, “Matt”. The three of them were sitting in the lobby waiting to get discharge papers from the nursing home staff. The family were so anxious to get Agnes back home to her Residential Care Facility.

Rita shared that she has all of Agnes’s belongings in her car and they have been waiting patiently for quite a while. Agnes was getting tired sitting in her wheelchair. They were waiting for Agnes’s doctor to fax the discharge orders to the nursing home.

I went up to the nurses station and asked about the status of the paperwork. The nurse said that they were waiting for a fax from the doctor’s office. I told her that I was going to call the doctor’s office to try to hurry things along. She then said she would call. She spoke with someone who informed her that they would leave a message for the doctor.

In the end, I got busy gathering the appropriate paperwork and getting copies of what Agnes’s Residential Care Facility needed before she was to return home. We were able to get Agnes into her niece’s car and be at her home within the hour.

Rita was so frustrated by all of the delays. She said I was meant to come to the nursing home. They had planned on being at the Residential Care Facility, where Agnes has lived for two years and considers home, for our admission visit two hours prior. Rita said that I was guided from above. She was so grateful and gave me a big tight hug.

Once we got Agnes home, Rita gave a big sigh of relief. When the admission nurse showed up at the Residential Care Facility, her paperwork had the correct address. My paperwork somehow directed me to where the family was waiting. I had the opportunity to speedup the process for getting Agnes home. Whatever the reason, I am so glad it happened the way it did.


RIGHT OR WRONG?

　
I went to the wrong address.
I followed what she wrote.
She is very meticulous and careful.
Rarely gets anything wrong.

The family was sitting in the lobby.
They were waiting to discharge her home.
She was stressed by the slow process.
I pitched in and got things moving.

I followed them to her home.
She’s been away for two weeks.
A sigh of relief on her niece’s face
as they helped put her to bed.

“Thank you so much for your help.
I can breathe again.
You were meant to be there.
You were guided from above.”

The address may have been wrong,
but I went to the right place.
Spirituality, fate, coincidence.
It doesn’t really matter how.

Right or wrong?
The most important thing of all is
I ended up where
         I was needed to be.