Vocational Calling Essay

Crystal Waite

If vocation is something that I would choose to do regardless of the pay, then it would have to be

either taking care of others or taking care of dogs. I’ve worked in positions that took care of

others, but I’ve never worked to take care of dogs, that I happily do every day. There was a time

long ago that I wanted to have Alzheimer’s patients in a home to take care of, but that has shifted

when looking for a full-time job did not involve being able to treat those people how I would

want to. I worked on an Alzheimer’s unit once, loved the patients, love the time I had with them,

but when your staff to patient ratio doesn’t allow for spending quality time with them, I suffered

the stress of that. I never had enough time for the patients being the only nurse on the floor.

While not working, I enjoy my dogs, they are my kids. I’ve been able to rescue two and wish that

I could just have a farm of them, but also remember how I felt not being able to give enough

time to the human patients I took care of, so I think that I would have the same issue with having

a large number of them.

Growing up I always seemed to have the need to take care of someone or something. Looking

back now it all makes sense. Right out of high school I wanted to become a nurse, but decided

working was the better option at the time. After a couple years I still felt that I wanted to become

a nurse and have the rewarding feeling of helping someone. So off to nursing school I went. I

tried the hospital setting, mental health setting, and a doctor office setting, but still wanted to be

working within the care of an Alzheimer patient. I was able to start working on a lock down

Alzheimer unit. After a few months I noticed that I was having a hard time with leaving them. I

felt that my shift never had enough time for a human-to-human interaction. Sure, I was able to

get their daily care done, medication administered, and helped with their meals but every day I

left that unit I did not feel like I provided enough. I felt like for those 8 hours I spent with them

everyday I would try to do as much as I could with and for them, but each month got worse. I felt
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Crystal Waite

like I was letting them down which was letting me down. I absolutely loved the daily fighting

when sundowning would hit some of the patients. It was up to me to help them through that.

When a family member showed up and the patient did not remember who they were, I was able

to help the patient get comfortable with the family member so that they were able to have a visit.

I loved hearing different stories about where they were in life, what they were doing that day,

wherever they were in their life during that day I was there to help. Some days were better then

others. One day I had a wife come in to visit her husband, her husband had no clue who she was

and had a girlfriend on the unit. I remember trying to console the wife and ensure that today just

wasn’t a good day for him. Your heart breaks watching someone go through something that they

have no idea what is happening to them. There was a married couple on the unit that still lived in

the same room as each other. Each morning I helped the wife get ready for her busy day with her

husband, she would come to breakfast as if it was café/date. Those days made me happy because

not long after that she would forget that he was her husband and would not want to go anywhere

near their room because he was in. Those are the moment that I loved that I wish I could do

everyday when life doesn’t get in your way.

“One cannot fail to note that in the process of this development not only do new forms of work

appear but also others disappear” (Laborem Exercens Pg.11) I feel like this is a perfect quote to

use in this situation because as a patient’s need of care becomes more demanding your physical

work increases and you emotional work decreases. In healthcare there are those that are there for

the paycheck and those that are there for the care of the patients, as current issues face these

environments there are less people there for the patients. I would care for patients for free if life

allowed me to. Everyone needs to be taking care of by someone that has the knowledge and

understanding to do so. Having sympathy for someone doesn’t mean that you won’t make them
 Vocational Calling Essay
Crystal Waite

do what they need to do in order to get better, you just learn to have a softer approach in doing

so. An angry nurse/patient does not get much care done for the patient. Even though I’m no

longer taking care of those patients, I still try to help those that I see struggling when out. As

family members get older, I’m there to lead a helping hand where needed. Any patient that I

have cared for or will care for in the future will always have the best that I can give, their right to

privacy is one of the biggest things you can give. I would be responsible for any aspect of their

care and sometimes that is making sure they even when they are unable that their dignity remains

intact. I would never want someone yelling at me because I couldn’t remember something or

because I forgot to get completely dressed in the morning. Any patient may feel like they are

losing their dignity when they cannot go to the bathroom by themselves or shower normally, it is

up to those that take care of them to try to keep as much of that intact as possible because these

patients are very vulnerable.

“Man must work, both because the Creator has commanded it and because of his own humanity,

which requires work in order to be maintained and developed.” (Laborem Exercens Pg. 23)

Working is a necessity in order to provide for not just yourself but those that you are responsible

for. I felt that working and helping others was what I was able to do. I felt that I show that these

patients were not just patients they were humans that needed additional help. A difficult patient

should never feel that they are hard to care for, I just learned different ways to care for their

different personalities so that they never felt threatened with receiving help. It is important for

everyone to never feel like they are a burden on anyone. Treating patients as if they are a part of

your family allows them to feel that they are appreciated and not just someone you have to take

care of because you were assigned to them.

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Crystal Waite

“Be friendly, try to smile, and just stay nonviolent.” (Lewis Interview) This quote fit my daily

thinking when working with patient that can be violet at times. Patients don’t understand why

they are there when it doesn’t feel like home, why they can’t walk through the doors at the end of

the hall and leave. Especially during sundowning episodes patient could get violent. I learned

that how you come across can either help or hurt a situation and I never wanted to react to being

hit. Although patients at this age may seem fragile, they are quite strong. There was a male

patient that another nurse and myself were trying to get ready for the day, prior to walking into

that room the other nurse stated that I should not allow his hands to grab on to my arms. At first,

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I soon found out that he could have broken my arm easily. He

was nonverbal so he couldn’t express anything, he was holding on to me out of fear. I will

always remember that situation because it was one of the first ones that I learned not to react

badly otherwise I would have made the situation worse. It wasn’t the patient’s fault; he didn’t

understand how strong his grip was or that I was there just to help.

Not everyone can find a job that is also their vocation, those that do are very lucky. My vocation

will remain to take care of someone or something. Someday I hope to get back into taking care

of those Alzheimer patients, I fell like that has always been my calling, but it just didn’t work out

that I was able to also make that a job. Starting out after high school you think that you would

always work in something you were called to do, but it doesn’t always work out that way. After

19 years in the work force, I’ve learned that if you aren’t doing something that you were called

to do you have to find something that you at least like doing because if you do something that

you hate it will be a very long time until retirement. Never allow work to become your life, you

have to live life while you are away from work because it flies by.
Vocational Calling Essay
Crystal Waite