"sniff"
Before I became an ICU nurse I unwittingly sojourned as 'RN supervisor' at a Nursing home. I say unwittingly but really I mean unfortunately as it was two of the most trying months of my life, yet it proved to be an experience that would forever shape by journey as a nurse. Nursing homes in the medical field are refereed to as "SNFs" pronounced like "sniff." Truly as sad and pathetic a sound as it is a place, still I always try not to use this abbreviation and prefer to use the longer more obscure name of Skilled Nursing Facility, as if this will make atonement. My patients there taught me so much about what the end of a life can look like, some ushered it in with a type of dignity and gratitude, but others, and I am afraid most, approached it scratching and screaming. These people that lived in this Nursing Home that was ironically named The Beautiful House thought me so many lessons. They were characters every single one of them, and it was a...
