One highlight and one lowlight of recent shifts:
/ A man bringing a huge body lice to show us, he had found it crawling up into his 'pit. I taped it to a piece of paper to identify and keep it corralled. It was still moving it's legs 3 days later!! You can see that it still has blood in it's system so it must just need that to live. Eke!
/ Learning trial by fire how to convince someone that we don't have a bed and he has to leave without involving outside authorities. It took about a half an hour of talking in circles but finally he took no for an answer and made his way out to the bus stop to head to the downtown shelters. Trying not to internalize feeling bad took a little more time but he was well aware when he arrived that getting a bed was less than 50/50 chance and he insisted anyway.
I am so happy to be at the shelter as staff, our guest/cook, R keeps laughing at me because I am so hyper and goofy when I get in, it's because I am ===== HAPPY (and a little tired, pulling double shifts makes your brain a little haywire sometimes).
that first thing with the lice is both hideous and awesome. till now, I didn’t know something could be both, but now I do. It’s hideously awesome.
ReplyDeleteHeath - Thanks for the dvd! I haven't had a chance to sit down and watch it yet but will try this weekend.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would encourage you to consider trying out an overnight shift at the shelter and see if it's something you'd be into. No pressure but it's a great experience...
Cheers!