Saturday, April 21, 2012

Hospice Hilarity

Just so you know, people are allowed to have fun at hospice.

This week we had a training day.  It is mandatory and I rather expected it to involve a lot of sitting and squirming.  Those who planned the day, though, put a tremendous amount of effort into it.  They came up with a circus theme.  When it was time to change workshop locations, circus music would be played overhead.  When we met in the conference room we found animal crackers and those orange candy peanuts set out at our tables.  People were asked to bring white elephant gifts (although some brought nice gifts) to exchange.  There were juggling and balancing acts; we even got to give it a try ourselves! I wasn't good.

Of course there were serious sessions on such topics as public safety, personal wellness, medication titrations and equipment training.  We were given helpful knowledge to enable us to be better prepared to serve our patients.  But, silliness was interspersed in a fashion so as to keep us balanced.

We were all asked to wear a costume of a circus character.  I couldn't come up with any grand idea that I wanted to do and was just going to blow that part off, but then had an idea.  I decided I would be an animal rights activist protesting the carnival.  Sneaky,  huh?  That way I did not have to spend the day in an uncomfortable costume, but I gave the illusion of participation.   I carried a sign.  That's all I did.



OK, I admit that it was rather a feeble attempt to make it appear I was being cooperative.  Perhaps I felt guilty about that but for some reason I did cooperate with a photo opportunity that presented itself.  Actually, one of our hospice aids painted this scene.  I was impressed.


Other people did get into the spirit of the day, though, and even allowed me to take their photos.  



Do any of you have such silliness at your place of employment?

Featured Post

My Life as a Travel Agent

On a recent morning I was at work and as one of my patients was waiting for his death, I thought again about an idea that keeps popping int...