Good-bye, Miss Farr

I recently learned of the death of one of my nursing instructors from Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing.  Her name was Mary Farr,  "Miss Farr" to students.

 Mary Farr was the prime example of what a Hopkins nurse should be.  She herself graduated from Hopkins in 1941 and went to war with the Hopkins nursing contingent.  She taught nursing at Hopkins from 1951-1969. She was proper, professional, intelligent and always perfectly groomed.  She expected the best of her students - no, demanded the best from us.   She left no stoned unturned in the care of patients; her value system embraced excellence, integrity, compassion, thoroughness and dogged determination to "get it right" on behalf of patients and colleagues.  She knew everything there was to know about medical nursing.  She knew all the diseases, all the medications and their side effects.  She would grill her students endlessly about the care of the patients that had been assigned to the students.  She reduced me to tears on more than one occasion.  The first time was after she had subjected me to a great many questions about my patient, his diagnoses, his medications, nursing care indicated.  After she was done with me (and she kept up the questions until you got one wrong) and I had walked off, she followed me and said something to the effect that "I should remember that you are only 18 years old".  At which point I burst into tears.  I don't remember what triggered the other cry, but it came during a one- on -one session with her, maybe an evaluation.   We learned from her, the doctors learned from her.  She made an impact on everyone who knew her.   She could be formidable (something she didn't remember in her later years ), but I certainly learned a great deal from her.

Aging in Place

I worked for many years in long-term care.  I know that a big reason that many seniors have to leave their homes after a fall or an illness is the stairs.  After all, Grandma or Dad is already old and how much longer are they going to be around.  Why go to the expense of putting in a first floor bathroom and turning the dining room into a bedroom?  Let's look at nursing homes.  So slightly more than 10 years ago, my husband and I bought our current house.  Everything I could possibly need is on one level, and that includes the washer and dryer.  We actually bought the house for the view but the one-level living has been a big plus.  The only things in the basement are the hot water heater, the furnace, some old paint cans and the electrical panel.  I could go for a very long time and never need to go down or up those stairs.  What I didn't take into consideration, though, is the property on which this house sits.  When this house was originally built, it sat on 25 acres.  A previous owner sold off 20+ acres, leaving us with a little more than 4.  Four acres of grass and trees and bushes.  We now own a riding mower, a push mower, a garden cart that attaches to the riding mower, a cart that is pushed by a person, a leaf blower, a chain saw, two hedge trimmers, an edger, various pruning instruments and a newly acquired snow blower.  And let's not forget the rakes and the shovels.  Still, I am not sure it is enough.  There are bushes to be pruned, leaves to be raked and dead trees to be cut down.  There are limbs and branches all over the yard after every winter.  Right now there is a pile of brush, downed limbs and such, from Superstorm Sandy, just waiting to be burned.

And this is just the stuff that has been piled up.  There is plenty more still waiting to be picked up and carried or hauled to the pile.  There are millions of leaves still on the ground.  My advice?  Once you get to that age of retirement, you might want to look at condos- without stairs, of course.