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Becoming an LNA By: Stacy Poulin

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Becoming an LNA
By: Stacy Poulin
For me the choices of becoming an LNA was that the time.... not even being a choice but a decision,  I took on the task of  bringing an uncle to see his sister who was also my grandmother. She had fallen ill and was at Fletcher Allen Medical Center. She had been there for a little over a week and he had no way to go see her because he never acquired his driver's license so he called me to ask: Stacy will you please bring me to see Sid. Of course I said, and then it's when we got there and I evaluated the situation. I then questioned and asked her doctors if she was okay. They politely told me there was nothing more they could do.  It was her COPD.  When I explained this to my uncle he looked heartbroken.


I went  to speak to my grandmother alone keeping in mind she had been there for me all my life, whom I had loved and cherished all my life. And she said to me I just want to go home. At that moment you can see the light bulb went off. I decided then and there I would do everything I could to bring her home. Her doctor said she'll die and I remember saying to him she's going to die anyway I just want her to die happy. The look on my uncle’s face as we finally settled her in her medical bed, and her visiting nurses came over to see her while I stayed at her side was precious. It was worth every moment of every day that I spent by her side. She passed away at home taking her last breath in the living room that had been her home for many years. Within a year, maybe a year or two, my uncle’s own health had declined too. I decided at this point I needed to learn as much as I could. I acquired my LNA and also cared for my uncle. He lived in my home with me for many years. He lived happily, not as happy as I would have liked at times but at that time I gave everything that I had. Just as I do now, whether at-home care or facility work, I will retain my LNA because it's important to know that facet of my life will never change. Knowing one person can make the difference for another person. We're all human and in the end to be human to another is a goal. It's the most rewarding fulfilling goal any human can have towards another to be there in a time of need. It's the most rewarding feeling. I know I did my best fulfilling that goal, with the person who was there when I needed most as a child, to be there for them through their end. 

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