Nursing Assistant Education

A sixty-four-year-old CNA instructor reflects on aging, generational shifts, and the moment a teenage student compares her to a favorite nursing home resident.

An eight-year-old was placed in front of a dying woman and told to read. No one asked if Margaret had the energy to comfort a frightened child. In hospice, even kindness has limits—and choice still matters.

A woman with advanced dementia is told—again and again—that her son has died. Each time, the grief is fresh. A reflection on memory, mercy, and when silence is the kinder choice.

This is what I got when I asked AI for a picture to represent this story. I didn’t know AI had a sense of humor. I was teaching a nurse aide class about death and dying in long-term care when a student raised her hand. “At my facility,” she said, “when a resident dies, we’re told to say they’ve gone to Montana.” “Someone actually told you to say that?” I asked. “Yes.” “That doesn’t make sense,” I said. Facilities may have HIPAA policies, but once families are notified, roomma

They said John couldn’t communicate. They were wrong. What followed was a brief, profound reminder of how easily healthcare mistakes silence for emptiness.

Two people can experience the exact same moment and remember it completely differently. In the chaos of a dog attack, fear, adrenaline, and position shaped what each of us believed we saw. I was injured, bleeding, and certain my dog had been in another dog’s mouth. My neighbor was just as certain that never happened. Two stories emerged from one event, and neither of us was necessarily lying. What settled the truth wasn’t memory or belief. It was evidence. A time-stamped do