Death and decline come with the territory at a SNF. I’ve already known many who have passed but not until this have I felt someone die. She was a hospice patient who had been a ALF resident for almost five years. The four days leading up to my shift she was undergoing rapid decline, she couldn’t move, morphine suppositories, oxygen and little cognition. I came to work and was briefed on her situation and went in to help administer medication. It was clear she was leaving. It felt like a different person in the room, her face gray and her skin burning. I saw her chest rise and fall only twice. I tried to find her radial pulse but it was too weak, I was able to faintly feel her jvp and counted until i felt it slowly fade away. Her breathing had stopped completely, she no longer blinked. The only thing left was her fever.The only thing I could think of how calm it felt. In that moment she became free of pain.
