“Eat, eat, open your mouth.” The exhortation-command is repeated continuously, in a loud voice to the crazy old woman. The nurse on duty, with a spoon in her hand, tries to feed her with ground food. However, Mrs. Aspasia does not want to eat. The nurse looks at her watch anxiously – he has less than five minutes to convince her, and a total of 25 more to feed all the ladies on the floor. This is the general picture.

“Usually we have five to ten minutes to feed each meal,” describes “K” nurse who worked in nursing homes for six years. “In such a short period of time, food intake can easily occur.” For those who have experience with such constructs, the scene described above is familiar. Alarm clock, morning care and grooming, breakfast, free time (often in front of TV), lunch, siesta, free time, dinner, care, sleep. The routine necessary for smooth functioning is characteristic of almost all buildings – from the most luxurious to the most modest. The program makes it easier for workers, given that especially today, after a large takeover of nurses in other industries, nursing homes work with almost “security staff”, but the routine leaves those guests who have clarity breathless.

Nurses tell “K” about daily problems, tactics in Greece, and problems due to lack of staff.

The poor worker-to-food ratio of 1 to 25 to 1 to 40 or more on the night shift is problematic; the homeless are like little children, constantly in need of someone to supervise them. “When I started working, I was excited,” recalls the 37-year-old Stephanos Belloswho is currently operating in Germany. “Excitation quickly gave way to fatigue. As a junior, I was loaded with four night shifts in a row, from 11:00 pm to 11:00 pm. until 9 a.m., that is, after the elderly woke up and we provided them with morning care.” Another colleague of his still remembers how the new structure used him as a “multitool”. “I was hired as a supervisor, but I did a lot more work.” In this climate, “there were times when I abruptly hung up on a relative.” Her other colleague, 36-year-old Nikos, has severe waist problems. “I used to lift at least 40 people every day,” he says. “Now there are machines for the process, but many structures have not acquired them.” “Binding” is common. “Obviously it looks inhumane, but we do it out of necessity, because the prisoner has a serum that he draws, and if he takes it out of the vein, it will be very painful.” Stella, on the other hand, conveys her own experience. “We ask for written consent from relatives for limb restriction, and, as a rule, they give it to us.” However, there are situations that seem incomprehensible to someone who has not encountered the universe of dementia. “Some time ago, a video was released where a nurse pretends to be a crazy daughter,” tells Stella, “People criticized it, but that’s what I did too. The old woman asks to talk to her daughter every five minutes, something happens and she immediately forgets about it, but this is the only way to calm down.

Many of the tactics common in nursing homes in Greece are frustrating for residents. “I remember when the supervisor couldn’t find the nurse, he called her on the speakerphone, causing concern,” says Mr. Bellos. And he adds that “even in Greece it is almost mandatory to change clothes in the middle of the night, which is why the poor do not get enough sleep.” In Germany, a number of medical procedures (continuous blood sampling, tracheostomy, intravenous hydration) that increase patient stress are avoided.

St. Bellos decided to emigrate after four years in this position, Nikos moved to another branch after six years, and Stella, who has worked for ten years, is preparing documents for the state. “I’m happy with my current employer, but I can’t imagine retiring from here, this job has an expiration date.” Nikos notes that “the relatives, who often pay up to 1,600 euros, have demands, but they don’t know that we get (mostly) 600 euros.”