Healing Advice Options

I'm currently working at a care home for the elderly/blind.
I've been working for about 3 months an i can see my-self working their for about a couple of years.
I can do a little bit of improvised energy healing but I'm not practiced, one of the reasons for getting the job was to get a better idea of how to handle it.

At the moment I'd much rather keep anything i do as covert as i can, also safety is a big issue, it's been my experience that powerful stuff can disrupt delicate existing balances,
some residences (one of which is 105!) are clearly gifted individuals while others are clearly coping with old age quite badly.

Here is a list of the major illnesses I'm working with here;
Blindness- over half of the residence are entirely or partially blind.
Muscle weakening- when an old person stops being able to move by themselves it's hard to keep what mobility they have left, which makes my life harder!
Bone's- this one old lady creeks like 4 people grinding their teeth whenever she moves, it's clearly agony!
Memory- When this goes it really effects the persons ability to cope with everything around them, especially if they are blind.
Diabetes- about half suffer from type 2, it can cause so many other health problems i can't begin to relate them all.
Dementia- it's fascinating to get to know these individuals but very hard to look after them, the confusion they can feel is quite terrible.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wheelchair.gif)

Obviously i can't cure all these, i would be a fool for thinking i could but I'm still going to try my best for them.
Tips? Ideas? I'm an industrious fellow an I'm sure with some time i could implement something quite far fetched.

When i started the job i thought i might be able to create some kind of ESP for the blind, i still think i could, but it's going to be a LOT of work.
Astral constructs designed to bestow easy ESP? that's the ticket but I'm still dubious as weather or not to include anything else while I'm at it..

All advice/comments welcome!

I understand Monkman where you are coming from. I like that this is a calm rational exchange of ideas rather than devolving into a measuring contest. The answer in my case is that often you don't know at the beginning of the treatment (when you normally get the permissions straightened out) that focused energy work might be part of the best treatment. Sometimes the client is asleep or not very lucid. They may be face down and unable to hear you or speak very easily. In order to have a conversation you'd pretty much have to squat under the table near their head. But getting through the explanations and permissions does break the flow of the treatment.
Having the client think I was a little bit odd hasn't been much of an issue for me. Perhaps I have been wrong in following the directions of spirit guides. I know that I am fallible. But when this has occurred I have tried to use the intent that if the energy isn't being accepted willingly then it will just ground itself. In that case, it would probably feel like it does when the person has had enough energy work and is full to overflowing. It could be that I am wrong about what it would feel like if the client's will was rejecting the energy work. I have thought about that, however treatments and therapists will never be perfect. We make decisions and we live with them.

This situation hasn't occurred very often --perhaps half a dozen times in 20 years-- but it is best to work out responses in advance. It is seldom that I get to discuss things such as this.

I like that this is a calm rational exchange of ideas rather than devolving into a measuring contest.

Yes, and also that no one is disputing that we all have good intentions here. This is a good discussion for me personally as well, because I've also thought about and tried to work out in my head whether and to what extent my spiritual leanings should affect my patients.

The answer in my case is that often you don't know at the beginning of the treatment (when you normally get the permissions straightened out) that focused energy work might be part of the best treatment. Sometimes the client is asleep or not very lucid. They may be face down and unable to hear you or speak very easily. In order to have a conversation you'd pretty much have to squat under the table near their head. But getting through the explanations and permissions does break the flow of the treatment.

Based on what I (think) I know of massage work, these all seem to be sensible reasons to not ask during treatment. Still, it makes me a bit uncomfortable thinking about getting to this point in treatment without having worked it out before hand. And perhaps I'm not being realistic in thinking this could always be worked out in brief beforehand, because reality does impose its limits. I'm not a massage therapist/energy healer though either or personally involved in that field, what do you think?

I still think that the context of the treatment resolves a large part of the dilemma. If you're going to a massage therapist who also practices energy work, it makes sense that both methods would be used, though mentioning it in brief (if not getting explicit consent) would go a long ways in reiterating the context of massage/energy work to the client methinks. Otherwise, treating patients outside of this context, it seems very important from where I'm standing for the patient to know that, in addition to the obvious massage, one also employes Reiki or Therapeutic Touch (or whatnot) as a healer.

Perhaps I have been wrong in following the directions of spirit guides.

And I really don't want to go here and question whether or not this is wrong, because it might be the absolute right thing-- I have no idea! Could be that I'm just adding a layer of bureaucracy between the patient and the health care system! LOL! I'm more going for a pre divine-intervention solution to the question of using methods tied to spirituality in the context of providing effective health care. Perhaps even more reasons for the spirits to laugh at us, and what can I say to that?

I have thought about that, however treatments and therapists will never be perfect. We make decisions and we live with them.

Alas, yes.

This situation hasn't occurred very often --perhaps half a dozen times in 20 years-- but it is best to work out responses in advance. It is seldom that I get to discuss things such as this.

I'd be very happy if my two cents made any difference in helping to resolve this dilemma. Any other ideas?