Displaying 7 - 12 of 297 entries.

The Process of Dying

  • Posted on January 21, 2012 at 10:03 am

Yesterday was one of those days.  You get frustrated because your life revolves around watching someone slowly dying and you know, there is nothing you can do about it.  You are helpless in preventing Death from achieving its goal, so when things that you can control, are thrown out of whack, you lash out.

The problem isn’t that people are uncaring, it is that Business is more concerned about the bottom line, than about the people that GIVE them that bottom line.  From the consumer who buys their products / services, to those who help sell the products or provide the services.

When those you answer to, are more concerned about money, than people, then why should they care?

They aren’t being paid to do that, and let’s be honest, we ALL have our own headaches to contend with.

Yet I still Believe that WE have the power to change that. I know the concept of One Person, One Vote, seems archaic today, but then, nearly half of us don’t bother to make that choice. WE STAY HOME.

AND THAT IS WHAT HAS LED TO THIS CORPORATE CONTROL OVER OUR VERY LIVES.

Beacon Community Services has some damn good people working for them, but they are being burned out, and it isn’t because the job is hard, or difficult.  It is because they CARE.   And when you care, it takes a huge emotional toll on you, more so when the people you work for, simply don’t care.

People like Trinity, Tracy, Yvette, Billie, THEY CARE but then we have others like Edna, Rose and many many more, who are there for the paycheque only.  They have closed themselves off, for whatever reason.   It comes from an operation that simply wants bodies to fill the gaps, unconcerned if they are qualified or not.

When you reach this stage of life, to have to be at home 24/7 watching the person who raised you, slowly dying, as age takes its toll, you realize that all the things she taught you, no longer hold sway.

When I grew up, you could rely on Government for many things.  IF a business was mistreating its workers, they would insure it stopped, or was corrected. When you went to buy groceries, you never had to worry about tainted foods, or expired foods, because Government insured that didn’t happen.

No, it wasn’t perfect, there were instances when things slipped through the cracks, but they were rare, not common place. Today FOOD & PRODUCT RECALLS are a daily occurrence. It isn’t that there are just more products, more food being consumed, it is that Government has abdicated its responsibility to the very people who they are supposed to be watching over.

Business is an Entity.   Government is elected by People, and is supposed to be responsible to US.

As you sit by, watching a person dying, bit by bit, you see how the erosion of Government Responsibility impacts you more than if you were in your 30′s or 40′s going about your daily life. You see how simple things like buying food becomes a chore, and you wonder, about all those old people, who have no one to subsidize their income, who must manage on what little they have. You see people take advantage of them by rushing in, rushing out, leaving them exhausted and stressed.

Something that just hastens the dying process.

 

Total Lack of Compassion

  • Posted on January 20, 2012 at 2:41 pm

outsourcing is wrongToday is just one more example, of how Beacon Community Services FAILS ITS PATIENTS.

To begin with, how many times are you expected to go online, to check a schedule?

I am assuming that somehow Beacon Community Services expects its Patients to be checking the schedule multiple times per hour.  Yes PER HOUR, because it can change in a blink of an eye.

For example, this morning they changed the time of the regular worker, by a half hour.

Just now, they changed the scheduled worker for this afternoon to another worker.

Can you just see some elderly person going online and checking their schedule each and every hour? I CAN, because old people get nervous, they can imagine all sorts of things, and when you have NO CONSISTENCY IN SUPPLY REGULAR HOME WORKERS, well, you know they are going to be anxious.

Course, just how many elderly people are actually online, or able to use a computer effectively?  Guess those who can’t, or aren’t online, simply sit in urine and feces, hoping that eventually the Beacon worker will show up, or that whoever does arrive, can figure out what to do.

And that is a mild statement.

It is an obvious lack of compassion for those intrusted into their care, by a Government that only considers the bottom line, and not give a damn about the people they are impacting, by outsourcing Home Care to cruel, heartless, greedy corporations.

YES THAT IS YOU BEACON COMMUNITY SERVICES   -  A GREEDY COLD HEARTED CORPORATION

It is a Snow Day

  • Posted on January 18, 2012 at 2:37 pm

Winter has arrived today.

Lots of snow on the ground, more than yesterday, but if you are used to it, well, you’d laugh at the amount. I mean it is about an inch or two, which isn’t a lot, but here in this city, it is like the end of the world.

Which of course also means, changes for workers for Mom.

Which I can understand.

The real issue, is that companies like Beacon Community Services are not equipped to handle emergencies, given they can’t handle the day to day routine.

These firms need to have on hand, a supply of substitutes, who can pop in at a minutes notice, and effectively help those who need it.

Course in an ideal world, the regular workers would ALL be properly trained, so they could go from one patient to another, and be effective. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case with most of the current crop of BCS employees.   It starts at the top, and when the Top is only interested in her stipend, well, why should those under her, care for anything else but their own stipend?

Thankfully there are still some old fashioned people working there, like Tracy, Trinity and others, who care about the patient, not about the money.

I think we could add Tammy to that list, who was this mornings substitute.   She followed the instructions, and did an okay job of it too.  Least she didn’t just accept what BCS told her.  Maybe that is the key for substitutes.  Instead of listening to what the Company tells them, they should listen to what the Patient tells them?

Schedulers Need to Improve Their Reading Skills

  • Posted on January 16, 2012 at 10:10 am

reading skillsYou know, it amazes me how so many seem incapable of reading instructions that are placed in a Patient’s file. Take the case for Mom, that has her file clearly marked, in bold letters, that if there are any changes to the schedule, no matter how short of a time, that we are to be notified.

Not rocket science, is it?

Yet the people at Beacon Community Services, most notably the weekend schedulers, seem to consistently miss that notice, and as a result, we get a surprise.

Thing is, I can check the schedule online, but even that is useless, as it can show one thing, and be changed at the last minute.  Like I have nothing better to do, than check the online schedule every frigging minute of the day.

The impact of these changes, is that it puts more stress on an already stressed person, my 94 year old Mother. Adds stress to me as well, but for now, I can manage.  It is Mom that has the problem, because changes in her routine, can take days to settle down.

Then if you add in a worker change, not just a time change, well the after effects can last for weeks.  Like when they sent Rose ten days ago.

Not only was the time changed, but so was the worker.  A worker who simply doesn’t understand that being gentle means you don’t press hard, don’t rub hard.  Specially when the person has Brittle Bones and skin that can tear easily.   The result of her visit, is that Mom was not only stressed, but that her skin, near the groin, was torn.

I don’t believe it was intentional, but was simply a matter of carelessness. That and an inability to understand what the word “GENTLE” means.  It bled, and now still does.  Mom doesn’t heal quickly, plus the tear is on the depend line. It gets aggravated with each change of depends, and so her routine has to change, to accomodate that wound.

It means applying Vaseline to the wound, after being cleaned, to provide protection from Mom’s urine, and from the rubbing by the band of the Depends.

This has added discomfort, not to mention stress, and all because the home support worker was unable to comprehend what one single common English word means.   “GENTLE”.

 

I Am Tired of Doing Beacon’s Job

  • Posted on January 15, 2012 at 4:18 pm

Honestly, I should be getting paid by Beacon Community Services for doing their blasted job.

How the hell do you send someone to a person’s home, who isn’t informed of what they are supposed to do? What about those who don’t have anyone present to tell them?

Then again, why should I have to clean up after them?  So a person didn’t use the commode, or at least it seems it wasn’t used, YOU STILL NEED TO WASH IT OUT!

Like come on here, you get 50 minutes in the home, and you can’t be arsed to put the hand towel in the laundry basket, as instructed, you can’t rinse out the commode pail, as instructed to.   I have to do it, and I am not getting no $20 an hour for my efforts.

How hard is it to actually transfer a lady from the couch to a wheelchair?   I do it several times a day, but honestly, seems to me that some of these workers don’t have a clue on how to effect a SAFE TRANSFER.

Yes, Mom can’t walk, but with assistance can stand and turn.  So let us put the transfer chair in front of her, then reach over it, to pull her up to a standing position?  ARE YOU FLAMING NUTS?

A worker is given 50 minutes to do their task. Doesn’t require that much time, but better to have extra time, than less. Means no rushing for a 94 year old.  So given all that, let’s make sure she is rushed in using the commode.  After all, the more time you don’t use, the easier it is for you, right Gabriela?

This is what I mean.  Mom gets on the commode, and you ask her if she’s done before she is even fully seated yet?  Naturally she is going to get confused, and stressed out.  More than that, it is tough enough to have to use a commode, instead of the regular toilet. There is such a thing as Dignity, but many Beacon Community Service workers are blindly ignorant of that word, and it’s meaning.

Elderly people get nervous, stress over the smallest of things, so why don’t we tell them they are bleeding from an open sore in their groin?  Hey, they can use the added rush of adrenalin, right?

You are told to be gentle, for that very reason, an open sore in the groin, so when you wash and dry, you force the clothes between her legs, instead of asking her to spread her legs apart a bit more.  I do that each and every time I have to do the job, and you know, I’ve never drawn blood, or tore her skin.  Did you catch that Rose?

Beacon Community Services :   Pay Me to train your many incompetent workers, it might save some poor old soul their Life.

Assaulting Old People | Disposable People

  • Posted on January 1, 2012 at 10:38 am

It is a New Year today, and Beacon Community Services is starting the New Year off with a Bang.

First they alter the morning schedule, to make the regular worker arrive a half hour later.  Course they don’t bother to let us know, so Mom was sitting on the edge of her bed, in preparation for the Worker.  Course her balance isn’t good, so actually she was leaning backwards, in a rather uncomfortable position.

As well, her sheets were pushed back, but not far enough, so they rested on the wet towel that we have under her, and in putting the pillows behind her, well they got wet from last night’s urine too.

THIS WAS TO BE MY SLEEP IN DAY

Guess an hour extra will do, though not really.  Meantime Mom is a bit nervous, and in checking to see when Yvette was to arrive, hey, the afternoon worker has now been changed.

NO CALL – NO NOTICE  from Beacon Community Services.

I mean honestly, it is blastered all over our account, to call when there is a change, of any kind, of any time frame.

I GUESS THE PEOPLE ON DUTY SIMPLY CANNOT READ ENGLISH

So today will be one of added stress for me, for Mom.  New person in the afternoon, which means here I go again, having to stand guard because the quality of workers is Piss Poor.   Most seem unable to grasp the basic concept that their primary duty is to keep the PATIENT SAFE, while doing their assigned tasks.

Privacy while one sits on the commode seems a foreign concept to these people.

As does understanding what the words SHAKY & UNSTEADY mean.

Truth is, Beacon Community Services is about making MONEY and the people they make it off of, are simply a COMMODITY that is DISPOSABLE.

Kill off one, there are lots more to replace them with, at a fee of $37 or more per hour, paid for by YOU & ME!

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