I am not sure if there are others, working for BC Med, but for our district, we have Beacon Home Services. They are the one’s who hire and send the appropriate staff to help, in the home, patients under care. You know, the type who give you a bath, when you can’t manage on your own, or help you dress when you can’t do it yourself.
Personally, I have mixed feelings on the quality of care they provide. They also provide assisted care living, and again, it is taxpayer paid and/or private. I wonder, do the private paying people get the same treatment, or is it a step up?
What qualifications does Beacon require of those it is going to hire?
Are they trained in anything, or are they just people looking for a job, and so they get hired?
Everyone has a system these days. The Hospital with its “send everyone through emergency” to even the “Community Health Laison” and oh yeah, Beacon. Who designs these systems, and have they ever had to follow them, themselves? IF they did, then they are a lot smarter and intuitive, than most people.
To begin with, the idea of logging in and out, not bad, but not very simple either. I suppose it is to keep track of hours. Then we have the so called ‘yellow book’ which is supposed to detail the home plan, for temporary workers that might come to the home.
NOT LIKE ANY SEEM TO EVEN KNOW ABOUT THIS YELLOW BOOK!
Then we have the actual task assigned, and time allotted to the worker. Strange how the client, (patient) isn’t informed of this. We have no idea on what they are sent to do, or told. So each new worker, has to have the drill explained, and believe me, it gets tiresome when there is NO REGULAR ASSIGNED WORKER.
Again, Community Laison is supposed to co-ordinate it, but they are swamped, and so don’t get to it, PRIOR to the service commencing. ( Least when emergencies happen. ) You know, it isn’t always the crisis that creates the most trauma to the patient, but the aftermath of it all.
When you are needing help, for simple tasks like going to the bathroom, to wipe your tushie, it is hard. It creates a sense of helplessness, and if the worker isn’t aware of these issues, it makes it harder to cope with. Sensitivety is key, and most, it seems, have that, but again, a fair number don’t. So it comes down to the luck of the draw, and it shouldn’t.
Problems arise, personalities clash, but while there is a system to shunt a person around, a system to clock in, a system to arrange for help, the system to correct issues, is unreachable.