You are currently browsing all posts tagged with 'home support workers'.
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It Just Is Not Fair

  • Posted on January 27, 2012 at 4:07 pm

Honestly, it just isn’t right that a company takes on the task of providing Home Support for the Elderly, when they do NOT have properly trained personnel.

It is not fair, that our Seniors are subjected to such inadequate care, given all they have done for our society, during their earlier lives.

With the regular worker off today, I had to cancel the substitute being sent for the morning, not because I am an asshole, but simply because it is My Mother.  I cannot, in good conscience subject her to pain, to rough and incomplete treatment, nor can I risk her safety.

My choices for this morning, was Nerissa or Shirley.

Shirley is okay for a last ditch sponge bath, but that is if Mom can manage getting up on her own. I doubt if Shirley could handle assisting Mom in standing, nor do I think she could safely complete a sponge bath gently, given Mom’s lack of strength.

As to Nerissa, well her last visit was a total disaster. It was hard to communicate, let alone get her to do the tasks assigned. That merely adds stress to Mom, and takes what little strength she has, and uses it up way too fast. It makes for a tough night, and sometimes next day or two.

I wonder, what about those elderly patients, who have no one at home, when the Beacon Community Services worker arrive?

  • Consider that there is no phoning of Patients, when the schedule is changed.
  • Think about how you are in your twilight years, and suddenly are confronted by someone you have never met before?
  • How does it feel to have to explain what a person is there for, when you yourself are a bit unfocused?

It makes me wonder, if society really cares about those who are elderly.

I am tired, and perhaps I expect too much.  Maybe the Eskimos had it right, and when someone gets old, becomes a drag on the community they are set adrift on a slab of ice, to drift along the frozen water, until they perish.   I can’t accept that, but it seems that is a lot kinder than what we are subjecting our elderly to.

Maybe it is just being old fashioned, but I wonder, how will it be if I reach the age of Eighty, never mind Ninety Four?

Even if you are not trained, if you have being doing this job for a few months, you should have picked up some knowledge, some inkling of how to treat old people. Yet it seems that isn’t the case.

I should have cancelled this afternoons worker as well, least Mom wouldn’t be drifting off a half hour after she finally left. I mean she is exhausted, from being rushed, and being treated roughly, or maybe the better term is  carelessly.

I simply do not get it, but what I do get, is that this simply isn’t fair.

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.

Never Mind My Experience | They Know Better

  • Posted on December 22, 2011 at 8:05 pm

Let me ask a question for anyone who is reading this.

Who do you think knows the Patient better, and what she is capable of doing,  as well as to what her physical condition is.    The son who has been dealing with her for years, on a 24 hour seven day basis, or the casual worker who has dealt with her no more than a half dozen times over the last two and half years?

It has been nearly two hours since Edna left, and you know, I am still in a state of disbelief, and anger too.  I mean, honestly, I don’t understand some of these workers, who have experience, who may even have knowledge about things I know nothing about.  And yet, it would seem to me, that if you give them the routine, that they would at least try to follow it, instead of totally ignoring it.

Mom CANNOT WALK, at the moment.  Our family Doctor believes she had a stroke, but her ability to stand is still there.  However it is shaky at best, and she has pain in her legs.  Moving from a sitting position, to standing then turning to sit in a wheelchair is hard for her.

So Edna’s solution is to keep her in bed.    Yeah, let’s make her into a complete invalid, when not necessary.

Edna’s other solution is let us put the wheelchair in front of Mom, so there is a barrier between Mom and her, and have Mom get into the wheelchair that way,  ON HER OWN.    Uh yeah, let’s have Mom fall over and crack her head, or worse.

I mean when you explain things to her, she seems to listen, but then proceeds to ignore everything you said.  Like telling her to keep the standing to a minimum, and to insure that Mom has her legs under her, before she stands up.   I even showed her at the start, but no, Edna can’t remember that, because well, that just isn’t how it is done.

The whole purpose of seeking additional help in the afternoon, was to insure Mom had a change, and light wash in her private region.  Figured it would be better to have a female do it, and besides, Mom seemed reluctant to have her depends changed in the afternoon.

Whatever her reasons are, by having someone come in to do it, makes her get up, and helps keep her regular.  I mean the goal is to get her up, take her to sit on the commode, then do a depend change, fresh nightshirt, and a bit of a wash.   That was the plan, and well, it worked yesterday with Anjoli, worked with Mariana on Tuesday.    NOT WITH EDNA TODAY.

Sitting on the commode isn’t fun, so when I did it, I would leave the area, to give Mom some form of privacy. Besides who wants to go to the biffy, with someone watching?   Both Anjoli and Mariana instinctively went out of the room.   NOT EDNA.

Like who wants to have a poop or piddle, with someone in your face?   I mean while she puts a hand towel over Mom’s crotch, for some modesty, she kneels in front and natters at Mom, asking if she is done yet.   THATS COMFORT RIGHT EDNA?

I suppose I could go on, for just how wrong it all was, and how stressful it is.  But what is the use? It isn’t like either VIHA or BEACON COMMUNITY SERVICES give a rat’s ass about how these people treat their Patients.

All VIHA cares about is how much they supposedly save the taxpayer by contracting this important work out to some MAKE ME MONEY OUTFIT.

All BEACON COMMUNITY SERVICES care about is how much money they can make, so they can afford to pay their CEO A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.    Doesn’t matter if they hire workers who haven’t a clue on what to do, or who care.   As long as they show a profit, which is pretty neat trick, when you consider they are supposed to be a NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION.

 

 

 

And So It Begins with BCS

  • Posted on December 22, 2011 at 1:50 pm

There are a myriad of reasons why the Provincial Government needs to RESCIND the contract with Beacon Community Services.    For me, the biggest reason and one that should be the sole criteria is in the Care being provided for Seniors by Beacon Community Services.

It is dangerous when you send a worker who hasn’t a clue on what to do.

Beacon Community Services puts its Patients AT RISK, by sending personnel who arent familiar with what their duties are supposed to be.

On Tuesday I increased Mom’s service from one hour a day, to two hours.  Actually had the Social Worker do it on Monday, and it began on Tuesday.

So without even a phone call, workers were put in place.  No notice, which is okay I suppose, because hey I have Internet, and am in the habit (again) of checking the schedule.

What galls me, is that they send people, without even knowing what is required.  Honestly, how can any home support worker provide competent and relevant help, IF THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO!

Consider that if I wasn’t here.  Mom is not capable in detailing what is needed, or in being able to properly explain what is needed or what her condition is.  Not minor either, like being unable to walk, and being shaky and very unsteady when standing.  Requires assistance in standing, and add to that her brittle bone condition, it is dangerous to send someone in cold.

It is one thing to make cold calls to sell somethng, quite another when it is about helping someone who is 94 years of age.

And once again, before even a schedule can be set, we are playing WORKER ROULETTE.

Those on the list Tuesday, aren’t on the list today, and GOD only knows who will actually be on the list when it comes time to show up.

How do you not CALL the Patient, to ascertain exactly what the service is to be?  I mean as it stands now, she is down for a Shower in the morning, and hey, guess what, another at 3pm.   This for a lady who CAN NOT STAND UP ON HER OWN.     Oh that is really gonna be good, don’t you think?  Let’s make it so she can fall, crack her head, AND DIE.

IF ANYONE FROM VIHA IS READING THIS BLOG  ASK YOURSELF JUST HOW CAN YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT, KNOWING THAT SUB STANDARD CARE IS BEING GIVEN TO PEOPLE IN YOUR CARE.

There simply is no accountability anymore with any Government or Business.  Beacon Community Services is not a Non Profit organization, but a truly greedy business.  The level of competency is off the wall.  Yes, some are trained, able to complete their duties, but when you can’t even bother to let them know what they are to do, how can they be expected to do a good job?  How can they do the job well, if you are constantly moving them around and not letting them visit the same people all the time?

This is by design.   If workers were assigned to patients, on a regular basis, then the COMPANY would be shown at how many workers actually are NOT properly trained.  And that is why they do everything they can, to avoid assigning Patients to one single worker.

And that is what must be addressed, because as it stands now, this system of home support is really ASSISSTED MURDER.

And You Are Who

  • Posted on November 6, 2011 at 9:22 pm
This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Follow The Money

Perhaps a better title would be :  How To Avoid Repercussions for Sending Unqualified Workers.

On Friday, I got a phone call, telling me that Nerissa was replacing Yvette for Saturday. Quick check of the schedule showed yep, a Nerissa was coming.  Course in that phone call I was also informed that she would be showing up the coming Friday.

Now the worker showed up, and I assumed it was Nerissa, but hey, no badge was visible, and she never did introduce herself. Course, if she did not sure I’d be able to understand or comprehend the name, due to a language barrier.

Tonight, in checking the schedule, I find that Saturday’s worker was not Nerissa, but Rose.  Uh, excuse me?  Who in hell was, or is Rose?

It matters, because when one files a complaint with VIHA, you have to have the facts correct.  IF I claim that we had a Nerissa and VIHA contacts Beacon Community Services, they are going to say I am talking out of my hat, because they sent me a Rose, not a Nerissa.  CASE CLOSED AS I AM MADE TO LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT WHO CAN’T GET THE NAMES EVEN RIGHT.

There is another issue here.  You see, by constantly changing the worker and then updating the schedule, they create a sense of trepidation. Just because they phone one day, to say who is coming, doesn’t seem to mean that is who will show up.  It allows them to avoid being told  NO DO NOT SEND THAT PERSON.

Neat trick, but it is not going to work.  See, I AM NOT AFRAID TO SEND A WORKER HOME AND DO THE JOB MYSELF.

It is a sad state of affairs, that has to be the end result. I am not looking forward to Monday, because I expect an argument from the Beacon people, when I tell them don’t send me Nerissa or Rose. I am also going to insist that any future changes, be vetted through me, and if they aren’t willing to comply, they can send no one.  I am not going to have them get richer off the well being of my Mother.

She is 94, and ENTITLED to competent help.  Beacon Community Services has a hand full of good capable women working for them, but the majority are simply glorified housekeepers.  Yes, housekeepers, because 9 out of 10 times, they are more interested in whether to empty garbage, or put laundry in, or make up the bed, than in properly drying an old lady, or even in insuring that she is properly washed.

I will say that for the most part, we have gotten our regular workers, but that is more due to me bitching loud and hard, than out of doing the right thing.  Sure, once in awhile they have to send a substitute, and under the right conditions, that shouldn’t matter but we are talking about dealing with elderly people who have health issues.  They need COMPETENT help, not HOUSEKEEPERS.

WHOEVER was here Yesterday, was just that. She’d only been working at Beacon for a few years, but even then, that is not an excuse. I have been looking after Mother for 2 years and 4 months and I know how to do the job, better than 90% of the substitutes that have shown up here.  I didn’t take any course, I’ve learned it the hard way, by doing it.

Course the difference between them and me is that I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY MOTHER.  It is obvious to me, that these so called home support workers simply don’t give a shit about the people they are assigned to look after.  AND THAT IS A SHAME.

From cars, to computers, to phones, we are a disposable society. Everything produced today is not built to last beyond the warranty, and that has now become how our Health Care System works.   Only trouble is that there is no fixed warranty on people, but they are no longer a precious commodity for our society.

INSTEAD THE ELDERLY ARE JUST ONE MORE DISPOSABLE COMMODITY OF SOCIETY.

This is the real legacy of Isabel MacKenzie and Beacon Community Services, along with the Government of Gordon Campbell and Christy Clarke.    I wonder…

HOW DO THEY SLEEP AT NIGHT?

 

 

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