My Mother's Life Dedicated to the Only Woman I'll Love, My Mother.

I wonder why we try to make things more complicated, than they have to be?

Take home support. I mean it isn’t difficult to figure out, that some people need help that others may not, and that one size really doesn’t fit all. Yet it seems to me, that is exactly what the various health agencies are attempting to do. Frankly, it just doesn’t work that way, and isn’t it more important to match workers, with client’s needs?

And that too, bothers me. Clients.  Seriously, why do we try to make things sound better, than what they are? In a sense, yes those receiving aid are clients, but the truth is, they are patients, in need of care. Calling it something else may help salve the conscience of those sending unqualified or untrained, workers, but that still doesn’t help correct any defeciency in the system, now does it?

There is a lot of talk about all workers having certain qualifications, whether from an outside training course, or internally, and frankly I wonder, did they get tested before being deemed qualified? Being pleasen, well is a bonus, but not sufficient, in my mind, to look after someone older.

How you lift them, does matter, and yet I feel so much is being left out. I suppose that these workers may be given the full information, but no one seems to know. So if they are being told, why are they not conscious of the facts? Does it mean they don’t care, or aren’t able to access or assimiliate the information provided?

Each person is different. How you move them, matters, and as I said, each one is different. For example, Mom has a tendency to try and use her injured arm. So if you insure you are lifting her, from under the arm, of the broken one, she can’t put any weight on it, as she stands up. That also helps keep her good arm in shape, and reduces re-injuring the broken one. It lets the bones heal without added stress, which also reduces the pain.

Simple right?And yet so many seem to ignore that. Again, this is one more reason to insure their is some consistency in staffing, seniority or not. The more a worker is working with the same patient, the more they will know the little details, that can make it easier for both of them. Something I think scheduler’s forget about, or don’t take into account.

Then too their is the familiarity with equipment. I mean if these workers are trained, then it would be common sense, that they would know how to use things like transfer chairs, walkers, etc. How to clean a commode, how to even make up the bed, or sit them back down on it. And yet, it seems that isn’t the case.

Is it because they have so many patients to deal with, or is it simply that they aren’t aware of the new equipment available? Do they know what a grab bar is? How a patient should hold it, or not? How about sitting them down on a transfer chair, and then putting the foot rests out? How to wheel it, so they don’t bang into walls?

Bottom line seems to be, that whatever training is being given, it fails to cover even the basics, in any detail. There simply doesn’t seem to be a desire, to make those being sent into people’s homes, qualified in even, the basics. And yet, we pay for it, and I wonder, what does that say about us?