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

It happens, a home support worker is off, for whatever reason, and a substitute worker is sent in her place. Nothing unusual about that, and common in the industry, and other professions as well.

I can remember having many substitute teachers when I went to school, and sure, we managed to pull a few fast one’s over them, but not too many. After all, they had been briefed and knew the lesson plan so it wasn’t easy to fool them, too much. Still, they did ALWAYS have the basics, which brings me to substitutes for Home Support Workers.

Last week, this week, and next week, we shall be inundated with replacement workers, substitutes.  And now the worry commences, thanks to the lack of professionalism, not just from Beacon Community Services, but from VIHA itself.

The level of confidence, that a qualified worker will show up, is minimal, at best.

Under normal circumstances, one can muddle through, but when there is a situation, that has to be monitored, or watched closely, the stress levels become greatly increased. I think that VIHA fails to understand the ramifications of their inability to insure that ONLY QUALIFIED PERSONNEL are sent into people’s homes.

Mom has developed a few skin tears, in the groin region, right where the depends lay. The band, has caused some abrasion along the line, making the skin raw, at best. Extra care needs to be taken, to insure comfort as well as protection.  I’ve contacted our Doctor, but tomorrow we get a substitute.  And so the worry has begun.

Maybe it will be needless, but given the past history, I tend to doubt that. AND THAT is why VIHA needs to be protecting the patients. THEY need to actually check on the staff being sent out, on the qualifications of these people, not just accept the word of the agency they have contracted to do the job. THEY NEED to verify that EACH & EVERY PERSON SENT TO A PATIENT IS QUALIFIED TO DO THE JOB.

Yet, despite my own constant complaints to them, to Beacon, the answers are exactly the same. Oh don’t worry, we know they are qualified, yet we have proof, that this is a lie. No way can someone who can’t understand or speak English, can effectively have gone through any local training, to attest to their qualifications.  It is impossible to pass any test, if you can’t understand the language.

By far, this is not an easy job, just as teaching isn’t. Yet no substitute is hired to teach our children, if they don’t have government certified credentials, that are verified, before they can accept a teaching assignment.  Yet we allow UNVERIFIED PERSONNEL to go into people’s home, and administer care to them, without knowing if they are properly trained or not.

THIS IS WRONG & DANGEROUS !

There is no doubt, that it is more costly to do things the right way, than not, in overall costs. However, I would say, it actually is far more costly doing things the wrong way, doing things on the cheap, when it comes to Health Care, than doing them right. And yes, that includes allowing only qualified personnel to care for patients, in their homes.

The problem is, we don’t seem to care about that anymore. Old people are expendable, at the end of their productive cycle, so why spend money on them, when it can be allocated to other areas, to the more vibrant. Truth of the matter is, one day we are going to be those older people, and we sure as hell won’t enjoy being tossed aside, for some younger person. We ignore that reality, that becoming old is inevitable, and that it is actually cheaper, to provide proper care now, than to wait for a crisis to arise.

Cheaper to insure a person’s infections are treated now with over the counter cremes, than having to run high potency drugs through an IV later on.  Cheaper now to insure a patient is dry, before dressing, than having to deal with skin breakdowns later, to deal with infections, all because we sent someone who doesn’t know how to clean an older person properly.

These hidden costs can break our entire system, by skimping on the quality of people we send into homes, to care for our elderly. You can’t do this, and save money, because the reality is, it is going to cost a lot more.

Not enough old people will die quickly from this half assed in home care. So the costs will indeed grow, and that is a mathematical certainty.  Better to have old people stay as healthy as possible, instead of creating crisis situations, that take up the valuable resources of emergency personnel.