Aah, Trudy
Well Substitute #1 for the week is gone, and even Mom agrees, NOT one of the better workers.
To begin with, I really don’t think making personal calls at the end of your time, is appropriate, especially when you haven’t finished the assignment. I know that time is precious, but really, things need to be done right, not half assed.
Secondly, sorry but depends aren’t designed to be flying half mast. It leads to leakage, which leads to more laundry, but more importantly, leads to discomfort and skin irritations. It means, my dear Trudy, that right after Breakfast, I had to change Mom’s nightshirt, plus her depends.
IT also meant that I had to wash her, in her privates, which is why you were sent here in the first place. I then had to dry her, and once more apply the skin lotion, to avoid discomfort, and irritations. In other words, YOUR TIME HERE WAS BASICALLY A WASTED EXERCISE.
While I can understand not knowing the procedures, given its a first time, there are some things that really don’t require instructions, or maybe they do? Such as how to properly put depends on a person, such as not letting someone unsteady on their feet walk unattended to the dining room, while you make a phone call.
These SHOULD BE common sense, something that is obviously lacking with many women being sent into our homes. And you know what surprises me, is that these aren’t young women, but in their late forties, early fifties. THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER.
I suppose the real problem is, that I expect too much. Call it a sense of entitlement, or whatever, but really I was taught that no matter what, I should ALWAYS do my best in whatever task I am assigned. I was taught, that I may fail, but as long as I could honestly say I had tried my best, then I had succeeded.
Funny how today that isn’t the case. IF it truly is that these people are doing their best, then we really are in deep shit, because they simply aren’t up to snuff. IT does come down to training, but it also comes down to using common sense.
Makes me wonder, how the younger generation is going to be, in handling the aged, which means, how they gonna care for US.
I Must Be Dense
I really must be, as we have a new worker this morning and I am listening in, and really, have to wonder, where does Beacon find these people? How can they send them into a home, when they don’t have a clue?
Yes, you do need to remove the night clothing before beginning a sponge bath, especially when fresh one is laid out for you to use.
No, you are not here to supervise a 92 year old from washing her own feet, body. The whole reason you are here, is to ASSIST HER IN DOING WHAT SHE IS NO LONGER ABLE TO DO.
Least that is how I would look at it. Or am I perhaps, dense?
Do I have it wrong, and people request workers to watch them clean themselves? Do they have home support because, well gee, they can do the job of washing up, but are too lazy to do it?
So far we have about twelve (12) ’stand up now’ for a lady that needs a walker to move around, who is unsteady on her feet along with a weakened arm strength. She has been here before, when Mom had the cast on, and I am almost certain I kicked her out, or at least complainted about not sending her again.
Problem is, they sent so many INCOMPETENT WORKERS it is very hard to keep track of them all. Now who knows, so I am at a loss, but I know I’ll be dealing with this for the rest of the day, and longer. That is the major complication of things like this, it doesn’t just end when the worker leaves, but festers, and becomes a huge distraction for Mom, which translates into a more stressful time for me. I have to calm her down.
BUT WHO CALMS ME DOWN?
It Ain’t Rocket Science
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?
Blind Trust
I wonder, if when Governments grant licenses or contracts to Private Firms, for health care, if they realize the amount of BLIND TRUST they are asking from us. I mean we have Beacon Community Services providing home support for Mom, twice a day, every day of the week. Rarely do we ge the same worker, it seems, so either this company has a ton of employees that they cycle, or they keep hiring new one’s to replace those who leave.
And we are expected to accept that they know what they are doing.
Somehow, that simply isn’t sitting well with me. Like last night, nice lady, not old, but in conversation she’s only been in Victoria a little bit, moved from Nova Scotia, and has been with Beacon for a few days.
How does that sound to you? Any FLAGS popping up?
Does for me, because the aftermath is, she was nice, but not with the program. Her technique wasn’t the best, and well, we all know the old saying “Hell is paved with good intentions” and when it comes to my Mother, just how much trust, should I be asked to give, to nameless workers that just show up?
I wonder how Carol James, or Gordon Campbell, would feel, if they had to rely on Home Support from a private firm, and NOT know anything about the company, or its hiring policies, or its qualifications? Would they intrust their loved one’s to their care, or would they demand some form of checks?
Now, maybe the Government is satisfied, but again, more BLIND TRUST HERE. I mean they are asking us, to TRUST that they are insuring tough regulations & requirements from the firms they hire, to help us out. I don’t know, if perhaps we aren’t really just shooting ourselves in the foot, because let’s face it, a private company has one major goal, AND THAT IS TO MAKE MONEY.
So where are they cutting costs, in tough economic times? Is it in the training? How about the education requirements of its workers? How about their strength? I mean seriously, these people have to lift others, and not everyone is a tiny lady like my mom, so are they given any formal and explicit training, on how to properly lift up an elderly patient?
Time to ask, what is our Government expecting, demanding, from these private firms, if anything but a cheap contract price?
