I really hate hearing how "special" I am for being in my particular line of work. I work in a retirement community and it makes me cringe when anyone tells me how I'm so "special" for devoting my life to working with the elderly. The reason I'm not special? Because I'd leave like a rat from a sinking ship if the opportunity ever presented itself and I'd do the jig of joy on the way out and then I'd go celebrate by having a margarita or a couple of beers!
The elderly are just people. The only thing about me that may be "special" is that I don't condescend to them. I treat them like I'd treat anybody else.
I have all the regard in the world for people that REALLY want to be in this line of work. They are overworked, underpaid and underappreciated. It is they, not the overpaid athletes and Hollywood types, that deserve the acclaim. But I am not one of them. I ended up in this line of work out of necessity. My sore muscles, screwed-up back and depressed mood when I have to go to work say it all. I want out. But at over 40, broke and with mental problems it ain't bloody likely. So I continue doing the same old same old and hoping for a miracle.
6 comments:
You are special in your attitude. I've know several women who worked jobs like yours, but they seemed to be very sarcastic and really talked bad about old people and made fun of them. But it really does take a toll on a person to do such work. Just because you have a job now doesn't mean you shouldn't keep looking around for something better. Maybe something like working with handicapped children or teacher's aid for such. Check the school system about their needs. It is still stressful, but so many women who work with large adults very long end up with physical injuries. It never hurts to ask questions and look around.
I like kids one on one but working with large groups of them makes me nervous. (Yeah, I know, I'm mental!) I like infants a lot. Not everybody does. I would like to counsel people with psych issues but not work as a psych aid because the people that are in places like Fort Logan are often violent or really can't be helped.
Fortunately in the retirement community, unlike the health care center, I rarely have to lift. It was working in nursing homes and the health care center that ruined my back. Of course my brilliant boss Alvin N. Chipmunkk wants to turn the retirement community into one gigantic assisted living rather than adhering to the rules that were put in place when it was formed: that persons who live there must have either ability to take care of most of their own major needs or they must hire private care. One aide couldn't take care of 400 people that had tons of needs and there is only one aide in the retirement community per shift. I'm just burned out on being a caregiver, but it pays a lot better being in my position ($15.50 per hour) than working with handicapped kids or being a teacher's aide, which starts at $8 or $9 an hour. Even an entry level EMT on an ambulance starts at a puny $8.50 an hour. I can't afford the cut in pay. I do like your ideas though.
If I had known I was going to be stuck being a caregiver I would have worked harder to get into a position working with infants sooner. I really do like them!
Somebody is making a lot of money off of slave labor, so it seems. When my wife had her foot cut off, they sent a nurse out for about 15 minutes to half an hour. I got the bill and it was $100 per visit. I'm sure that nurse didn't get much of that.
We have to charge the residents x amount per item. For instance when help "Anna" with her shower, which consists of helping her in and out of her tub and helping her dry her back and feet, I have to charge her $19. This all goes into the Gerri Atrik Retirement Community coffers. The only thing I see is my $15.50 an hour, which becomes $10 an hour after taxes and insurance come out of my check.
When I was in the hospital nearly 18 years ago I was charged $2 per Tylenol. That Tylenol better have been coated with platinum at that price!
"I don't condescend to them. I treat them like I'd treat anybody else."
Yeah. And treating them like humans, what obviously is not common, does the "trick", is the specialty.
Sometimes I am scared of my "Mit-Menschen", "fellow" humans. Are they the zombies or am I just wrong? But not now, have too much to do, can not afford to cave in.
There's two kinds of zombies--those that blindly follow the herd and those who are to tired to do anything but go back and forth in the same rut, not thinking. The first kind of dangerous, the second kind is sad. I'm afraid of falling into the second category because I'm certainly stuck in a rut.
My fellow humans scare me too. Generally speaking, I really don't like people much. I like them one on one but not as a whole.
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