A bad nursing home Sunday

Sundays are not good days in nursing homes even if things go well. When things don't go well, they're worse.

It's just past mid-February and we have had a lot of call offs and no-shows lately. Those who call off are not usually sanctioned. But the no-shows will be fired eventually unless they are very contrite. The problem is at this time of year the flu is going around. So they can say they are nauseated or vomiting and get away with it – for at least one day.

We have a lot of young aides in their early 20s and they like to party at the bars on the weekend. This usually happens every weekend. But the weekends after the end of January when some of the aides have already filed  their income taxes early, are just trying to get through the wait until their refund arrives.

Sometimes I think they forget that every dollar they don't make during February 2017 is one less dollar (give or take), they might get back next February 2018. But I don't think that ever crosses their mind. They live for payday and there is not much after that.

I don't know that they think about the consequences to residents like me who need assistance with mostly everything and have to wait a lot when staffing is short.

Because of short night shift staffing, I could not get up until after 7 AM. Then I was in the bathroom, on the toilet, with the call light on, waiting for assistance from the dayshift aides.

I was already starting late. Breakfast is at 8 AM. I wondered where the heck my aide was.

I waited and I waited and I wondered. Once in a while it crossed my mind that I may get stuck with no one to wash me up, get me dressed, and find a couple of other aides to transfer me into my power chair. Those thoughts do come into my mind. But I try to put them at bay. My mind tells me they are unreasonable. But I live in a nursing home and sometimes crap happens.

I know I must've waited 15 minutes. I kept thinking and wondering what they were doing.

Then, my aide came wandering in. I was hoping she would be a house a fire. But I think she was actually feeling challenged. Maybe she was afraid I would get upset. I am rather high strung and waiting can be a bit much for my anxiety level.

So, she washed me up, lotioned me, and got me dressed. While she was doing it she told me there were only two aides for over 45 residents.

Yikes, that is a bit scary, even to me.

Will higher salaries cause aides not to call off? They might, but I doubt it. Maybe you just need to hire weekend aides. Then they would be people that work weekends all the time. I suppose you would have to pay them more. But they would have four or five days off in a row. That would be like having a vacation I would think.

Maybe someone needs to think about that. I know I have many times. I would like a solution.