BC, no offense but I do not think you have a clue outside of you picking and choosing jobs.
So, with Medicaid, a client never signs a contract, the Medicaid program does. These agencies are authorized vendors and rules do not apply.
So in my world, MI authorizes 24/7 care which they promised but just put cameras in. So, F them, I have law on my side which is why I can't get in trouble.
No, caregivers should not make 16 to 18 an hour WITH benefits here to do nothing except play on a phone. I have no problem paying that to someone who in the least, dumps a commode.
Care agencies were never accountable for anything. This is not new. Sometime examine the paperwork that comes with an agency. Read the fine print and you'll see that you're agreeing to them taking little to no responsibility for their workers, or their clients, or their client's property. You know if in-home caregiving was a job regulated by the government some good things would happen. Like elders would get better care because the field would get better people. You can't expect much from someone making minimum wage or just above on a job that offers them nothing. Being an in-home caregiver employed by an agency is a lousy, crappy job. If the worker does great and is very committed, or they completely blow your "loved one" off they get the same low pay and no benefits from their agency. Your worker should not have reported you for leaving a vulnerable adult alone. There was no need for that and she should have talked to you about it. But, I can't tell you how many times when I worked for agencies that a family member was supposed to be home at a certain time and wouldn't show up. We work on a schedule too and other people come after their elder. This is why I went private care. I pick who I will work for and what the pay will be. No one ever got a moment of my time that wasn't paid for. All my clients understood. Everyone is going private hire these days if they can because families don't want to deal with agency red tape. Too often families take advantage of a caregiver's service when they're with an agency because the agency takes advantage of it. A family will expect them to stay longer without additional pay being provided if they're going to be late. All too often they also expect full housekeeping service for the whole family as well. So really the $2.25 an hour raise really isn't a big deal and anyone can go free to community college through government grants. I'm so sure there's no paid sick, vacation, or over time coming with that raise. No health insurance or retirement plan either. Not all that impressive when you think about it.
A website called phinational.org. is a good site to learn the problems of direct care. Their mission is to insure quality care for older adults by creating quality jobs for direct care workers. They believe that caring, committed relationships between direct care workers and their clients are at the heart of quality care. But it's hard to provide quality care when you can't provide quality employment. Direct care workers, both home care and facility care workers, may have good intentions when they hire on, but soon learn that the pay is low, the benefits are poor, there's no career path, the training is poor, etc., etc.
Totally aware, as I was an unpaid caregiver for my mom, dad and brother for many years!
Thanks for sharing this article. I just read it. I would like to be hopeful in all situations and not be a negative person but I suppose that I am always going to be skeptical about promises made by our government, either party, unless I see evidence of what has been proposed.
Families need help, facilities need help as well. That’s a given. Let’s hope, there are viable solutions down the road, for everyone. Those who provide care struggle to find people to provide care. I see want ads constantly by agencies and facilities.
Those who work as caregivers seem to have many grievances that they wish to have addressed. Family members desperately need respite care. I know that I was extremely grateful for the very few hours that I received from Council on Aging. Some caregivers were great. Others were lousy. I would not have even known about Council on Aging had it not been for this forum.
I wish primary care doctors would educate the families better on what to expect when dealing with caring for the elderly. We see doctors often with our parents. None of the focus is on us the caregiver, understandably, it is on the patient, but meanwhile, caregivers are burning out at a rapid pace.
It truly is a difficult situation for all involved. I wish that I knew what the solution was. I have ideas of what I would like to see for our future. I hope that I live long enough to see some of them come into play.
We need to work together, listen to each other and hopefully find resolutions to caring for the elderly. People are living a lot longer these days. Neither of my parents cared for their parents. People are expected to live on to be 100 and up. Lord, I don’t want to live that long! LOL
In all seriousness, I never wish to be a burden on my daughters. I do not expect them to be my caregivers. I made this perfectly clear to them. I will go into a facility when needed. I want my children to live their own lives, and finding their purpose in life, hopefully filled with joy and meaning.
My 85 year old mother has been living with my husband and I for 3 years. The first 2 years she received 4 hours of medicaid waiver twice a week. We had numerous caregivers, it was a revolving door. I worked full time, so I was at the mercy of the agency to send a caregiver. One of the caregivers would come in and eat our food and drink my mother's Ensure. I think she discounted my mother's mental capacity because of having a dx of dementia. You are right about playing on their phones and stealing. We did have an older caregiver that was very good with my mother. She would interact with her and play cards. After a year with my mother that caregiver left because of a dispute with the agency. Then Covid happened and I haven't had another caregiver since by choice. I've been doing all her care. My husband has since retired and I'm about to retire. I've decided, at least for me, it's just not worth the hassle.
Yes, I was aware and the article, Biden and Dingell are idiots. Dingell is from MI and her statement shows her utter lack of knowledge.
First, we do not have wait lists, second, caregivers already received a $2.25 cent raise and get free community college. So they make 16 to 18 an hour to play on phones, cook for their familes, steal, etc.
Our regular B. and her replacements are supposed to be here at 8 am to noon. I leave at 8 am to go teach classes M-R, 8:30 to 11;30, home by 12. B shows up whenever she feels like it usually 8:45 and reports me for leaving the vulnerable adult. The off day person shows at 7 then reports me for not being there when she leaves. The owner of the agency and the medicaid case manager and I go round and round. They say "family" is primary and the agencies are secondary so you should not rely on them to show up or be on time.
These programs have absolutely NO accountability and this grand plan is ignorant. You guys will be screwed if they do this and follow our guidelines which they seem to be doing.
So, with Medicaid, a client never signs a contract, the Medicaid program does. These agencies are authorized vendors and rules do not apply.
So in my world, MI authorizes 24/7 care which they promised but just put cameras in. So, F them, I have law on my side which is why I can't get in trouble.
No, caregivers should not make 16 to 18 an hour WITH benefits here to do nothing except play on a phone. I have no problem paying that to someone who in the least, dumps a commode.
Care agencies were never accountable for anything. This is not new.
Sometime examine the paperwork that comes with an agency. Read the fine print and you'll see that you're agreeing to them taking little to no responsibility for their workers, or their clients, or their client's property. You know if in-home caregiving was a job regulated by the government some good things would happen.
Like elders would get better care because the field would get better people. You can't expect much from someone making minimum wage or just above on a job that offers them nothing.
Being an in-home caregiver employed by an agency is a lousy, crappy job. If the worker does great and is very committed, or they completely blow your "loved one" off they get the same low pay and no benefits from their agency.
Your worker should not have reported you for leaving a vulnerable adult alone. There was no need for that and she should have talked to you about it. But, I can't tell you how many times when I worked for agencies that a family member was supposed to be home at a certain time and wouldn't show up. We work on a schedule too and other people come after their elder.
This is why I went private care. I pick who I will work for and what the pay will be. No one ever got a moment of my time that wasn't paid for. All my clients understood. Everyone is going private hire these days if they can because families don't want to deal with agency red tape. Too often families take advantage of a caregiver's service when they're with an agency because the agency takes advantage of it. A family will expect them to stay longer without additional pay being provided if they're going to be late. All too often they also expect full housekeeping service for the whole family as well. So really the $2.25 an hour raise really isn't a big deal and anyone can go free to community college through government grants. I'm so sure there's no paid sick, vacation, or over time coming with that raise. No health insurance or retirement plan either. Not all that impressive when you think about it.
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Thanks for sharing this article. I just read it. I would like to be hopeful in all situations and not be a negative person but I suppose that I am always going to be skeptical about promises made by our government, either party, unless I see evidence of what has been proposed.
Families need help, facilities need help as well. That’s a given. Let’s hope, there are viable solutions down the road, for everyone. Those who provide care struggle to find people to provide care. I see want ads constantly by agencies and facilities.
Those who work as caregivers seem to have many grievances that they wish to have addressed. Family members desperately need respite care. I know that I was extremely grateful for the very few hours that I received from Council on Aging. Some caregivers were great. Others were lousy. I would not have even known about Council on Aging had it not been for this forum.
I wish primary care doctors would educate the families better on what to expect when dealing with caring for the elderly. We see doctors often with our parents. None of the focus is on us the caregiver, understandably, it is on the patient, but meanwhile, caregivers are burning out at a rapid pace.
It truly is a difficult situation for all involved. I wish that I knew what the solution was. I have ideas of what I would like to see for our future. I hope that I live long enough to see some of them come into play.
We need to work together, listen to each other and hopefully find resolutions to caring for the elderly. People are living a lot longer these days. Neither of my parents cared for their parents. People are expected to live on to be 100 and up. Lord, I don’t want to live that long! LOL
In all seriousness, I never wish to be a burden on my daughters. I do not expect them to be my caregivers. I made this perfectly clear to them. I will go into a facility when needed. I want my children to live their own lives, and finding their purpose in life, hopefully filled with joy and meaning.
We did have an older caregiver that was very good with my mother. She would interact with her and play cards. After a year with my mother that caregiver left because of a dispute with the agency. Then Covid happened and I haven't had another caregiver since by choice. I've been doing all her care. My husband has since retired and I'm about to retire. I've decided, at least for me, it's just not worth the hassle.
First, we do not have wait lists, second, caregivers already received a $2.25 cent raise and get free community college. So they make 16 to 18 an hour to play on phones, cook for their familes, steal, etc.
Our regular B. and her replacements are supposed to be here at 8 am to noon. I leave at 8 am to go teach classes M-R, 8:30 to 11;30, home by 12. B shows up whenever she feels like it usually 8:45 and reports me for leaving the vulnerable adult. The off day person shows at 7 then reports me for not being there when she leaves. The owner of the agency and the medicaid case manager and I go round and round. They say "family" is primary and the agencies are secondary so you should not rely on them to show up or be on time.
These programs have absolutely NO accountability and this grand plan is ignorant. You guys will be screwed if they do this and follow our guidelines which they seem to be doing.