I am old lady

                           Available on: Amazon, Kindle and 
                           Barnes&Noble.com

Yes, I will admit I'm not a spring chick anymore.  When I arose this morning, I was able to wander around my house at five in the morning.  I turned on my computer, made a pot of coffee and played with my cats.  I was able to look out my window to see what kind of a day it was going to be and I pretty much was able to 'do my own thing,' as they say.

It may not sound like such a big deal, but if you are living in a traditional nursing home, believe me, this kind of freedom is as 'big of a deal' as you're going to get.  I wasn't made to get out of bed at six in the morning, I chose to get up at five and if I didn't want to get up, I didn't have to.  In a nursing home you will be forced to get out of bed for breakfast at six in the morning. Why?  Well it's always, always for staff convenience.  

When I was a nurse aide, I was told:  'We have to get them up and ready because the day shift will get mad if we don't.'  So screw the day shift is my response.  The day shift has 'so much to do already.'  So?  They get paid for their efforts. (Even though I know nurse aids don't get paid near enough for all they do)  I have worked the day shift and yes, people have appointments, they need breakfast and it's pretty busy.  But that still doesn't warrant dragging my old ass out of bed at that god awful hour, especially since all night I've probably already been poked and prodded, so now I've had very little sleep.  No wonder I'd be groggy and upset at being drug from my warm bed. The night shift people would hurriedly dress those old people, all the while saying: "Come on, we have to be in the dining room shortly."  Many elderly balk at being hurried.  Hell, you'd think they had some damned job to get to, instead of paying big bucks to be hurried and shuffled to the dining room like so much cattle.  Traditional nursing homes are full of damned rules.  Rules that, for the most part, are quite meaningless in my book. 

Once they do get into the dining room, they are greeted by nurses with med carts.  Now nowhere on any prescription bottles I've ever gotten, does it say: 'To be takes in a large group at times convenient only to nursing staff.'  My bottles say: 'To be taken at XYZ time of day.'  That medication is supposed to be individualized, for that particular patient.  But, remember, all of this is for staff convenience only.  Which pretty much assures that I'm no longer an individual.  Just part of a herd of cattle.  Kind of like when a farmer milks cows the same time, all at once, in a big group, every day. 

When it's time to shower, also for staff convenience, you will be wheeled into a stall, and the experience?  Well more akin to a car wash than any showers I take in my home.  That Big shower wand, it gets lifted from its holder and a waterfall of water is washed over your head, your face,your eyes, your body.  I'm sure this might be how water boarding feels like.  Getting old and showering, equals torture.  Now imagine, if you will, you have dementia and have no idea what's going on.  I'm sure you would be combative too.

Today I'm going to the local store to pick up some things I need.  In a nursing home, especially the one I worked at as a Social Worker, a place that doesn't even own a van for such trips; that is also a big deal.  That nursing home feels it's too big of an expense to have a van to take people to the stores.  Too expensive to own, even though that facility, as all nursing homes, rake in billions of dollars.  But, gosh, don't spend any of those big bucks on people living there.  

So as you go about your day, just think of all the little freedoms you are enjoying.  Remember, those freedoms will evaporate if you have to ever live in a traditional nursing home. 

Kindercare Learning Center, I certainly learned a lot

 

As a once daycare director, I learned that chain, corporate run, daycare places are much like nursing homes, only the clients are younger.  So corporate run places go from one end of the age spectrum to the other, in their ways of thinking.  That way of thinking being: We see a way to make money, we can align ourselves with state and local government to pay us big monies, we need to please our board members, the hell with pleasing the paying customer and we can actually abuse families, kids and elderly people and pretty much get away with it.

Corporate daycare has the advantage over poor, working, single moms.  For that matter, they have the advantage over their underpaid workers they like to call 'Teachers."  I. for one, would never, ever work for another one on planet Earth.

Let's start with your kids.  Corporate daycare is always, always, always concerned first and foremost, with money.  As a director my big jobs were: Marketing to keep the daycare full and watching those moms every morning like a damned hawk as they swiped their cards into a machine designed to be sure the corporation got their payments in a timely fashion.  Because, lord knows, poor single moms are stupid (at least to corporate America anyway.)  My other big job would be to sit for hours on that damned computer, looking at finances, I was supposed to give tongue lashings to self-paying parents if they were behind in their bills.  Funny thing about the daycare, I could never let a child go from daycare if they were terrorizing other kids, but I was expected to let them go if mom or dad was behind in their payments.  Money is more important to them than your kid is.  

 This is what they Want you to believe!

Each time the district manager (I called her a traveling 

overseer because she was a taskmaster) came to my daycare, the conversation was most always money.  Be it changes in their computer program, teaching me how to improve getting money from agencies, or making sure I tallied up all profits correctly each day.

Let's discuss the 'teachers' of corporate daycare.  Do they have training in early childhood or early education?  Mostly, no, I had just one 'teacher' with that training.  The rest only had a GED and with the whopping $7.00 per hour pay and no benefits, we didn't exactly attract those with bigger educations or training.  But, I was told by a corporate tool: "Well these women knew what this job paid when they decided to work here."  That was no real excuse to me for not paying better.  

At that whopping $7.00 an hour, I was also expected to send teachers home early so as not to have to pay them too much, and I was supposed to bust teachers down to part time at the corporation's will.  Needless to say, teachers groused at me for that stuff.  Not my decision, but it didn't matter.  As a director, I was also supposed to save money by picking up slack in classrooms so I could send the hourly workers home early each day.  I was salaried so I could put in 12 to 16 hour days and cost the corporation no more money.

 Working for a corporation, I was director in name only.  I had no authority to fire anyone, even if they swung from the chandeliers, unless, of course, a parent accused them of inappropriate behavior (touching a kid inappropriately.)  I learned just how an angry parent can all but ruin a teachers career by false accusations too.  One parent didn't like 'fat' people so she targeted one of my teachers because she felt the teacher was too fat to care for her kid.  I told you it could be a nightmare job.

When I first started as the director, I was expected to attend a damned seminar in Indianapolis for an entire four days.  I mistakenly thought it was designed to teach us newbies how to better run a daycare.  Oh, not so!  It was designed to show us how to market so we could bring in more money for corporation CEO and the like.  We had to do stupid crap like chant and cheer, much like the bullshit WalMart pulls to pump up our enthusiasm. Doesn't work, at least not for me anyway.  One of the worst seminars I ever went to.  

Now while I was gone I was told my associates could run the daycare just fine.  Funny thing about that, if corporate said so, it was gospel.  One day I took an hour and a half lunch to get away from the daycare and all the piddly interruptions from workers, so I could concentrate on a new computer program and how to run it to make money, attending that lunch with a corporate person.  Well the overseer decided it was 'just too much' as my workers had called her and said I wasn't back in the usual hour, even though my cell was on if they needed me.  Geesh!!!!!!

I had teachers refusing to clean their rooms at the end of their shifts because they were not paid enough.  I had many problems with how they cared for the kids in their charge too, from bad pay to lack of good training, the problems persisted.  I got to hear the complaints from parents and all complaints fell on corporate deaf ears.  If I had meetings with staff to address issues, they called the district manager to complain about me, they didn't like having a new director who expected them to do their jobs.  Many teachers would call in, at the last freakin minute, to say they could not make it to work that day.  I had a bus driver, scheduled to work a few hours each morning to drive school kids to their schools, never show up and had her phone turned off when you tried to call.  I was not allowed to write her up nor let her go for not doing her job either.

 That same bus driver bitched to me that she: "Was part time, retired, could not put in too many hours because it cut into her Social Security payments."  I eventually hired a full time driver, to then be bitched at by the part time, retired one, accusing me of trying to cut her hours.  Gawd, make up my damned mind!!

I got bitched at for not lying to parents for corporate screw ups, for teacher screw ups and what have you.  I refused to treat single moms like crap simply because they were poor.

I have to say, I could not leave that job fast enough.  So if you choose daycare, think long and hard about chain, corporate run ones.  I know they offer the best advantage because they can take vouchers and such, but you do not get what you pay for.  The corporate ones take Full advantage of their alliances with local and state government to pull in money.  I do know it makes single moms stand between a rock and a hard place.

 

Nursing home diaries

Available on: Amazon.com

The Frontline documentary about assisted living recently 

shown on TV, is pretty much what my book is about. My 

book gives advice on how to make elder care much better. 

These owners of elder care places, make billions from the 

elderly. Time to make better living conditions for the elderly.

Pick up my book on Amazon.com

I sent my manuscript to a publisher who told me:  "The book 

is quite good.  But we just published a book written by a 

nurse aide so we really can't publish yours right now."

So a publisher cannot publish more than one book in the 

same genre?  I have to say I find that hard to believe.

Publishing a book written by a nurse aide is nice, but I 

could write from the perspective of both an aide (I was one 

for a lot of years) and through the eyes of a Social Services 

Director (which is how my books are written).  As an aide 

one sees just what's on the surface of a nursing home 

because aides are not allowed into board of director 

meetings nor are they allowed to see the information a 

department head is privilege to.

Department heads see the pure, raw greed of having to 

please board members.  We see the raw greed of the bottom

line being 

more important than your Grandma's healthy bottom.

 This industry, be it Assisted Living, or a traditional nursing 

home, is a billion dollar industry.

  If this industry did not spell P-R-O-F-I-T in a 

big way, well doctors and corporations would never be 

interested. 

About Assisted Living: I could slap up a fancy building, 

charge customers (people living there) $8,000 a month to 

live there and not face the big regulations traditional nursing

 homes face.  Do those nursing home regulations make 

traditional ones better?  Ha Ha, you wish!  But Assisted 

Living is worse yet. Those places do not even have to put a 

Licensed administrator in place, like traditional ones do.  I 

know this for a fact because a young (very young) guy who 

was my assistant once, and was still learning, went on to be 

the head of an Assisted Living place.  This guy couldn't take 

care of a puppy, much less my Grandma. 

You say: "Well I'm just a layman."  This is true, but you can 

become an informed layman. You can make a difference. 

 If YOU make a difference, other paying customers will

 follow suit right in line with you.  Do not ever underestimate 

your power as a paying customer.  The payment option 

makes no difference either, be it private pay, Medicare or 

Medicaid.  You hate the present nursing home, no one 

listens to you?  You can choose another.  Even if you do 

nothing more than read my book, you will be More informed 

than before reading it.

I have a problem with kids who just 'dump' Mom or Dad off 

and never take time to check on how they are doing.  Hey, 

Mom and Dad wiped Your butt, fed YOU and made sure 

YOU were safe, while growing up.  Don't they deserve the 

same?



http://assistedlivingtoday.com/

• Assisted Living Care Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/assisted-living/
• Memory Care Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/memory-care/
• Nursing Home Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/nursing-homes/
• Care Home Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/care-homes/


• Independent Living Guide: http://assistedlivingtoday.com/p/independent-living/

Becoming independent

I was recently reading an author's idea of freedom and security in the work environment.  You must run your own business in order to achieve this.  There is no denying in this day and age, we may have to change direction in our careers.  We cannot depend on American business to employ us, offer us any health plans or any decent retirement plans in our lifetime anymore.  The answer?  Starting a business of your 
own.  

Too many people will say: "It takes scads of money to start a business, it takes too much time and I doubt I'm any good at running a business."  STOP!  You absolutely can start a business, yes it takes scads of work, but it just may not take scads of money.

One of the happiest times of my life was when I was running my own business.  I would work 12 hour days, but because I was doing something I liked, those 12 hours seemed like less time than the 8 hours I would do for someone else.  Why was it more fun and less tiring?  Well I could run the business as I saw fit.  I called the shots and made the executive decisions.  When you work for someone else, well, you are making them rich.  When you work for yourself, that's your money walking through that door, not for someone else.  All the money is yours to use as you see fit, to pay your salary, buy goods and to make your business thrive.

What were the businesses I ran?

Elder care consulting:  Yes, everyone likes to think they are a consultant.  But in this case you truly are.  What did I do?  I would visit nursing homes and assisted living facilities for families.  In our mobile society, sometimes Mom and Dad do not want to move to a state or city close to their adult kids.  The adults kids do not always have the time to find the right place or the right services for their elderly parents.  That's where I came in.  I would ask questions about what Mom or Dad liked to do, how they were living right now and did my best to match their preferences with the proper services or facility.
I had a great time.  I met some wonderful people and when I sent out fliers to nursing homes, assisted living places and home health care, I got calls from them offering me tours and many times lunch to meet the residents and ask the people living there what they liked or didn't like about the place.  
You don't know much about the aging population?  Well find out, do some research, visit senior centers, leave cards and fliers in any place seniors congregate.  Leave fliers at the public library and many times nursing homes and home health agencies will allow you to leave fliers and pamphlets.

I would get written permission to attend care plan meetings and would do phone conferences with loved ones to keep them abreast of what their parents needed and how they were doing. 

Beautician: I rented a chair in a salon and after paying my monthly rent, the rest of the money coming through the door was my profit.  Beauty has become a huge industry these days.  No matter how bad the economy gets, people, men and women, and kids too, want to look nice.  I checked out the competition around me and for a short time, I offered haircuts at half the price as the other salons.  I had patrons lined out the door, but I made money and had a great time doing so.
Not a hairdresser you say.  Well a good course consists of 1,000 hours in many states, which really isn't that long.  Check your state for requirements............they vary.

Housekeeping:  Even in a bad economy, there are people with money, working, and a need for having their house cleaned.  I did this one for several years and enjoyed it very much.  This is something where the equipment consists of a vacuum, maybe a steam cleaner and cleaning products.  Very low start costs with this one.

Home health aide:  Many seniors want to age in place, or at home.  They may need just a little assistance with daily chores to be able to stay home.  Maybe help dressing, doing dishes, dressing and running errands.  Most 'agencies' charge at least, $75 an hour.  You can under cut those expensive agencies by a certain amount and still get a good salary.  When I did this, I got so many calls I had to turn down people, not enough hours in the day.  This can be done in a big city or small town.  You might want to obtain insurance but you can get quotes from many agencies about cost, they vary.  You may get large enough to hire help and start your own agency eventually.

Shopping and errands:  This one is big with bachelors.  You can offer cooking, making meals, freezing them for the week ahead, shop, run errands, cleaning, even dropping off and picking up clothes at the dry cleaners.  This also has a low start up cost.  

These are just a few of the services you can offer.  But you could quite possibly earn a great living.  Remember, the sky's the limit when you run your own business.  You can be in charge of your own destiny.