Profiles in Care, May 8, 2009
Name: Al
Long Term Care Facility Name: Presbyterian Homes of Arden Hills
Legislative District: 54A
Your affiliation with the facility:
I am a family member of a nursing care center resident. Alice, my wife of 60 years, has dementia and has been a resident for two years. She is 79 and I am 83 and live in our home in Roseville and still drive and get around pretty well. I am blessed with good health.
From your perspective, are there problems in the quality of care that could be fixed with an adequate budget?
We need to keep the funding up for nursing homes. Alice and I do are part, since we are private pay and have long-term care insurance. We favor rate equalization and don’t feel we should be penalized for planning and saving our money. That money may be gone sooner than I hoped.
What do you think legislators should know about the care of the elderly and people with disabilities?
The elderly and those with disabilities are people just like you and me. Don’t forget them and don’t shortchange them! If nursing home funding doesn’t increase over the next four years, I think staff will become fewer and quality of care will suffer. It is no exaggeration that I save the nursing care center time and money. I can’t do more than I do now and it is only fair that the state keep up with funding for long-term care facilities.
What do you like about this or other nursing homes / long term care facilities?
The direct care staff do a pretty good job and are friendly with Alice and me. I have gotten to know many of them by first name. A number of the aides are from Africa, and Southeast Asia. The food is OK, too.
Please tell us in a paragraph about your life as a resident or family member of a resident in a nursing home.
I go up to the nursing home most days, twice per day. I spend an average of three hours a day at the home, volunteering to help feed and occupy Alice, as well as other residents at her table. It gets long and I sometimes get “burned out” as a care giver. My son and daughter come up once per week each and give me a break. Twice I have been able to get away on a trip for 4 or 5 days. I feel like I have to stay on top of Alice’s care. Workers are sometimes spread thin on shifts, especially on weekends. Until recently, I often helped the aide toilet Alice and put her to bed. Now, Alice requires more care and the aide uses an “EZ Lift” to get her out of the wheelchair. I do this be cause I care about my wife. Not everyone has a spouse or other family members, and they usually decline a bit faster. I am hanging in there.
Profiles in Care, May 1, 2009
Name: Kathy
Facility: Cuyuna Regional Medical Center
Legislative District: 12A
Job Title: Nutritional services
Listen to Kathy’s story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teI1pHsgtOA
Filmed by Meggan Ellingboe, SEIU
Profiles in Care, April 24, 2009
Name: Judy
Nursing Home: St. Anthony Park Home
Legislative District / Address: 66B
Job Title: Day cook
Job Duties: Breakfast prep and serve, lunch prep and serve, put supplies away, stock and clean up.
Hourly wage: $16.54
People in Household: 2
Does someone else in your household work?: No
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
I enjoy giving my resident a feel of home. We make most of our food from scratch. It’s nice to give our seniors what they truly deserve.
Concerns:
With hours being cut, it is almost impossible to give the cares and special things to improve our residents lives. It is sad that our employees work hard everyday and barely make a living wage. Please protect these workers and respect the jobs they do. For someday we will all be in need of the services they give and the cares they provide.
Profiles in Care, April 17, 2009
Name: Janet
Nursing Home: Benedictine Health Center, Duluth, MN
Legislative District / Address: 6B
Job Title: CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant)
Job Duties: Taking care of elderly people.
People in Household: 2 (8)
Does someone else in your household work?: No
Do you work more than one job?: No
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
I like my job. But we need more pay for all the things that we do.
Concerns: I do live by pay check to pay check, and some times I don’t even have enough money to pay my bills.
I work very hard at my job and most of the time we are short and we have more people to take care of, and that is not fair for who we do take care of. I think they need the care they deserve. Thanks for listening.
Profiles in Care, April 3, 2009
Name: Kathleen
Nursing Home: Benedictine Health Center
Legislative District / Address: 6A
Job Title: CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) / TMA (Trained Medication Assistant)
Job Duties: Taking care of residents
Hourly Wage: $13.15
People in Household: 2 adults, 2 young children
Does someone else in your household work?: yes
Do you work more than one job?: yes
What do you like about working in a nursing home?: The stories of the residents.
Concerns:
I have had to quit my day position in order to save money. Daycare is $6.50 an hour for two children which is half of my wage. I love working at the nursing home but I may have to find other ways of making money in order to get by. The cost of living is u by 2% and a 1% wage increase barely helps. I enjoy the residents but there is bare minimal staff for a tough job.
When trying to pay bills I have to decide what is more important, feeding my children and diabetic husband or having heat. I cannot afford childcare because there are no affordable daycares and I make too much according to the state for help.
Profiles in Care, March 27, 2009
Name: Agnes
Nursing Home: Benedictine Health Center
Legislative District / Address: 7B
Job Title: TMA (Trained Medication Assistant) / NAR (Registered Nursing Assistant)
Job Duties: Pass medication, do one on one care on residents
Hourly Wage: $15.25
People in Household: 2
Does someone else in your household work?: yes, both
Do you work more than one job?: yes
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
I love giving T.L.C. to the elderly. It’s very rewarding.
Concerns:
Yes, I do have a hard time with paying bills. I am living check to check. I wouldn’t have to pick up extra shifts every month. That helps pay for any extra stuff. I would be able to have extra money every month. To save or go out to eat without breaking the bank.
Profiles in Care, March 20, 2009
Name: Sonja
Nursing Home: Lynnhurst Golden Living Center
Legislative District / Address: 58
Job Title: LPN
Job Duties: Emotional, physical and psychiatric care, wound treatment, communicating with Doctors. Administering medication, customer service. Anyone who wants to cut money for Long-Term Care needs to come and follow staff for 8 hours.
Hourly Wage: $19.29
People in Household: 2
Does someone else in your household work?: No
What do you like about working in a nursing home?: I like that I have made a difference in someone’s life. Everyday is a new challenge.
Concerns:
Low wages and benefits that discourage caring employees from working in LTC and giving the residents the best care they know how and deserve. Instead people do the least amount of care for small pay.
Profiles in Care, March 13, 2009
Name: Erma
Nursing Home: Lynnhurst Golden Living Center
Legislative District: 65
Job Title: TMA/CNA
Job Duties: Passing medications, caring and assisting residents with all duties.
Hourly Wage: $18.02
People in Household: 6
Does someone else in your household work?: Yes
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
Helping the elderly, some have no family.
Concerns:
The hard work we do and the older I am getting I won’t be able to work as much as I’m used to.
Not being able to treat children to average activities and paying bills. Prices on everything going up.
Profiles in Care, March 6, 2009
First Name: Bobbi
Place of Employment: Common Sense Services- Adult Day Services
Legislative District: 39B
Job duties: Care of the elderly, physically disabled and mentally challenged adults
Exact hourly wage: $13.50
How many people are in your household? 1
Does anyone else in your household work? Do you work more than one job?
I am the only person in my household. I am currently working two jobs.
What do you like about working in adult day services?
I am a care giving person and I enjoy making sure people are getting the care day to day that they deserve. I enjoy the social interaction with the participants. Keeping them involved and feeling they have a good social reason everyday they are here.
Concerns:
Funding for Insurance – I am currently working with no benefits.
I worry about job security. Trying to spread the word of Adult Day Services – I myself had never heard of this service until my employment at Common Sense Services.
Profiles in Care, February 27, 2009
Name: Laura
Nursing Home: Cerenity Bethesda Care
Legislative District / Address: 54B
Job Title: LPN
Job Duties: patient care, meds, wounds, doctor calls, assessment, supervise CNAs
Hourly Wage: $19.94
People in Household: 7
Does someone else in your household work?: Yes, husband is full time painter.
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
Working with elderly. I care a lot for them. They have life experiences and when I have time I like to sit and listen to their stories and reminisce about pictures and old days. I enjoy seeing them happy by fixing something for them.
Concerns:
I work hard. I try to do what I would expect if these were my parents or grandparents. These are people with feelings and emotions. These people need to get more respect for their earnings thru their life. They have to give up everything for a ½ room and a roommate and expect needs to be met with short staff.
I work hard all day and am not paid for my work. I get lots of thanks yous and smiles but that does not pay my bills, buy food, or put gas in the car.
Profiles in Care, February 20, 2009
First Name: Lavonne
Nursing Home/Place of Employment: Golden Living Center-Golden Crest
Legislative District: 5B
Job Title: Certified Nursing Assistant
Job duties: Care of the elderly, mentally ill, and mentally handicapped
Exact hourly wage: $16.32 after 31 plus years
How many people are in your household? Spouse, two daughters, two grandchildren and my 81 year old mother.
Does anyone else in your household work? Do you work more than one job? We all work except the children. Two, including myself, are attending college. I am a dislocated worker due to the closure of the nursing home I had been employed at for 31 years.
What do you like about working in a nursing home?
The elderly and other residents are the most vulnerable population of a community. I get great satisfaction of giving the residents the care they should receive. The joy they give back is irreplaceable. The residents become family.
Concerns:
First of all, I am very fortunate to have a spouse who can provide my medical. Co-workers on the other hand suffer. To pay for medical mostly leaves them with no funds to live on. Choices are made to have insurance or pay the bills. Often we have taken care of others children because child care costs do not coincide with a $10 an hour job. Is it worth working? After the 2% raise based on a substandard salary, and the cuts they make to the COLA it is not a living wage. Ultimately, the raise usually is pennies for a worker. Not nearly enough to keep up with the cost of living. Workers do not usually have pensions, the toll physically I cannot describe – too lengthy.
My concern is in the future of a nursing home. The pay is poor, benefits mostly non-existent, leaving little incentive for people to work in this profession (and yes, it is a profession)!
My facility closed its doors due to an old building and inadequate funding. Residents were moved out in just over thirty days and not in appropriate facilities. I am not only concerned over our loss of jobs, but what happened to our residents. Traumatic is all I can say. In my whole life, I have not felt such stress, remorse, and guilt that will never leave me. There is a bond that is built over time with residents and their family-to see everyone displaced, many out of the community is so hard!
There is a place for nursing homes, a place for assisted living, and a place for home care. What we need to see is a balance between them all.
We are facing a crisis in the future-look forward to the needs, not in the now. Take care of the people who raised us and the vulnerable who need us.
Profiles in Care, February 13, 2009
Name: May
Nursing Home: Walker Methodist
Legislative District / Address: 37B
Job Title: Housekeeper
Job Duties: housekeeping
Hourly Wage: $12.23
People in Household: 4
Does someone else in your household work?: No
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
I like to help old people. I can see they need help.
Concerns:
It’s a hard time to pay bills, rent, food, car. I live paycheck to paycheck but not enough. I need increase.
Profiles in Care, February 6, 2009
Name: Donna
Nursing Home: Cerenity Care- South St. Paul
Legislative District / Address: 39A
Job Title: LPN
Job Duties: meds passing, primary care
Hourly Wage: $19.81
People in Household: 2
Does someone else in your household work?: Yes
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
Elderly inspire me. I love to learn from them and their life stories.
Concerns:
I am very lucky, college is done for my girls but my wage has not changed in past 10 years. I watch every penny so I can help my children and others. Nursing home staff works so hard and not paid well. Wages need to be increased to meet needs of our growing geriatrics to provide better quality of care.
Profiles in Care, January 30, 2009
Name: Genet
Nursing Home: Walker Methodist Health Center
Legislative District / Address: 50A
Job Title: Restorative Aide
Job Duties: I do exercises with residents.
Hourly Wage: $15.00
People in Household: 2
Does someone else in your household work?: No
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
Talking to the residents about their past.
Concerns:
I live paycheck to paycheck. The cost of life is increasing every day. To get a second job is not easy and 2% is not enough.
Profiles in Care, January 23, 2009
Name: Fred
Nursing Home: BHC (Benedictine Health Center)
Legislative District / Address: 7B
Job Title: CNA / Bath Aide
Job Duties: Assist Residents with their ADC’s and toileting needs, give shower’s or baths, take weight’s, do ROMI.
Hourly Wage: $12.94
People in Household: 3
Does someone else in your household work?: wife
Do you work more than one job?: yes
What do you like about working in a nursing home?
Being able to help people that need help and knowing that people who don’t need much help can ask me to help when they do need help.
Concerns:
The work is hard but rewarding but when we don’t have enough help it’s hard. Sometime’s paying bills is a little hard but I work two jobs so it helps a little. The middle of the month is the hardest for me when it comes to enough money for bills.
Profiles in Care, January 16, 2009
Name: Aaron
Nursing Home: Westwood, Benedictine Health Center
Legislative District/ Address: 7A
Job Title: Home Health Aide
Job Duties: med pass, homecare, showering, wound cares, etc.
Hourly Wage: $10.78
People in Household: 5, myself, my husband and 3 kids
Does someone else in your household work?: My husband also holds a full time job at BHC.
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
I love knowing that I am making a difference in the lives of our most fragile population. The elderly inspire me to live a good life and appreciate every moment.
Concerns:
We live from paycheck to paycheck. We cannot afford our healthcare premiums on these wages, nor to finish school never mind that we qualify for aid considered to be for the poverty stricken families. We both work full-time, alternating evening shifts and night shifts so our children don’t go to daycare but we couldn’t afford that ANYWAY. My daughter qualifies for free lunches at school because we make so little. Last winter we couldn’t afford to pay our heat unless we didn’t pay our mortgage. These wages are NOT livable wages. I live my life extremely frugally. My kids have food and clothes on their backs but we can’t afford to even throw a birthday party for our kids. Even if we didn’t have children we couldn’t live on this income. It seems like a poor way to take care of our senior citizens to eliminate good workers because we cannot afford to work for them. The partial raise as a bonus quarterly is ridiculous as well. We need our money, every dime of it, to get by. Now, not in three months. These wages need to be livable wages. Ours are not- not by any stretch!
Profiles in Care, January 9, 2009
Name: Gwen
Nursing Home: Benedictine Health Center, Duluth, MN
Legislative District: 6B
Job Title: LPN
Job Duties: passing meds, doing treatments, direct care, communicating with doctors and managers, etc.
Hourly Wage: $18.35
People in Household: 5
Does someone else in your household work?: Yes
Do you work more than one job?: Yes
What do you like about working in a nursing home?:
The residents! Doing meaningful work.
Concerns:
I definitely live paycheck to paycheck. Raises in recent years haven’t even kept up with the cost of living. I used to be a single mom of 4 and debt-free. Now despite having another wage earner in the family, I’m in more debt than ever.
I work shift work, every other weekend and most holidays, missing time with my family. It’s meaningful work, but very hard and we’re often short-staffed! More and more is expected of us all the time! The turnover is high and is hard on the residents.