Who helps the elderly?

[SRQ_Sioux]

Having a trusted family member or friend is the key the abuse potential is enormous! Make sure that person is much younger than you too. Because for example your sister is your med surrogate , you are 86, but she is 85 and really not much help, so she gets her daughter and now she is running the show and she is NOT trustworthy. That is NOT what or who you wanted but you have been declared incompetent and you are now at her mercy.

[=^..^=]

Originally Posted by Coachgns

WOW - That's the prevailing wage in SRQ area for a HHC aide? That's terrible.
I've had a terrific aide for my mother up north, but we're paying almost $20/hr. But the aide has become like family to us - loving & caring & honest. Worth every penny.

Being close enough to watch what goes on also helps keep them doing their jobs. My mother's care givers knew they could do as they pleased and get away with it. No one was there to keep an eye on them.

[=^..^=]

Originally Posted by SRQ_Sioux

Having a trusted family member or friend is the key the abuse potential is enormous! Make sure that person is much younger than you too. Because for example your sister is your med surrogate , you are 86, but she is 85 and really not much help, so she gets her daughter and now she is running the show and she is NOT trustworthy. That is NOT what or who you wanted but you have been declared incompetent and you are now at her mercy.

I've seen a show on TV with a similar story years ago. This must not be too uncommon. Sometimes family can be worse than thieves. I have a male cousin (college educated with a good job) I wouldn't trust to give me the correct time. When you move far from home and are alone somewhere, finding a truly trusted person, much younger no less, can be impossible.

I remember friends of my parents who signed their home over to their son w/POA when their health was faltering. It wasn't long before their friends were both in a Nursing Home at their own expense and the son living in their house. None of us can know what the future holds. Perhaps some people here who are in FL alone can share their plans with those of us planning to make the move.

[beachmouse]

I used to work in the aging field in Florida. Each region/county has an Area Agency on Aging. They'll be in the phone book, and are a good first contact point- even if they can't help you directly, they know who the local players are and can steer you to the good private service providers. And if you're going to need state help, the sooner you get 'in line' for it, the better off you are, given how underfunded in-home senior programs really are.

Each AAA or their contractee in a county is in charge of administering a number of federal/state grants for aging services. We had three major programs we ran. The first was a Medicaid waiver program designed to keep the poor elderly in their own home, apartment, or trailer, and out of a nursing home. Excellent program- we'd pay for their aides, incontinence supplies, nutritional supplements and/or meals on wheels as needed, provide minor home modifications and for 'I've fallen and I can't get up' alarm services. The problem is that this program is chronically underfunded- we had a huge waiting list for it, and only about 1/3 of the people on the wait list ever got services. The rest either died or their condition deteriorated enough that they went into nursing home care anyways.

We had two other state programs that provided a less Cadillac level of services to seniors trying to stay in their own homes, one need-based and the other not need-based. The need based one was where we'd try to park people on the Med Waiver waiting list, but even then we couldn't always get everything they really needed to them. They'd get nutritional care, a more limited amount of personal care services, and may or may not have gotten their depends depending on the program rules we had that year.

And yes, the aides do a really difficult job for not much money, either because it's the job they could find, or because they genuinely feel like they're making a difference with their job. If you find the ones in the second group, hold on to them like gold because it takes a special kind of person to provide care for a client with dementia issues.

As for aide pay, if you're going through an agency that's charging you $18-$20 per hour, the aide makes about half that in hourly wage. The rest is her health and liability insurance, the agency's administrative overhead, and profit (for for-profits) or subsidizing services for clients the state won't cover us for (non-profits)

[=^..^=]

Originally Posted by SRQ14

Let me preface with this: I am in no way justifying what these people did to your mother - it was obviously wrong.

(Brevity snipped)

FYI, these home health care workers in Sarasota make, on average, $8 or $9 an hour.

That is an unreal wage. The women from the Agency lived at my mother's house 24/7 since my brother feared leaving her alone. The Agency got between $4000 and $5000 a month plus Mom paid for all their food. One woman was there Monday to Friday and the other from Friday night until Monday morning.

I will also tell you that these HHC women take a lot of abuse - both verbal and sometimes physical (I have personally witnessed both).

When you pay someone $8 or $9 an hour to clean up after an 80 year old wealthy person who has just soiled themselves, to personally bathe and dress that same 80 year old, in addition to making sure that they take all of their meds, as well as cooking and cleaning for them, and you're going to encounter trouble. It's a thankless and very denigrating job - I know that I could never do it.

Nor could I. Fortunately for Mom's workers, she was not incontinent but did need help cooking, shopping, bathing and changing her clothes. She was not violent and was very fond of the one care taker. The one we suspect robbed her. She was just confused due to the stokes and had arthritis that made dressing herself difficult. I had her here for a week's vacation and she was not hard to care for, never complained and ate whatever was offered her. She had no accidents to clean up.

Many of the HHC recipients were very grateful to their HHC workers and were nice to be around; then again, a lot of them were not.

So think about it - you're making $8 or $9 an hour to clean up feces and urine anytime that your "client" soiled themselves. You bathed them, cooked for them, cleaned up their condo for them, etc. Quite likely, you have the most disgusting job in the world.

Despite this, your "client" - as well as your client's family - are constantly abusive to you, treating you like you were the runny feces that you just cleaned from the client's buttocks. The client is sitting on $50 million - meanwhile, you're struggling to make your rent and pay your student loans on your $8/hour salary.

That has to be the worse case scenario. I'm sure it happens but can't be the norm. Old folks that bad off, incontinent, near helpless, mean tempered belong in Nursing Homes in my opinion.

You wonder why HHC abuse happens? That's why. I'll be completely honest - I'd have a hard time giving a rat's arse about the quality of my work if I were making $8/hour in such a situation.

I understand how you feel. But there are two sides to everything. They can find other low-wage jobs I'm sure. I would rather be a greeter or cashier at Wal-Mart then take care of an incontinent person, especially a mean one, any day. I would rather work in a Supermarket deli. Anything other than cleaning human waste.

The old saying "you get what you pay for" prevails. You want quality home health care? Pay the HHC women $15 - $17 an hour - after seeing first hand what these ladies go through, I am here to tell you that they earn it. OTOH, you want to pay Wal-Mart type wages? You'll get Wal-Mart type service. It really is that simple.

See above. I agree with you for the most part but not all elderly are incontinent and mean with a haughty wealthy mean family. The women who cared for my mother in NY did not care for the incontinent. Apparently the Agency gave them a choice.

[=^..^=]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

I used to work in the aging field in Florida. Each region/county has an Area Agency on Aging. They'll be in the phone book, and are a good first contact point- even if they can't help you directly, they know who the local players are and can steer you to the good private service providers. And if you're going to need state help, the sooner you get 'in line' for it, the better off you are, given how underfunded in-home senior programs really are.

Each AAA or their contractee in a county is in charge of administering a number of federal/state grants for aging services. We had three major programs we ran. The first was a Medicaid waiver program designed to keep the poor elderly in their own home, apartment, or trailer, and out of a nursing home. Excellent program- we'd pay for their aides, incontinence supplies, nutritional supplements and/or meals on wheels as needed, provide minor home modifications and for 'I've fallen and I can't get up' alarm services. The problem is that this program is chronically underfunded- we had a huge waiting list for it, and only about 1/3 of the people on the wait list ever got services. The rest either died or their condition deteriorated enough that they went into nursing home care anyways.

We had two other state programs that provided a less Cadillac level of services to seniors trying to stay in their own homes, one need-based and the other not need-based. The need based one was where we'd try to park people on the Med Waiver waiting list, but even then we couldn't always get everything they really needed to them. They'd get nutritional care, a more limited amount of personal care services, and may or may not have gotten their depends depending on the program rules we had that year.

And yes, the aides do a really difficult job for not much money, either because it's the job they could find, or because they genuinely feel like they're making a difference with their job. If you find the ones in the second group, hold on to them like gold because it takes a special kind of person to provide care for a client with dementia issues.

As for aide pay, if you're going through an agency that's charging you $18-$20 per hour, the aide makes about half that in hourly wage. The rest is her health and liability insurance, the agency's administrative overhead, and profit (for for-profits) or subsidizing services for clients the state won't cover us for (non-profits)

Thank you for the information. It's sad not all who need the help can get it. All these posts really give a person things to think about and perhaps plan for should they make the move with only a spouse. Unfortunately we can make the best of plans but things may be very different 15 or 20 years down the road. The plans may no longer apply. And if there's stroke or senility it would be taken out of our hands anyway.