Friday 12 July 2013

Cam 'n Eggs: Guest blogger - healthcare aide Cheri Zische

CHERI ZISCHE



 I am a healthcare worker whose company was granted a contract recently by Alberta Health Services.  But we were taken out of the area where I have worked in for six years.  I have worked in a facility for three years.  Now we are being moved out and another agency has been brought in.  The senior citizens I have taken care of will now new caregivers.  Not just one. All of us are being taken out.


Senior citizens  have not had a say, and their objections are falling on deaf ears.  This move is devastating to all involved. No one ever asked these folks if they wanted to give up the caregivers who have been such a large part of their lives.

Cutting our hours, or rather cutting the time we are allowed to spend with each individual, is going to spell disaster.  Yes we give meds, do personal care of all kinds, and these tasks may not require a lot of time.  But what about listening to them? As healthcare aids we give  them a voice when they think no one cares, and take  the time to really hear what they fear.  

Shame on this government for making me feel that what I do is only based dollars and cents.  And shame on this government for making Alberta senior citizens — the most special of people in our society — feel that they are not worth the dollars and cents to continue providing the care they deserve.

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