A Thorn in My Side!!!
As anyone knows I work the night shift taking care of elderly people. I work in a rather large building but am only responsible for a handful..well make that a few handfuls of people who reside in the building. Some actually rent the apartment they live in while others stay in our company's 'transitional' apartments. Those who stay in the transitionals are usually there short term and have houses or apartments outside of our building. Some are pre-op or post-op, some are fall risk or health risk. Though our skills do not differ from that of any of the other aides that work for our company we do provide 24 hour care services.In the year plus that I have been employed with this company I have seen several of the people come and go. Most are pleasant enough and I try to make their stay with us as pleasant as possible.
But this one woman has been a thorn not only in my side but that of other aides as well. Mine more so though!!!
You see...our office just so happens to be in one of these transitional apartments. All transitionals have 2 bedrooms, a shared kitchenette/livingroom and bathroom. Most generally the person who stays in the bedroom where our office is located is high risk and therefore needs to be closely watched.
Since this woman has arrived she has expected the apartment to be kept as quiet as possible and as dark as possible. She complains if the aides turn on a light, try to do the weekly housekeeping, answer the phone or even talk to each other. She has been asked to sleep in the bedroom and refuses and when she is told that we need to be able to do what we need to do she argues and then lies and tells us the nurse said she can have it her way.
Now leaving the lights off during the day and part of the evening isn't that big of an issue considering the fact that there is natural light coming in from outside. But at night..nada, zip, zilch, zero light comes in! Not even light from the street lights which are nowhere around!
I have been more than nice about the situation. I have sat down with her and explained the safety issues not only for myself but her as well in keeping a light on. I only ask that she keep the bathroom light on and do not even ask that the door be kept wide open..just open enough to provide enough light so that I may safely pass from one door to the other when necessary to come and go to do my job. I thought we had an understanding but I guess not! She continuously gets up just to turn the light off or close the door!
She was recently moved across the hall to one of our other transitional apartments. There is a woman who lives in the other bedroom. She pays full cost for that room as she is not in transition. I need to be able to provide care for her during the night and not only am I having to deal with the same light issue but am also having to deal with this thorn-of-a-woman closing the door to her bedroom.
Issue with that..if she pushes her life line in the event of an emergency she needs to be able to hear the responders box as well as them be able to hear her.
Now..am I the only one who sees an issue here? Am I the only one who feels that the office should be dealing with this situation and not just giving in to this woman? The team leader on the day shift has brought these issues to the attention of the nurse and all this woman has to do is wine a little and they say that it's okay for her to have it her way.
Hello people!..we are not Burger King here!!!
Now, according to the weekend team leader, this woman is going to file a complaint against me because I told her again Friday night that the light needs to be kept on and she told me that everyone else told her it's okay to turn it off. I told her I didn't care what they say because they do not work nights and that as long as I'm working there at night the light needs to be on.
She proceeded to tell me I am the only one that bitches (her words not mine) about it. To which I told her that I would continue until she stopped turning it off.
My safety is of the utmost importance as I have a family to care for and can not afford to injure myself and be out of work indefinitely. All it takes is someone to forget to push in a chair or to drop a tissue or something on the floor and not realize it to cause a fall. And considering the fact that I would be falling onto a HARD WOOD FLOOR would almost definitely result in an injury of a severe nature (I'm not as young as some tend to think).
So please people tell me...Am I wrong???
Sorry to come on here after so long and vent but...arrgh!!!!!
Any way..Thanks for 'listening'!!!
Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!!!
I'm out..
T.
But this one woman has been a thorn not only in my side but that of other aides as well. Mine more so though!!!
You see...our office just so happens to be in one of these transitional apartments. All transitionals have 2 bedrooms, a shared kitchenette/livingroom and bathroom. Most generally the person who stays in the bedroom where our office is located is high risk and therefore needs to be closely watched.
Since this woman has arrived she has expected the apartment to be kept as quiet as possible and as dark as possible. She complains if the aides turn on a light, try to do the weekly housekeeping, answer the phone or even talk to each other. She has been asked to sleep in the bedroom and refuses and when she is told that we need to be able to do what we need to do she argues and then lies and tells us the nurse said she can have it her way.
Now leaving the lights off during the day and part of the evening isn't that big of an issue considering the fact that there is natural light coming in from outside. But at night..nada, zip, zilch, zero light comes in! Not even light from the street lights which are nowhere around!
I have been more than nice about the situation. I have sat down with her and explained the safety issues not only for myself but her as well in keeping a light on. I only ask that she keep the bathroom light on and do not even ask that the door be kept wide open..just open enough to provide enough light so that I may safely pass from one door to the other when necessary to come and go to do my job. I thought we had an understanding but I guess not! She continuously gets up just to turn the light off or close the door!
She was recently moved across the hall to one of our other transitional apartments. There is a woman who lives in the other bedroom. She pays full cost for that room as she is not in transition. I need to be able to provide care for her during the night and not only am I having to deal with the same light issue but am also having to deal with this thorn-of-a-woman closing the door to her bedroom.
Issue with that..if she pushes her life line in the event of an emergency she needs to be able to hear the responders box as well as them be able to hear her.
Now..am I the only one who sees an issue here? Am I the only one who feels that the office should be dealing with this situation and not just giving in to this woman? The team leader on the day shift has brought these issues to the attention of the nurse and all this woman has to do is wine a little and they say that it's okay for her to have it her way.
Hello people!..we are not Burger King here!!!
Now, according to the weekend team leader, this woman is going to file a complaint against me because I told her again Friday night that the light needs to be kept on and she told me that everyone else told her it's okay to turn it off. I told her I didn't care what they say because they do not work nights and that as long as I'm working there at night the light needs to be on.
She proceeded to tell me I am the only one that bitches (her words not mine) about it. To which I told her that I would continue until she stopped turning it off.
My safety is of the utmost importance as I have a family to care for and can not afford to injure myself and be out of work indefinitely. All it takes is someone to forget to push in a chair or to drop a tissue or something on the floor and not realize it to cause a fall. And considering the fact that I would be falling onto a HARD WOOD FLOOR would almost definitely result in an injury of a severe nature (I'm not as young as some tend to think).
So please people tell me...Am I wrong???
Sorry to come on here after so long and vent but...arrgh!!!!!
Any way..Thanks for 'listening'!!!
Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!!!
I'm out..
T.