Couldn’t have put it better myself ❤️❤️❤️
So care workers don’t deserve more than minimum wage because they “only sit around and make cups of tea for people” ?!?!? I can give you a list off the top of my head to show what care workers actually have to do, and I can bet it’s not even half of it.
1) Washes
2) Showers/baths
3) Dressing
4)Shaving
5) Apply creams
6) Brushing hair/teeth
7)Changing incontinence pads
8)Emotional support when they’re sad
9)Giving them company, sometimes we’re the only people they see all day
10)Giving medication, even the likes of controlled drugs (doing a nurses job on minimum wage
11)Hoists, stand aids, getting the person from A to B
12) Reassure them when they’re frightened, calming them down when they’re irritated
13) Cleaning their homes
14) Take them out to socialise
15) Shopping calls
16) Chase up medication
17) Call GP’s when new medication/cream may be needed
18)Arrange appointments
19) Make their meals and drinks
20) Catheter care
21)Stoma care
22) Answer all their emergency response calls
23) Handle their finances, in some cases
24) Remain calm and professional when they’re hurling verbal and sometimes physical abuse at you
25) Apologise when they insult the care staff, even though it’s not our fault
26) Take them to the hospital when needed
27) Toilet calls
28) Feeding them
29) Turning them onto each side if bed ridden, to avoid sores
30) Battling with 111 and Doctors when you know they need to be checked over
31) Dementia care
32) Alzheimers care
33) Parkinsons care
34) Many various illnesses and disease care
35) End of life care
36) Supporting families, reassuring them and keeping them informed of everything happening with their relative
37) Dealing with family complaints and apologising even though the situation was often 99% out of your control
38) Pushing people in wheelchairs, along with all their shopping bags when they’re out
39) Acting fast when someone shows symptoms of a stroke, heart attack, fits, various other conditions
40) Keeping people calm when they have fell, assuring them that help is on the way and they need to lay still as possible
41) Recognising when the person you visit numerous times a week is acting out of sorts. Acting upon it and seeking advice because you KNOW that’s not their usual self.
42) Having the patient of a saint. We’re busy, but we don’t and can’t rush. We go at their pace. Always
43) Washing and drying, folding and ironing, putting away clothes
44) Making sure they’re wearing their emergency help button, so that you’re confident they can press it should they need help once you’re gone. It’s not always easy. People can refuse, or throw it away.
45) When a person won’t take medication they critically need, you have no solution, but you need to BE that solution. Figure out ways you can get them to converse with you and listen, so they will take the tablets that will keep their health stable.
46) We’re sometimes verbally and physically abused. We get called all the names under the sun, sometimes we get punched, slapped, kicked and bit, they pull our hair or lash out. It’s not always their fault, illnesses can cause this behaviour. We just have to remove ourselves from the environment and report.
47) We can go hours with no break
48) Sometimes we have to hold our bladder for 2+ hours because we literally don’t have time for the toilet
49) Our calls list is full, but someone calls for help, we need to find ways we can get to them as well as doing everything else we need to do
50) We don’t complain. Our job is hard. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we’re reduced to tears. We do it all for minimum wage, we know we deserve so much more, but we still do it anyway. Because we are care workers, and we genuinely do care 💗💗