I have a new job! Which should be exciting, but it isn’t. It isn’t exciting because its hard work, because I work five days a week and come home exhausted each day, because work isn’t something to be excited about. Its something that you have to do in order to earn money, in saying that I am not ungrateful for my opportunity to work as I realise a lot of people don’t get that chance, however at the same time it’s not something I am going to sing and dance about.
The place that I work at is a care home for individuals who have suffered some sort of brain injury, whether that is from an external source like a physical injury or something medical like a stroke. As a result, the people I work to look after come in a wide verity of ages, nationalities, shapes and sizes, however one thing remains constant, that these people need care. While I am unable to be specific as to protect the identity and dignity of these people, I can tell you a little bit about the job in general.
The job is long hours, and that is because care is something that needs to be given 24/7, these hours start from 7.30 in the morning and stretch to 9 at night for the day staff, and then the night staff do the rest of the hours. Most of my shifts are 7.30 till 4 in the afternoon. The work also consists of moving immobile people, cleaning people, changing pads if they are incontinent, along with a wide verity of other duties. None of these things bothers me, and to the contrary the time I have spent with these inderviduals have been some of the best time of my life. They are people before anything else regardless of the level of care they need.
However, there is something that bothers me, and that is the amount of time you get to spend with any one individual. We are carers not because we want a job, we work tirelessly for basic minimal wage not for the money, but because we care. If you come in to this line of work, simply because you need work you will not last very long. The issue is there is never enough staff to care properly, how can you spend any quality time with a person when the residents outnumber the staff on the best of days at 5 to 1 and on the worst of days at 10 to 1. Its not just the carers who are suffering with hard work, little pay, and long hours, but the residents too the ones who are most at risk.
Tea For Two 