Community Chat

[goodstuff]

Having had my mother, my MIL, and my husband's older brother in assisted living and nursing homes for the past several years, we've known and seen many CNA's in action. Yes, the work can be rewarding -- but it can also be long, hard, physically challenging, dirty, smelly, and under-appreciated. Some of it depends on the type of facility you'd be working with and its philosophy and atmosphere. In many cases you're helping elderly and/or disabled people with bathing, grooming, toileting, changing bedsheets, changing diapers.......the real nitty-gritty. You're often lifting, turning, and transferring adult people, some of them large, heavy, and not able to help themselves. Some care agencies work their CNA's extremely long hours. The pay is also low.

Of course, you would need to complete a training course and exam and be certified before you could get a CNA position, or find a job that offers on-site training.

[151949]

I would say to try it and if you don't like it you can always guit and not be any worse off than you are now. It is extremely physical and difficult and dirty work. I doubt someone who is accustomed to working in an office will take to it - but you never know. The pay is low, esp. if your not certified.

[hckynut]

With so many ""initials"" used in place of words and me one that has never and will never be into texting?

Haven't a clue what you are asking.

[luvdoodles]

On 6/4/2014 hckynut said:

With so many "initials" used in place of words and me one that has never and will never be into texting?

Haven't a clue what you are asking.

I don't text either. I have an old fashioned flip phone. CNA is a certified nursing assistant and 2nd and 3rd refer to the shifts they work. Second shift is usually 3-11 and 3rd shift is usually 11-7. I know this because my father, God bless his soul was in an Alzheimers unit. Some of them were wonderful and some of them were useless. We always made sure a family member was there, especially at meal times as he could not feed himself and it always seemed like they were short handed. They don't get paid very well either, it a very difficult job. I commend those that do it well.

[just bee]

On 6/4/2014 hckynut said:

With so many ""initials"" used in place of words and me one that has never and will never be into texting?

Haven't a clue what you are asking.

Certified Nursing Assistant. Not really ""textspeak"" but I do understand your concern regarding acronyms. The medical field is way too acronym-heavy. When I worked as a corporate trainer in high tech that was the first thing I tackled with new hires. How can they learn when they don't know the language?

Yes -- too many acronyms. The death of English continues.

[just bee]

On 6/4/2014 luvpoos said:

On 6/4/2014 hckynut said:

With so many "initials" used in place of words and me one that has never and will never be into texting?

Haven't a clue what you are asking.

I don't text either. I have an old fashioned flip phone. CNA is a certified nursing assistant and 2nd and 3rd refer to the shifts they work. Second shift is usually 3-11 and 3rd shift is usually 11-7. I know this because my father, God bless his soul was in an Alzheimers unit. Some of them were wonderful and some of them were useless. We always made sure a family member was there, especially at meal times as he could not feed himself and it always seemed like they were short handed. They don't get paid very well either, it a very difficult job. I commend those that do it well.

Oh, Lord -- don't get me started. These places depended on the students who were there for clinicals to feed the patients who couldn't feed themselves. These people are being starved to death.

In most of these institutions the food -- and I use the term loosely -- is not even identifiable. It's cheap, it's garbage. The first time I had access to a nursing home was in the 80s shortly after I graduated from college. I met someone who wanted to know if I would like to create a "theater" program as part of the facility's recreational offerings.

I visited the place and it has stuck in my head all these years: "Red" Jell-O and three bean salad. It seemed like that's all these people ever had to eat. Fast forward three decades when I was in these places again and it hasn't improved. Why not offer fruit yogurt instead of pudding? These people are getting more antibiotics than farm animals and then they're expected to take lactobacillus acidophilus to try to balance their systems and some of these patients are handed a wafer the size of a quarter and they think it's a pill and try to swallow it whole.

It's Auschwitz! The whole system needs to change. We're putting our elderly into these warehouses -- it's a travesty!

I urge people to look at the Greenhouse Project. CNAs, not nurses, run the show. The facilities are few but I like the concept. Places that are run like homes with houseplants and gardens and pets and each resident has a purpose.

http://thegreenhouseproject.org/

The horror... the horror. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Why don't these superstar celebrity chefs take this on as a project and design menus for these people? Now that would be a meaningful charitable donation.

[luvdoodles]

So true, just bee. I would always bring my father something that I made at home and he loved it. The food there was disgusting and usually cold when he got it. He may have lost his memory but he loved to eat. He had problem swallowing, he had Parkinsons also, so we just went slow. I use to go around the room feeding the other residents also. They were hungry and only one person to help feed about twelve residents. They welcomed my help.

[Marienkaefer2]

I'm not in the health field myself, but I'm a career /college advisor for middle/high and have worked with college students as well. I've also done advising for worker retraining, and students going into this field after they've been laid off from previous work.

Many of my students have followed the CNA path as a way to break into.nursing and work their way through.

What I know about CNA work is this: you'd better love the health care field, working with people, taking care of people in difficult situations. You'd better be physically fit, not mind smells and tragic human situations.

CNAs, and nurses are God's angels on earth, and the good ones are amazing people. But you don't make much money as a CNA, and you do a lot of dirty work, often in a thankless environment.

So I would say, unless you have some background experience with this job that gives you a clear view personally of what it's like, think hard about it. Also, consider asking the facility if you can interview a current CNA working there now, or even do some sort of "job shadow" for a couple hours, just to get a close up view of what it's like.

I don't mean to sound negative, just trying to.impart some thoughts.

(Edited by me)

[Marienkaefer2]

Regarding the food in these facilities, I agree it's horrendous most of the time.

Fresh, high quality food, and the chefs to prepare it, are very expensive, and these places are not going to pay that kind of money.

It's much easier and cost effective to get in processed and pre prepared food and hire a 20 year old to microwave it or dump it in a bowl.

Not saying ALL places are like this, but many are, including more private, expensive places.

Also, they might be operating on the theory that a lot of people in these facilities don t digest food well, so that's probably why jello and pudding are so prevalent.

[irishmama5]

Ok if I read correctly you had an office job moved and considering being a Nurses Aide in a psy. Hospital. I have been a nurse 39 years lots of changes. Psy. Hosp. Are not what they use to be. You will more than likely be doing patient care. There is no harm in applying I would suggest 1st shift, especially with your husband being a teacher. It would be great if you could get a tour of the hosp. So you csn see where you would be working. I have worked in group homes for adolescents and a state mental facility with young adults I lasted 2 months the treatment and conditions were terrible. Once again try and go see where you will be working.