personal about work and also capitalism at its base is ableist
so i work at a caregiving/residential facility where i provide support to people with disorders or traumas that need 24/7 available assistance. been working there since the very tail end of 2017. there's always been issues because it is a capitalist business with power over disabled individuals' lives. but on an individual level i liked it because i actually helped people and made an impact on their lives for what i hope was the better.
main problems before the pandemic was ableism in management that trained staff or in the staff working directly with disabled individuals themselves. secondary issue was that as a capitalist business the structure of the company was more to continue making money off these individuals rather than actually help them. and before the pandemic, sometimes that worked in individuals' favor. if an individual was helped or a loved one's family member (who happened to be their financial supporter) then the company gets more clients who are willing to pay more for services.
but since the pandemic it's shifted and the company's capitalistic goals no longer coincide with what should be its/every staff's moral goals. less people were able to work but the company was unwilling to draw back the amount of clients it took on which meant that the staff left are either asshole ableists but willing to work or burnt out (or both, which i've now seen and is a horrific plight to anyone under their care). and since work's getting rougher on its workers, even LESS workers are willing to go through that hell which means the company's even harder on the remaining staff and making situations more stressful, etc.
when i first started working, in my orientation the company prided itself on 'being better than institutions of the past' and compared itself to mental hospitals that started out wanting to do good but ended up with like one staff per entire floor of over crowded people. the company might not be there yet, but at the time of the orientation they said that no night shift (usually called grave shift, what i work) was working with more than 3 residents at a time. house staff during the day should roughly be one staff to one client.
they didn't say grave shifts wouldn't work with more than three though, so i didn't question it too much when they started having four people houses (meaning a grave staff would be one staff to four clients at night), but that started happening even before the pandemic.
they don't show that orientation video anymore. don't give us bonuses either.
the company kept taking on clients they shouldn't because of amount--and sometimes even assistance level. i am not a nurse. i can provide behavioral and environmental supports and hand them their prescribed medication. because of my (and any staff in this company, with the lack of med staff)'s lack of training and certification i can't do anything that would be considered intrusive/that the individual doesn't want done unless there's multiple meetings/councils the right restriction has gone through. so the last residential house i worked at they took on a client that needed nurse assistance and i kept writing that in my reports and noting this to supervisors even before a i had to report a supervisor of potentially abusing this resident to adult protective services. it got to a point that i realized i wasn't helping her by being there (because of her past she wasn't supposed to work with make staff, and despite being on T and having a full beard and deepened voice and telling the company that i was transitioning and probably shouldn't work with this resident the company said it would be fine for now. though i cannot go into details about her past i was likely retraumatizing this young woman) and that the company was actively working against me reporting the current manager. i asked to switch residential houses for personal reasons and they finally agreed. when i left the resident was often covered in sores and matted hair and her living space with fecal matter. i was not given the training to solve this (or even the supplies as, at the time, the manager was not restocking our hygiene and cleaning products).
i switched residential houses tú one that was specifically hoping for more male staff and one that i felt the manager actually cared for the residents. also there were only two residents which eased my anxiety about being able to provide the support they needed.
i liked the change quite a bit at first; it's good to help people in an environment that allows it (being provided cleaning supplies is a huge thing in itself) and alongside other workers who care about the residents we're supporting. but even that's not enough. we're constantly understaffed, i was offered a raise to work outside my hours of availability for a raise. i took this offer in September but had to fight tooth and nail for the raise (to $14 an hour btw, and that's the cap of what the Utah government will allow pay in our services. i literally could not make higher than that amount rn) and only just got it last paycheck, in December. with no back pay!
i've worked constantly under very draining schedules (no breaks between, being asked to go from a grave shift to a day shift and being treated like i'm the world's worst asshole when i ask "hey can i not work those two shifts back to back?"
last night, instead of the one individual i expected (the other of my two on a home visit), i was in charge of five people. four of whom i got no training (or even warning!) they'd be there. i had no clue why they were in my program! what if someone had a seizure or a medical allergy or started trying to wail on another resident because they're being put through a stressful as hell situation?? i would have no clue what to do without training. at best i'd be useless in an incident that it is my job to deescalate. but if not my best i could actively make a situation worse.
also, didn't even know how many people were under my care because three of them because they were in a connected duplex house and no one told me about them. what if there was a fire? god.
i'm so stretched thin and i don't think me being here is helping them and they shouldn't be here
anyway my advice if you ever need the services of a care/support facility for yourself or a loved one is remember even in the good times they're a capitalist invention. look for one that your happiness will be better than just your presence and look for one where the staff are happy.
i love serving these residents, i was happy this. but i've been fucked over so many times and feel like even egg i'm just a cog in a machine made to wring the life out of others. i'm scared cause i've been here a long time and i don't know how i'll be in another setting, but i know i won't be making this worse. i'm going to resign this job, possibly soon.
