Monday, June 11, 2007
In Our Infinite Wisdom
Mom and I went news surfing again tonight. One of the news programs at which we landed was ABC World News with Charles Gibson. One of the stories was about the 63 million dollar boondoggle of an airplane still being supported by us through congress, despite the fact that the Pentagon long ago pronounced the project a failure. It was immediately followed by a very short mention of today's Supreme Court ruling in the case of Long Island Care at Home vs. Coke (this link is to a search for articles on a website which discuss the merits of the case) that home health care workers are not entitled to overtime pay or minimum wage.
Isn't that interesting? We, as a country, are willing to throw away millions of dollars on an airplane in which even the military has no confidence, all because Anthony DuPont, president of DuPont Aerospace (El Cajon, CA), who designed and continues to work on the craft, is a campaign contributor to at least a couple of congressmen. But, you know, grant minimum wage and overtime pay to a 73 year old retired home health care worker who worked in the field for 20 years and consistently went the extra mile for her charges, let alone do so for all home health care workers? Nah...this woman, and home health care workers in general, are not major campaign contributors. A ruling like this would bankrupt our businessmen! Hell...do these employees even exist?
Interesting: Although I was unable to locate an online bio indicating Mr. Anthony DuPont's age, from the video of him in the news story he looks to be in his 60's. He's not too far away from the eventuality of needing to hire home health care workers to take care of him (unless he's very lucky and dies before old age or a devastating illness grabs hold of him). I wonder what he's planning on doing at that time: Hop into the animated version of his Aircraft DP2 and expatriate to a country that is kinder to and more aware of its home health care workforce?
Just wondering.
My audience might be interested to know that I am not officially classified as a "Home Health Care Worker". I'm not even officially classified as "unemployed", which actually delights me, since I am not unemployed, but I am employed unofficially, off the charts, as are millions like me. Thus, the Supreme Court's highly questionable and infuriating ruling, today, would not have affected me from an employment perspective. It probably will never affect me from an employment perspective because I'm not about to ever hire myself out as a "Home Health Care Worker"...for reasons which should be obvious to you if you've read even a little of my journals. However, it certainly will affect all of us, deleteriously, in the future, when we need Home Health Care. Want to know why it's so hard to find compassionate, reliable, worry free home health care? Want to know why it will become even harder in the future? Ask our Supreme Court. Then, remember that in this country we have a little considered but oft touted belief that "we" are the government...and ask yourself.
Later.
Isn't that interesting? We, as a country, are willing to throw away millions of dollars on an airplane in which even the military has no confidence, all because Anthony DuPont, president of DuPont Aerospace (El Cajon, CA), who designed and continues to work on the craft, is a campaign contributor to at least a couple of congressmen. But, you know, grant minimum wage and overtime pay to a 73 year old retired home health care worker who worked in the field for 20 years and consistently went the extra mile for her charges, let alone do so for all home health care workers? Nah...this woman, and home health care workers in general, are not major campaign contributors. A ruling like this would bankrupt our businessmen! Hell...do these employees even exist?
Interesting: Although I was unable to locate an online bio indicating Mr. Anthony DuPont's age, from the video of him in the news story he looks to be in his 60's. He's not too far away from the eventuality of needing to hire home health care workers to take care of him (unless he's very lucky and dies before old age or a devastating illness grabs hold of him). I wonder what he's planning on doing at that time: Hop into the animated version of his Aircraft DP2 and expatriate to a country that is kinder to and more aware of its home health care workforce?
Just wondering.
My audience might be interested to know that I am not officially classified as a "Home Health Care Worker". I'm not even officially classified as "unemployed", which actually delights me, since I am not unemployed, but I am employed unofficially, off the charts, as are millions like me. Thus, the Supreme Court's highly questionable and infuriating ruling, today, would not have affected me from an employment perspective. It probably will never affect me from an employment perspective because I'm not about to ever hire myself out as a "Home Health Care Worker"...for reasons which should be obvious to you if you've read even a little of my journals. However, it certainly will affect all of us, deleteriously, in the future, when we need Home Health Care. Want to know why it's so hard to find compassionate, reliable, worry free home health care? Want to know why it will become even harder in the future? Ask our Supreme Court. Then, remember that in this country we have a little considered but oft touted belief that "we" are the government...and ask yourself.
Later.
Comments:
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Originally posted by Patty McNally Doherty: Wed Jun 13, 07:02:00 AM 2007
Basically, the way it went down in our house:
If we put my father in a nursing home, his care would be covered - at least up to $4000 per month, we would have to pay whatever the cost was over that.
If we kept my father at home with the team of caregivers we had assembled, we would get no financial help what so ever.
Even though it was incredibly cheaper and safer and better to keep him at home, the government (of which I DO believe I'm a part) was unwilling to believe we knew what was best for not only my father, but for the management of the care they willingly pay to nursing homes but REFUSE to pay for at home care.
It's a crappy system, rigged to fail the most vulnerable members of our society. The nursing home industry has embedded itself in such a way that it's not even feasible to imagine Congress wrestling funding for at-home care away from nursing homes.
It isn't the government I have a problem with, it's industries that have gotten away with bad practices for so long they are considered "best" practices by virtue of their longevity. In my father's nursing home, where he spent the last seven months of his life, I had to fight to get his teeth brushed. Imagine that? A simple act of basic hygeine - denied. That telling act of neglect did more to fuel my need for change than just about anything else. It is symptomatic of an unchecked disease that has eaten away the enamel of dignity and rotted an industry that no longer cares, right down to its roots.
Nursing homes, in my opinion, give us the least service for the most cost. And because many of us are over a barrel - unable to keep our parents at home due to kids and jobs and travel and cost and a million and one other reasons - have nowhere else to turn. Name one person who feels good about committing their loved one to the care of a nursing home institution rather than putting them in their own bed every night. Name one person who doesn't lie awake at night wondering what they've done. This isn't the sign of a healthy choice, it's the sign of a desperate choice. And it sucks.
The worst is yet to come. As the boomers age, with less resources and smaller families, what will this course of action look like in twenty years. Really, try to imagine it. Unless we're willing to put seniors out on the street, where do we imagine they will go? And who do we imagine will care for them? And when I say "them", I really mean "us".
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Basically, the way it went down in our house:
If we put my father in a nursing home, his care would be covered - at least up to $4000 per month, we would have to pay whatever the cost was over that.
If we kept my father at home with the team of caregivers we had assembled, we would get no financial help what so ever.
Even though it was incredibly cheaper and safer and better to keep him at home, the government (of which I DO believe I'm a part) was unwilling to believe we knew what was best for not only my father, but for the management of the care they willingly pay to nursing homes but REFUSE to pay for at home care.
It's a crappy system, rigged to fail the most vulnerable members of our society. The nursing home industry has embedded itself in such a way that it's not even feasible to imagine Congress wrestling funding for at-home care away from nursing homes.
It isn't the government I have a problem with, it's industries that have gotten away with bad practices for so long they are considered "best" practices by virtue of their longevity. In my father's nursing home, where he spent the last seven months of his life, I had to fight to get his teeth brushed. Imagine that? A simple act of basic hygeine - denied. That telling act of neglect did more to fuel my need for change than just about anything else. It is symptomatic of an unchecked disease that has eaten away the enamel of dignity and rotted an industry that no longer cares, right down to its roots.
Nursing homes, in my opinion, give us the least service for the most cost. And because many of us are over a barrel - unable to keep our parents at home due to kids and jobs and travel and cost and a million and one other reasons - have nowhere else to turn. Name one person who feels good about committing their loved one to the care of a nursing home institution rather than putting them in their own bed every night. Name one person who doesn't lie awake at night wondering what they've done. This isn't the sign of a healthy choice, it's the sign of a desperate choice. And it sucks.
The worst is yet to come. As the boomers age, with less resources and smaller families, what will this course of action look like in twenty years. Really, try to imagine it. Unless we're willing to put seniors out on the street, where do we imagine they will go? And who do we imagine will care for them? And when I say "them", I really mean "us".
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