I am a college student going to school 5 states away from home. I have my CNA cert in my home state but the reciprocity app. has not been processed for Maryland yet. So, for now I'm looking for non CNA jobs.
Here's my issue... They all pay way better!!!!!! I know what CNA's do is "unskilled labor" but you'd think jobs requiring a certification would pay more than a cashier job at dunkin donuts would!
Geez Louise. Good thing there's nothing I love more than my cranky, confused old people.
Ok. I'm done being a special snowflake... for now.
I have tried to explain this exact thing to so many people, so many times. People working as cashiers or drive-thru people at McDonalds or wherever should not be making $15 an hour. There should have been an even bigger protest against those people who think that unskilled labor jobs should be brought up to $15/hr when people who go to school and get certifications and are actually responsible for more than whether or not they want salt on their fries. Everybody else's wages are going to have to come way up now to even make this make sense. Then the cost of everything goes way up and inflation occurs and when the price of everything goes up, they are going to be complaining that they can't live on $15/hr.
I'm sorry Walmart doesn't pay people more. But working at Walmart should not be your plan to support yourself and your family unless you are going into management at some point. If a person enjoys working there and think it's the bomb, great. Just don't expect it to feed your family of 5. You will need other means of income. Whether it is your significant other or you take on another job. Then again, most people don't have a clue on how our economy works.
And there is nothing wrong with the SAHM who decides she wants to cashier at the local grocery store while her kids are in school. Many of these jobs are designed for the SAHM who just needs a part time job to stay busy, or first jobs for teenagers. My first full time job out of high school was in retail and I made $6/hr. I was a great stepping stone for me to start out and learn how to transition into adulthood. I knew full well though I was never going to be able to move out of my parents house and support me much less a family on it. I kicked my butt into to gear to work hard and get promoted and in less than a year, I made enough to move out and have supported myself ever since. It's going to throw our economy into another downspin if many places start instituting the $15/hr min wage thing. And nursing homes really need to up their game to attract and retain good CNAs. I personally hate the way nursing homes are run and if I was at all into politics, I would pass some legislation on how they should be efficiently run.
LTC should not be one of those typical businesses that should be run strictly for profit. You've got elderly people who cannot take care of themselves anymore and are much like children being treated like a dollar sign and nothing more. We need to take care of our elderly and treat them well. Living your life and making it to 80, then put away in home that can be worse than prison is unthinkable to me. Most states won't let you have the right to die with dignity and instead want you to be abused in these homes and end up with bed sores that get infected and you die some horrible death.
I've already told my boyfriend to never put me in one of those places, no matter what. I know not all nursing homes are like that. The one I did my clinical at last fall was great to their people. Every one of them told me they were happy there. But is was a locally run home and the couple that owned it lived in town. They knew how they want these people taken care of and they were. That's how it should be and not these corporations that only think about the bottom line. And that's how I feel at least in the LTC setting it should be.
...yes, that's part of the problem. LTC is a business first. It's about making money. Keeping spending down (minimal required staff) inorder to make that profit.
The "state" thinks they are doing a great thing by coming in annually to inspect the nursing homes. They think they know what goes on and that care is sufficient.....don't get me wrong, there are excellent homes out there that provide compassionate care but, it is never what it should be and certainly not what the state thinks it is.
It's always the CNA that takes the blame when things aren't the way the family expects it to be.
Before nursing school, I was working at a gas station. I took a $3/hr cut to be an ER Tech. It still makes no sense to me because working as an ER Tech was more strenuous and required much more skill.
ya lol i was working a fedex and went to work in the hospital as a aide, i lost $2.50...... heh sucks to be me
Don't feel bad, you could go to college, get your BSN, RN incur 10s of thousands of dollars of student loan debt, then pay a plumber twice what you make to fix a leaky pipe .... Seriously, I paid a plumber $100/hour for some work on my condo, made me feel like he was the smart one (no offense to plumbers).
LTC should not be one of those typical businesses that should be run strictly for profit. You've got elderly people who cannot take care of themselves anymore and are much like children being treated like a dollar sign and nothing more. We need to take care of our elderly and treat them well. Living your life and making it to 80, then put away in home that can be worse than prison is unthinkable to me. Most states won't let you have the right to die with dignity and instead want you to be abused in these homes and end up with bed sores that get infected and you die some horrible death.
I've already told my boyfriend to never put me in one of those places, no matter what. I know not all nursing homes are like that. The one I did my clinical at last fall was great to their people. Every one of them told me they were happy there. But is was a locally run home and the couple that owned it lived in town. They knew how they want these people taken care of and they were. That's how it should be and not these corporations that only think about the bottom line. And that's how I feel at least in the LTC setting it should be.
Really!?!? THIS is why the general public are afraid of going to "nursing homes". If trained professionals are this ignorant how could we expect any different. It makes me sad that people I share a profession with say these things.
The whole situation is a symptom of the decline of what society values. Society in general values youth, wealth, things, and immediacy over wisdom, experience, knowledge, and tranquility. Our culture has evolved to this stage, as from what I can tell, it hasn't always been this way.
I was fortunate enough to be raised in a family where our elders were valued, revered, and cherished. Anytime my great aunts and uncles came to visit was a time that was valuable and welcomed. We spent hours listening to them talk and reminisce about their youth. I learned more about how to be a decent human being, how to buckle down and work hard, and how value experiences over things after spending time with them.
In order for things to change, we have to start encouraging people to invest in what is lasting and not ephemeral. We have to teach to value our older generation, listen, invest, and honor them. It has to be a grass roots, bottoms up movement in order to change the tide. It's grunt work, yes, pays terribly, but since many of our elders lose their ability to be influential and be heard, we have to stand in the gap and be their voice and our voice, so to speak. Only then will change begin to occur.
Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.
Let me tell you about the time I was taking driving lessons. My instructor was making small talk with me and I told him that I am a nurse. He goes on and on about all the money that I'm going to make and how nursing pays very well. Well, his hourly rate that he charged me was actually double what I make an hour. Although I am a new grad, that still irked me.
When I was a Cna at a ltc 3 years ago I started at 7.35. We had aids leaving to go work at Walmart because it was a better job. I kid you not. Hospitals around here typically pay more. I remember we lost 8 aids in two months to the same hospital for pay reasons.
My co-worker took a pay cut going from an tech to an RN in the same hospital. She had worked in the ER for five years, but HR refused to pay her her tech wages once she became an RN. She was paid RN new grad wages which were several dollars less per hour.
NurseGirl525, ASN, RN
3,663 Posts
I have tried to explain this exact thing to so many people, so many times. People working as cashiers or drive-thru people at McDonalds or wherever should not be making $15 an hour. There should have been an even bigger protest against those people who think that unskilled labor jobs should be brought up to $15/hr when people who go to school and get certifications and are actually responsible for more than whether or not they want salt on their fries. Everybody else's wages are going to have to come way up now to even make this make sense. Then the cost of everything goes way up and inflation occurs and when the price of everything goes up, they are going to be complaining that they can't live on $15/hr.
I'm sorry Walmart doesn't pay people more. But working at Walmart should not be your plan to support yourself and your family unless you are going into management at some point. If a person enjoys working there and think it's the bomb, great. Just don't expect it to feed your family of 5. You will need other means of income. Whether it is your significant other or you take on another job. Then again, most people don't have a clue on how our economy works.
And there is nothing wrong with the SAHM who decides she wants to cashier at the local grocery store while her kids are in school. Many of these jobs are designed for the SAHM who just needs a part time job to stay busy, or first jobs for teenagers. My first full time job out of high school was in retail and I made $6/hr. I was a great stepping stone for me to start out and learn how to transition into adulthood. I knew full well though I was never going to be able to move out of my parents house and support me much less a family on it. I kicked my butt into to gear to work hard and get promoted and in less than a year, I made enough to move out and have supported myself ever since. It's going to throw our economy into another downspin if many places start instituting the $15/hr min wage thing. And nursing homes really need to up their game to attract and retain good CNAs. I personally hate the way nursing homes are run and if I was at all into politics, I would pass some legislation on how they should be efficiently run.
LTC should not be one of those typical businesses that should be run strictly for profit. You've got elderly people who cannot take care of themselves anymore and are much like children being treated like a dollar sign and nothing more. We need to take care of our elderly and treat them well. Living your life and making it to 80, then put away in home that can be worse than prison is unthinkable to me. Most states won't let you have the right to die with dignity and instead want you to be abused in these homes and end up with bed sores that get infected and you die some horrible death.
I've already told my boyfriend to never put me in one of those places, no matter what. I know not all nursing homes are like that. The one I did my clinical at last fall was great to their people. Every one of them told me they were happy there. But is was a locally run home and the couple that owned it lived in town. They knew how they want these people taken care of and they were. That's how it should be and not these corporations that only think about the bottom line. And that's how I feel at least in the LTC setting it should be.