Becoming a CNA

[cnamom12]

Hi to all, I am waiting on my CNA classes to start and am really excited to be going into this field. If there is anyone who would like to be friends and share their experiences with me I would really appreciate it.

[Skayda]

Hi, CNAMom!

Congrats on deciding to becoming a CNA! I'm an NA-R myself but I plan on getting my CNA shortly. I'm 37 years old. I have no kids of my own but a long-term live-in boyfriend who've I've been with since 1993 and lots of nieces and nephews! I just finished with all of my main classes; RFOC, Nurse Delegation, CRP/First Aide, Food Handler's, Dementia and Mental Health, etc and for every certificate I think I'm one step closer to my long-term goal of following in my mother's footsteps and becoming an LPN. I learned most of what I know about caregiving from her. She owned and ran an AFH back in 1995 and I went through all of the above classes back then as well and worked for her for six hundred dollars a month salary. I think it was because I was her daughter that she got away with just paying me a set figure every month no matter how much work I put in. Lol! Anyway, I just finished all of my classes, exept for my CE courses which I'm working on, and created a resume using a resume building app online and sent it out to several nursing homes and AFHs. Less than 24 hours of sending them out I got five call-backs and went to interview at all of them. Two of them wanted me me to come back for another interview and one wanted me to start right then but to come and spend the day at the home to see if I wanted to work there or not. Which I think is a wonderful idea! So, needless to say I have been working at this wonderful AFH on weekends overnight (it's a sleeping shift, I don't have to be up all night listening for alarms and if one goes off and I check and the person just wants a glass of water or help to the bathroom, etc than I am to firmly but gently tell them that they are to do it themselves as the alarm buzzer is ONLY to be utilized for life-and-death emergencies ONLY like a fall-and-can't-get-up emergency or heart attack, etc. Which is sure different than how it used to be where I was always sleeping with one-eye and one-ear open and fetching water, briefs, etc, etc for every client who buzzed late at night no matter what their level of care!) I used to work just one-on-one as an individual provider for people's loved ones in their private homes and then I worked for a home care agency that put me with different clients in their homes, still one-on-one and I've worked a few other AFHs after my mother's. I was working full-time for a lot of those places and spending all of my time, 24-7 nearly at work so I had no time with family or friends or for myself so needless to say I got burned out pretty fast and quit caregiving for ten years or so due to health reasons, etc. I have since learned that pacing myself is for the best and so when the place I work for now said that I could take the weekend shift which is two 12 shifts plus overnight from 8pm Friday til 8am Monday and I would get the rest of the week off you can betcha I jumped on that opportunity! I am NOT looking to go full time! I remember well the slippery slope towards burn-out-ville that comes from starting out FT and ending up; "We have an extra room, why not just move in and take care of Mrs. Smith all the the time?" I love my job, I just don't want to LIVE my job! lol! If you want to email me to talk you can! My email address is [email protected] and I have access to the internet from Monday after 9a.m. when I get home from work til Friday around 6pm when I have to get ready for work. I don't have internet access at work. I asked my boss about that cause I noticed that they have a modem/router in their med-room and she said that they used to have access to wifi/internet but that other caregivers were spending all their time on Facebook doing Farmville or staying up all night chatting instead of sleeping when they knew they had to get up and work the next day that the main AFH owner shut it completely down and got rid of the internet for the house. So, they basically ruined it for the rest of us, she said. My boss is a huge Farmville fan. LOL! So, all of my email and messages must wait til after I get home but I will write back to you asap.

Have a nice day!

~Ami

[nguyency77, CNA]

Don't buy one unless required by a job. Mine is nicely gathering dust...

Your school will let you know what supplies you need, such as scrubs etc.

Good luck to you!

I don't know; I'd rather have my own. As much as I hate to admit it, one of the best things our new administrator has done since her reign of terror began was to buy us a new Robo-Nurse. Prior to that generosity, our old BP machine was broken and the CNA either had to bring our own stethoscopes and cuffs OR use the ancient cuff and the disposable stethoscope that my facility so kindly provided us with.

It was a real pain in the butt because people would "borrow" other people's stuff and it was just annoying to keep asking the other CNA to please hurry up with my equipment so I could do my own vitals.

[Twinkle007, LVN, RN]

Hello people!

Thx Dave for the info.

CNAMom CONGRATS AND ALL THE BEST , let us know how it goes ok:redbeathe