Do I want to become a CNA again?

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I've been back and forth with this for a while now. I was a CNA working in a LTC facility, in NorthWest Indiana when I left. I was making 10.50 an hour and this was back in 2002.

It's now 2011.. and 9 years later and I'm rethinking the idea of becoming an aid again. Do I really want to become an aid again? I need some light shed on this idea.

I called a nursing home in Munster, Indiana and they are paying new aids a pay rate of 8.45 an hour. That's a little under 2 bucks less than what I made when I quit.

Maybe there are some of you who became a CNA again and can help me with my decision. I would most likely take the course for free again, come June or July. I could take the course right now for 800 and the hiring facility would reimburse me, over time, the amount I paid for the class, minus the physical, TB tests and scrubs.

I am now a mother of 3, and 8.45 will just not cut it. There is an agency that hires aids with one year experience and the most they pay is 18 an hour.. that would be worth it, but I just can't fathom being paid so little for what we do. Now, I loved being a CNA when I did it. I quit to start a family. I am done having children, and want to earn a little bit of money for myself and my kids and the only job I ever had was a CNA, so I don't want to do anything else. We can't afford me going to school to become a nurse as of right now. So that idea is on the back burner.

Should I go back to being an aid and put my foot down on how much I should get paid, based on my 6 years prior experience? Or should I just forget about the whole idea and do something else in the health care setting?

Thank you to everyone who responds!!

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If money is an issue, then yes you really should have a minimum you are willing to be paid. I also enjoy being a CNA to some degree (I just don't like the facility where I work).....but my starting pay was unbelievable ($7.62/hour) then after certification it was only $9.62/hour. I didn't have to pay anything for the CNA class or any of the testing, so part of my low starting pay may have been to offset the expense they paid for hiring me. I didn't even know what I was going to be paid when I accepted the job offer, and when I found out I almost wet myself!! Apparently there were other CNA's here who were started at much higher than that (but one of them was a personal friend of the DON, so go figure). I, too, have a big family (4 kids and a husband who is unemployed) and if I wasn't receiving survivor's benefits from my children's father and SSI for my disabled son, I wouldn't even be able to pay the rent on what I make. I, too, cannot afford nursing school -- not even the 20% that I'd have to come up with if my employer scholarshiped me for the course. This economy has not been kind to CNA's, and where I live (a small town in Idaho) there are few choices for this kind of work and the pay is bad.

I do not want to discourage you from doing something you love. You already have 6 years' experience that should count for something when it comes to talking wages with a potential employer. Ask for what you want without apologizing, hopefully you live in an area where you can be choosy about where you work. I wish you the best !!! :heartbeat

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You should consider any job it is something which is better than nothing....

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