What's Good? What's Bad?

JenMarie · Jun 11, 2000

Hi. I used to do a little homecare while I was training to become an RN. So I basically was employed in a caregiver/nurse aide role. What I liked about it was that I got to see people (elderly) in their own homes and environments. I felt priveledged that for some of them I was the only person they would see that day or for a few days until their next home help came. I enjoyed the variety...from bathing people, to making meals for them to doing housework.

What I didn't like was I felt there were some in-justifications in the amount of homehelp that people were allocated. Some people really did need much more than they were entitled to and others really seemed so independent that I almost felt my visit to them was wasted.

However when I was doing this job I was only 21 years old and I felt that I really got taken advantage of and some of my clients that I did homehelp for did not treat me very nicely...for instance they really bossed me around and I felt it was because I was young. I didn't stay in this job for long though as one day on the job I crashed my car between clients and I could not afford to get it repaired. The agency I worked for was not impressed that I gave up, but I had no choice.