Home Hospice CNA ? Salary Question.

[Starletta, CNA]

I'm hoping someone can help me decide on a career path. I was Certified, but expired as I choose to work somewhere else in the Health Care Field.

Checked with my State and can re-test to become certified without taking the course again. I do NOT want to work in a Nursing Home, as I am not as young as I used to be.

Here is my dilemma; I do love the Health Care Field and helping people.

While visiting my own mother at her Nursing Home, I started talking to a Hospice CNA who is employed by a large credible facility in my State. She loved her job. Which entailed traveling from Nursing Home or to a Client's home to give Hospice Care.

I too would like to be on the road a bit, instead of stuck inside all day. She also stated that her facility tries to set up Client's in the area where you live, she gets between 30-40 hours a week guaranteed.

How would I go about finding what a Hospice CNA makes per hour? It would have been too tacky to ask the CNA I met and I haven't seen her since.

Would this facility tell me if I called? Doubt it... I live in a State with a very high cost of living and could not live on what the average CNA makes.

I don't want to re-test, THEN apply for a job, only to find out, the pay is marginal.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[duskyjewel]

I am a hospice CNA and sometimes do homecare though usually I work inpatient float. I live in Arizona where cost of living is fairly low, and I make a bit more than $12 per hour, plus mileage. For night shifts I get a $1.25 differential.

Have you looked at glassdoor.com? They have salary ranges for a lot of companies, some sorted by position.

[Missingyou, CNA]

In my area, Hospice pay is $9. - $11 an hour. $9. with little or no experience. Some offer milage, but I once worked for one that did not pay milage. to compare, minimun wage was $8. an hour... You are generally paid for time actually at a clients home and not for time you're on the road traveling to or from any place.

No health benefits...even IF I did work 40 hrs. I wanted 30-40 hrs and was told I could easily get that, but I never got more than around 25 hrs & I traveled sometimes further than I really wanted.

Many times when my client went into the hospital or passed away, I'd be a week or 2 with even fewer hours.

The best part other than helping someone was that I could choose to accept or refuse a shift.

[duskyjewel]

Jeez that sounds pretty sucky. I'm a full time benefited employee, and in fact I carry the health and dental insurance for my family. I can't believe you weren't paid mileage or travel time between clients. I guess this is just a reminder that I have it pretty good where I am.

Look around Starletta. There are still good employers out there. My hospice is nonprofit, and I have to admit I am biased in preferring nonprofit hospice to for profit. I know there are good and bad ones on both sides of the divide, but my personal feeling is that nonprofit is better in this particular sector.

[Starletta, CNA]

Duskyjewel, Thank you very much for the information. I never heard of Glassdoor.com , but I'll certainly check it out. I see you specialize in Hospice Care, so I'll probably have more questions if you don't mind.

Missingyou, I see that you are from R.I. Surprising to see such low pay. I'm in Connecticut (Next door neighbors) :) and assume your cost of living is almost as high as ours. I could never survive here on $9.00.

The company I am interested in pays for mileage, but not for time in between clients. Checked out their Employment section yesterday and verified that they try to keep your clients around your own home base. That probably ensures employees don't get burnt out driving and not getting paid for a lot of driving time.

Thanks again!