patient to caregiver ratios

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Hi, my name is Deidre. I live and work in Ct as a CNA in homecare. I love my job but that hasnt always been the case. I use to work in LTC and moved around a lot between facilities untill I found out about homecare. I would not be a CNA today if it wasnt for homecare. I have seen a lot of abuse and neglect over the last twenty years infacilities. Some I have reported (and been thrown out once for doing so) I contacted the family before I left. Other times I would just quit. The nurses hands were tied. At times I was faced with neglecting residents myself and I knew I had to leave. There was just no way to provide quality care when the ratio was so high and the other aids were so busy with their long list that nobody could help you with lifts or transfers. It was a nightmare and I couldnt do it so I left this work for many years. Now that I have been working once again as a CNA I have in the short span of 6 months witnessed several cases of severe neglect. SO now what? Well, thats why I am writing. I am tired of the abuse and neglect going unchecked. Something needs to change. The ratio of residents to CNAs is a huge problem . I have contacted Senator Rob Kane about my concerns and what I have witnessed over the years and he , through his legal aid Kate O'Keefe , has put me in contact with Diane Smith RN from the Ct. Dept. of health. I am corresponding with her now and I am asking that if any CNAs or nurses have anything to share about this ratio problem and how it has affected you personally, I would love to hear about it and possibly share your story with Diane Smith. Something has to change. One day we could be the ones who end up in LTC and I fear by then it will be much worse. I will never forget the 92 year old lady who screamed in my ears and held on to me wth all her might cause she was afraid I would drop her on the floor. I wasnt even moving her but she had been dropped before. I knelt down on her bed till she let go of my hair and whispered reassurance to her. When she calmed down she looked in my face and said, "when I die I am putting in an order for pink fluffy wings for you." This is for you Margie. There is more that I can do about this than just offer temporary assurance. I want to see the patient to aid ratio changed. We have to speak up. You can remain anoymous if you like. I know the threat of losing your job is real and the last thing I want to do is cause any problems for health care workers. I have been learning a lot about the politics of health care and if anyone wants to give me a heads up as to why they think things are so bad I would appreciate that too . Thanks. Dee

I meant to ask you, what state do you live in? I am in Ct. and the rate is average $10 an hour , give or take depending on what area you are in. The highest I make with my agency is $17.50 and then time and a half for holidays. The lowest I make is $13.00. This is Litchfiled county. When I first started out as a CNA 20 years ago I started at $8.25. I cant believe you are only making that now. Not that I dont believe you its just hard to believe the pay is that low in some areas which is why I am curious where you are from. Thanks Dee

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i will be happy to tell you where i am from, i am from north carolina.

and in the state of north carolina the course is 170 hours, 40 for clinicals. and as for my work load, i no longer work in a rest home anymore ~~ i work in the home health care field. and yes, i am upset that some states actually think that one cna can handle 20 ppl per shift & the residents get the quality of care that they need. and while you may not work for that per hour, we are all not so fortunate as to get paid the higher salaries of the state you reside in. so yes, it is my choice to work & my own doing....i stated i love working with the elderly. this in fact comes after being raised by my grandmother who later developed alzheimers & i took care of her rather in my own home rather than placing her in a rest home until it was absolutely necessary to do so for her safety & mine. not all people work for the amount of money they can gain, but rather the love of the job & others. but even so, that being said those that do the job should be paid for their hard work. i have no personal predujices against anyone, i am stating the obvious cna's do not make the $$$ according to the workload they provide ( and yes that can include skills).

thanks, kim

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Wow, 20 residents to one aide is unbelievable. The most I saw was 16 and I couldnt believe that. Please please write to your state senator. I have been in contact with our here in Ct and just today in our town paper I saw that he visited a convalescent home and met with some board members and the dept of ageing to discuss concerns. I have been in contact with the health department and listed my concerns about ratios and patient care. Its horrible how we have to treat these old people lke an assembly line because of time constraints. They suffer and so do we because we have to treat them that way and live with that on our consious. Caregivers are people like you who love working with the elderly and we are grossly taken advantaged of by the facilities. We have to speak up. Not just for ourselves but for these poor elderly. The hourly rate you get paid is sickening to me. I hope you'll write your senator. Dee

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Specializes in LTC.

I don't see how anyone could think CNAs are paid adequately. I don't give a you-know-what how little training we get. The fact is that our job is important! Even if we weren't so overworked, the job is still physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding! If I had only 3 residents a day instead of the usual 10, I wouldn't be as stressed out and I would have more time to provide care, but the other difficult aspects of the job wouldn't suddenly disappear: the aching back, dealing with difficult, demanding, or combative residents, feeling sad when a resident is depressed/sick/in pain/dies, etc. etc. I'm sorry but we deserve more than what we get.

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I think everyone in the world believes they deserve better pay . In health care, pay is based on education. Its just the way it is. I wouldnt expect a higher salary unless I go back to school which I am not interested in doing. My son makes the same amount of money I do and he is an apprentice in plumbing. He comes home every day too with an acheing back and people giving him a hard time all day but he keeps up his classes and putting in his time so he can make better money someday. He will still come home with an acheing back but he will have a fatter paycheck. The only way to make better money is school. CNA is the first rung on the ladder. A CNA job is never going to pay much because we are the laborers in health care and it will always be that way.Thats what the job is. We never advance in this position. We are always the laborer unless we learn new skills and keep going to school.We do matter and we are very important but theres no education involved so we will never ever have higher pay. Its not about your importance , Im not refuting that. Without us the nurses would be swamped. But theres no money in this position. I wouldnt break my back over it. Thats why Im in home care now but I cant forget about girls like you and all those residents I had to neglect years ago so I could get the job done and not get fired. Its not right. If you live in a state that pays ridiculously low then I can understand. In Ct a CNA earns between $9 to $12 an hour and can earn a lot more in private duty. This sounds fair to me. I only went to 4 weeks of classes.I am not advanceing in medical skills in any way. This is it. I think you may feel taken advantaged of because you are working way too hard for your pay and thats why we need to try and resolve this ratio problem. How can we ask for more money when we arent advancing? Id love to make more too but I dont want to go back to school. Thats my choice. Thanks for posting. Please dont think I dont have the highest regard for CNAs. They are a godsend to the elderly. WHat would they do without us. Dee

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No we don't get paid what we should for the physical work, care, time ect. But then I was a stay at home mom and didn't make what my hours came up to either, lol. I don't think rns, and lpns do honestly either. For all their training, hard work, ect no way they should make wayyy more. Then there are jobs like teachers, police, and don't get me started on emts. The people we rely on in emergencies to save us are often making wayyyyy under what we do as cnas. They should be calling the government.

Cna isn't a degreed program, without a degree in this country, its hard to demand a lot of money. Sad but thats just the way it is.

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I think everyone in the world believes they deserve better pay . In health care, pay is based on education. Its just the way it is. I wouldnt expect a higher salary unless I go back to school which I am not interested in doing. My son makes the same amount of money I do and he is an apprentice in plumbing. He comes home every day too with an acheing back and people giving him a hard time all day but he keeps up his classes and putting in his time so he can make better money someday. He will still come home with an acheing back but he will have a fatter paycheck. The only way to make better money is school. CNA is the first rung on the ladder. A CNA job is never going to pay much because we are the laborers in health care and it will always be that way.Thats what the job is. We never advance in this position. We are always the laborer unless we learn new skills and keep going to school.We do matter and we are very important but theres no education involved so we will never ever have higher pay. Its not about your importance , Im not refuting that. Without us the nurses would be swamped. But theres no money in this position. I wouldnt break my back over it. Thats why Im in home care now but I cant forget about girls like you and all those residents I had to neglect years ago so I could get the job done and not get fired. Its not right. If you live in a state that pays ridiculously low then I can understand. In Ct a CNA earns between $9 to $12 an hour and can earn a lot more in private duty. This sounds fair to me. I only went to 4 weeks of classes.I am not advanceing in medical skills in any way. This is it. I think you may feel taken advantaged of because you are working way too hard for your pay and thats why we need to try and resolve this ratio problem. How can we ask for more money when we arent advancing? Id love to make more too but I dont want to go back to school. Thats my choice. Thanks for posting. Please dont think I dont have the highest regard for CNAs. They are a godsend to the elderly. WHat would they do without us. Dee

Didn't see this one, duh me lol. You said it perfectly! Well done!

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