Abusive client told the agency lies about me.
I was in the middle of an onboarding process for another agency and got a call from my old agency that they had a case. I went to work for the client for a couple of weeks thinking that I was there to assist with personal care and adls of the client.
The client was a heavy smoker and did not need the adls so I spent most of the time sitting away from the client while he smoked and watched his programs. He was very particular about his apartment and the place was so clean that it wasn't anything to do.
The client had problems with anxiety so I was to report back to the agency if there was a change in client's personality which there was eventually. I would make the bed and he had complaints about how I made the bed and would remake it himself. If I tried to vacuum, he would take the vacuum cleaner from me and do it himself. Then would say I wasn't doing any work. I did laundry today and folded the clothes and went to accompany him to his exercise class. Everything that I did got criticized. He wanted me to fix up the canned string beans and I added extra ingredients to them. This was earlier this week. He wasn't satisfied with them either.
The final straw was when he heavily criticized my dusting which I'm not supposed to move objects off his shelves to clean. Home health aides do light housekeeping, and we don't do heavy cleaning. He expected me to dust the walls in the apartment and went about trying to demonstrate how to do this. By this time, I had enough and went to finish the laundry.
I stopped an onboarding process with another agency to work with this client. So, I'm back to square one again looking for work.
I'm so angry at myself at this time for sabotaging the progress I was starting to make.
Home health care stinks.
We are supposed to call the agency when there are changes in the client's personality and that is what I did. He kept cleaning and re-cleaning an area that did not need cleaning.
6 Answers
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Always ask the agency what the client's health issues are before you agree to work for them.
I refused clients who were getting service because of mental health issues or because they were 'special needs' with behavioral issues.
Fortunately I learned this lesson early on working homecare. Unfortunately I had to learn it the hard way. Or rather I should say the client learned it the hard way when he got clocked in the face with a skillet I was washing in the sink. He was of course on Medicaid, living in a nearly rent-free Section 8 apartment, and the American taxpayer was basically paying for him to have a staff of domestic servants. His 'disability' was a mental one the agency I worked for at the time claimed they were unaware of. They knew, but putting a worker in a home and getting that money was more important than making sure that worker was safe on the job.
The police told me everything I needed to know about the client after the incident. He was on the sex offender registry and had been to prison twice for sexually based crimes. Guy tried to get me in trouble. The cops saw through that quick. I never took another case where the disability was mental ever again. Even if they're old, if they're sex offenders or mental/psychiatric cases it's a hard 'NO!' from me. I don't send caregivers on these cases either. We're not specialty-trained to deal with psychiatric cases and care. You're not either. So turn them down. That's what I tell every social worker who calls the agency looking to set up homecare for these types of clients.
If you're going to stay in homecare, you have a right to know a basic history of every case you're being sent on. You have a right to refuse certain cases also.
I so wish you would just go private duty. Put up a profile on a caregiver website. You would be your own boss. No agency would be taking a cut of your money. You would be able to be picky about what clients you will work for and what the hours will be. I too have had many clients that expected me to get down on my hands and knees and scrub their floors. My usual response was to laugh in their faces and tell them I don't think so. I'd call the agency myself and tell a supervisor before the client got the chance to complain.
Please think about it. You're too good a caregiver to work for most of these Mickey Mouse homecare agencies. I wish you lived in my state because I'd have you working for me in a second.
Why don't you find a job in a nice Assisted living? The one my Mom was in there were aides who just cleaned. So you would just be doing the ADLs. With Moms small AL, they did help with serving dinner. With the shortage of aids, maybe they are paying a decent wage.
I worked as a Secretary for a VNA. We were asked by an "in home" service to look in on a man who had burned himself. We did work with this service when they were overwhelmed. It was run by the local Hospital. When the head nurse got there it was found the man had put his hand on a burner of the stove and needed a new dressing. She also found he was a paranoid schizophrenia. She was not happy about this and called the in home when she got back to work and told them this was something very important they left out. None of our RNs were trained for this type of client.
Did you tell the agency from the first day that this man was extremely OCD and you really were not needed other than to drive him somewhere? Yep, your agency is there to please. I am with Burnt, put your feelers out for private care. I know a woman who worked for the same woman for ages until she entered an AL. But if you do go private care, make sure you have a contract stating what your responsibilities are. Light housekeeping is just dusting around, running a vacuum, maybe cleaning a bathroom, washing dishes, tiding up. You can mop a floor but u don't scrub it. Your job is the client. You do what is needed for the client. If other family live in the same house, you do not clean up after them, do not wash their dishes or laundry. You job is the client and the area the client uses.
Good Luck
I've had my share of clients who lived with family who thought I was there to be a servant for everyone. They learned quick that this was not so.
Definitely Scampie should go into private homecare like I did. You name your price and you pick and choose what clients you work for and what your hours are going to be.
I made very good money in private care. I had the same business practices then that I have now. The client had to have an emergency contact that would handle any situations with them. They had to be local and able to be at the client's home fast if necessary.
The office new that many of them would be angry at the money they had to spend, they treat you poorly, and try to get as much money for there buck as they could.
The agency should be sticking up for you
I stayed and was afraid to mention that I was looking for other work at other agencies but was afraid they would try to blackmail me from getting work at other agencies because they had a non compete. You would have to quit the agency before you could pursue other options for work.
She doesn't like the way I fold towels. It's so frustrating and hard to deal with. It gave me panic attacks, thinking someone is over my shoulder all the time. That is no way to work.
I suspect it's there anxiety.
Sorry you have to look for a new client, but there are a lot out there. Let us know how it goes
I was okay with my heart palpitations until I started working for this man. He was an older dude like in his late seventies but extremely OCD ish in his demands. No one cleans like this. Also, there was no way that I was going to dust walls.
I feel duped. He didn't need the adls at all. And in all due honesty, I'm sick of these people and their unreasonable demands.
I am just hurt right now. I was on the right path, and got stuck with a couple of dud clients.
So far, I haven't found that client. I thought this was going to be a good client, but it turned into a nightmare.
When I got the job I told them I can't life , so they have to be able to walk with assist.
And I said no to many of the men, I took care of a priest for about a year, but most of the time women. If I got there and the man reminded me of my dad I would call and tell them I didn't fit well.