Ngfm, are people of color bad careworkers?
They're not bad, just LOUD. They call my dad MR. Bill and address him that way. Think of someone who is yell talking on a cell phone. That is how they talk all the time, even though my dad is next to them. During the day someone else will show up. It could be the shift change, a physical therapy person, or someone from hospice checking my dad. The person from the agency will yell talk with the other people in the room and it's very LOUD. Hearing them yell, "MR BILL ARE YOU HAPPY?" "MR BILL HOW ARE YOU FEELING?" It gets old quick.
The other problem is you don't know who will show up. It always seemed like once we got someone comfortable with my dad, someone else would show up and we'd have to train them as to what to do. We would have to figure out if they could cook. To the agency, each of their workers was the same. They don't tell you if someone new is showing up. The best workers would be requested by others, and then they would move on to another agency. The turn over was very high, especially if we got a white worker who knew what they were doing.
Thus, we don't use an agency, but private workers we pay $20/hr in cash under the table. One of them has since gone back to a full time job because she gets the medical benefits. The agency only pays their workers $10/hr and they keep the $13/hr as profit for the overhead of their company. So most of the time, the workers who show up are POC, broke, and YELL TALK.
Regarding my house, I would have never imagined that I would need a single story home and need to bring my dad home. I've lived in my home since 1988, original owner. The house had major work done, completely renovated. I've shown pictures of my kitchen. The house is 1,400 square feet. Most people downsize as they get older and the kids move out. I never moved to a huge house because I didn't want another mortgage. I had paid off this house 4 years after it was bought. Now I need a massive house that has a room for my dad, live in quarters for a caretaker, and space for all the stuff from both homes. That's why I never moved to Leesburg. My job was still down here and I couldn't see moving all my stuff in the house up there, because Laurie would have told me to throw it all away. My life and everything I do is still down at the house I'm currently living in.