Confessions of a Nursing Home Social Worker

Anonymous 1m 329 #socialworker

The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.

I’ve been in the “business” for a couple years now and there are a couple things that others should know. . .

1. My nursing home is not the SPCA for your loved ones. If you don’t want your mother/father/sister/brother living with you then you need to tell them they are not going home. It’s not my job.
2. No, your loved one will probably never have a private room, unless you are willing to shell out the $15,000/month for it. If they are there for free they will be placed into one of our “semi-private” rooms aka a triple with 2 other roommates.
3. Contrary to what you may believe, I have a life outside of work. I am most definitely not on call 24/7. If you have a question leave me a voicemail, if i don’t call back in 15 minutes that does not mean that you should proceed to call me 6 more times with the same question. I will return your call when I am able to.
4. Mental illness is not a joke. If your loved one has issues, it does help to tell us about it before we need to hire one to one supervision because “Susie” is unhappy and needs a friend. Better yet, visit “Susie” more than once a year!
5. Clothing! Nothing is better than meeting an admission that is wearing a hospital gown because their family “forgot” to bring clothes. I know you were notified at the hospital that your father was transferring because you drove him to our facility. Grab some clothes the next time you check his mail for his social security check, asshole.
6. Social security checks, they are meant to pay for your loved ones care, not your addiction of choice. If you want your father/mother/brother/sister to stay with us that means their check comes too. You don’t get rid of someone and get to keep their money, that’s called fraud and I will report you.

I feel better now. Thanks!

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