I was out at lunch yesterday with a group of family and friends when I got talking about OnlineTraining I am currently developing. Out came all the negative things we hear from the media like:
No 1: Well they don't get paid enough so of course the care is going to be substandard.
My reply "It is not about money. While I agree caregivers are underpaid. Paying them more will not necessarily improve the care. It is a myth. Training is what improves and uplifts care and higher pay should be linked to training."
No2: It is terrible the way people get treated. The cases reported in the media are horrendous.
My reply: Yes they are but have you heard about the wonderful things that do happen in long term care every day. Like the staff who come in on their off duty time to help get a person ready to go out, or attend a picnic or outing to help make up the numbers or the caregivers who have been doing this work for 20 years or more and just love it and won't do anything else.
The public are too quick to criticise the industry without the facts. Yes there are some bad caregivers but there are bad employees in every job. I myself have seen far more committed, caring, sensitive, loving caregivers in my 38 years of working in aged care than I have seen uncommitted, uncaring, insensitive and unloving caregivers.
We must never loose our good sense of prespective.
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