I have recently started a new job, my role as a care assistant ‘daaaaaaaaan’ the local old folks home … specifically I am caring for people with various types of Dementia.
Its quite a challenging job, these people are in quite severe stages of their illness, takes a certain type of person and requires a huge amount of love and patience.
Well last Wednesday one of the carers on the same shift as me, slapped one of our residents around the face, not once, but twice. The lady she slapped was aggressive towards the carer first, but that is all part of her illness, we have been trained to simply walk away. I wont bore you with all the details…
… Tomorrow is my first shift since I reported seeing this, this lady has been suspended, and I am flipping dreading the frosty reception I might just have awaiting me Its my new job as well, not an easy position to be put in for any one, but i’m only young and its also my new job
Don’t worry you did the right thing, imagine it was your mum, dad or nan in there being treated in this manner. I’m sure you’d want someone to stand up to the bully who you trust with their care and also pay for!
Chin up Emma, all they can do is be frosty towards you but stand up to them, they will think twice about what they are doing all day now.
you done the right thing…someone that does that sort of thing should not be a carer…i would have slapped the carer!
i work in medical records at a london hospital, we used to have to do rounds on the wards to pick up discharge note’s, many a time i have had to stop an ederly person just walking out the ward, they dont know what they are doing half the time, the nurses are busy but you would think they would notice them walking off.
During my first ever job, in a residential home for people with severe disabilities, I reported a staff member for verbally abusing, threatening and shouting at a severly disabled girl, who did not have the capacity to know what was going on. The staff member got the sack. For a time a lot of people hated me - but a few peope, the right people didn’t and most importantly, i didn’t hate myself.
You did the right thing - there is NO EXCUSE for slapping an elderly woman who is ill in that manner. These elderly people fought wars for us, they went through rationing, they have had lives, families, they were once young, they had jobs, dreams, hopes and friends. Now they are old we should treat them with respect, value and dignity. I have seen sometimes the way elderly folk are patronised and treated without any respect in hospitals (I have witnessed appalling neglect myself) and in care homes. Where there are vulnerable people, there will always be those who abuse and take advantage.
Don’t stop standing up for the old people you work with. There is no need to be concerned about a ‘frosty reception’. If they are ‘frosty’ to you then they are siding with an abuser, rather than on the side of what is right.
Well done Emma! You should be proud of what you’ve done!
Sadly there are too many people out there who would have just ignored that incident in the name of an easy life. The care home is right to suspend her, and report her to the police as well if need be. What she has done is assault! Pure and simple!!
Walk in there tomorrow with your head held high! You’ve got the moral high gound on this one!
Oh, and make sure Tuggs gets his medication! You know how grumpy he gets without it!
My god thats terrible!!!:w00t: she should’nt be a carer if she goes round slapping old people…thats shocked me… i worked part time as a carer as a teenager and loved looking after the oldies cannot believe someone could do that, good on you for reporting her now you keep your chin up and enjoy your new job:)
Well done for having the balls to make a moral stand on this & doing the right thing, can’t have been easy with you being both young & also a new girl there.
My mum spent a few years of her life in a home due to dementia before she died (coincidentally 5 years go today) & from visiting her I can appreciate it’s not the easiest job in the world at times, but there’s absolutely no excuses at all for that sort of thing.
+1 to what everyone has said. You did the right thing, and have nothing to worry about - If you get a frosty reception so what? At least you know you have done nothing wrong and you stopped the abuse - who knows this person could have been doing this for a while but nobody has paid any attention to it. Unfortunately these sorts of things happen too often and people just turn a blind eye Good on you for reporting it!
Its my new job as well, not an easy position to be put in for any one, but i’m only young and its also my new job 
