This year I decided to stay home to allow some time for my spouse to visit our grandkids our two daughters and son in law. I can't believe how fast they've grown starting off as a 980 g preemie Timothy is now 1 1/2 years old and in perfect health. Our youngest daughter had a little girl at 4 months Danika is a cheerful bundle of joy.
Instead of heading off to our un-accessible short term care facility, I decided to call the CLSC to make arrangements for homecare.
Basically a nurses aide comes by in the morning to help me out of bed and again in the evening to help me into bed. I've used the service in the past and it worked reasonably well my only beef were the hours or their schedule. It was not uncommon for them to show up at 7:30 PM to help me and then return the next morning at 10:30 AM to get me out of bed. That is quite long certainly a lot longer than I'm accustomed to, I requested a change so that I could at least go to bed at a reasonable time maybe nine or 10 PM and the next morning up around 7 AM. Sounds reasonable doesn't it?
So Saturday morning my wife took off with the van on her way to Barrie Ontario. Around 7 PM I tried to anticipate at what time the nurses aide would arrive, no one by 8 PM, 9 PM "wow I thought they finally were able to adjust their schedule." Problem is 10 PM came around still no one, 11 PM, 12 AM, 1 AM.
They had forgotten me plain and simple so I had to stay in my chair all night! Thank goodnesst I have the tilt feature which allows me to recline somewhat making it more comfortable. I tucked a pillow under my head and slept on and off after a couple of scotch on the rocks. I was so pissed off well let's leave it at that.
Sunday morning around 10 AM there is a knock at the door. It's the lady from the CLSC to help me out of bed, of course she notices that I am sitting in my chair. After I explained the dilemma she spent some time on her cellular phone to inquire as to what happened? I was at least provided with a few telephone numbers to call in case the situation ever repeated itself. The last thing I wanted to do was to see or deal with anyone from that government agency so I canceled the service for that evening and the next morning. This time I was at least prepared and made arrangements to change the cushion on my chair lift my feet onto a couple of pillows and grab a blanket it was nice and comfy. The second night actually went by much quicker and I must've slept quite a bit as I remembered several of my dreams. I awoke around 7 AM had breakfast and a good day, my spouse returned early that afternoon.
I should mention my second night was made comfortable in large part due to help I received from one of my friends. Pierre visited me prior to lights out lifted my legs onto some soft pillows etc. etc. as I mentioned I was comfy. This afternoon I received a call from the person responsible at this organization and like all organizations of this size they couldn't quite figure out what happened. They provided they number of hypothesis as to why it could have occurred but I truly really didn't care. It seems the larger the organization the harder it is for someone to say they screwed up and the easier it is to blame it on some scheduling problem some system or computer software. Blame it on something else yet never never accept the blame.
In the end you get to see a few pictures and quickly forget about the hassles you've gone through and realize it was all worthwhile!
Instead of heading off to our un-accessible short term care facility, I decided to call the CLSC to make arrangements for homecare.
Basically a nurses aide comes by in the morning to help me out of bed and again in the evening to help me into bed. I've used the service in the past and it worked reasonably well my only beef were the hours or their schedule. It was not uncommon for them to show up at 7:30 PM to help me and then return the next morning at 10:30 AM to get me out of bed. That is quite long certainly a lot longer than I'm accustomed to, I requested a change so that I could at least go to bed at a reasonable time maybe nine or 10 PM and the next morning up around 7 AM. Sounds reasonable doesn't it?
So Saturday morning my wife took off with the van on her way to Barrie Ontario. Around 7 PM I tried to anticipate at what time the nurses aide would arrive, no one by 8 PM, 9 PM "wow I thought they finally were able to adjust their schedule." Problem is 10 PM came around still no one, 11 PM, 12 AM, 1 AM.
They had forgotten me plain and simple so I had to stay in my chair all night! Thank goodnesst I have the tilt feature which allows me to recline somewhat making it more comfortable. I tucked a pillow under my head and slept on and off after a couple of scotch on the rocks. I was so pissed off well let's leave it at that.
Sunday morning around 10 AM there is a knock at the door. It's the lady from the CLSC to help me out of bed, of course she notices that I am sitting in my chair. After I explained the dilemma she spent some time on her cellular phone to inquire as to what happened? I was at least provided with a few telephone numbers to call in case the situation ever repeated itself. The last thing I wanted to do was to see or deal with anyone from that government agency so I canceled the service for that evening and the next morning. This time I was at least prepared and made arrangements to change the cushion on my chair lift my feet onto a couple of pillows and grab a blanket it was nice and comfy. The second night actually went by much quicker and I must've slept quite a bit as I remembered several of my dreams. I awoke around 7 AM had breakfast and a good day, my spouse returned early that afternoon.
I should mention my second night was made comfortable in large part due to help I received from one of my friends. Pierre visited me prior to lights out lifted my legs onto some soft pillows etc. etc. as I mentioned I was comfy. This afternoon I received a call from the person responsible at this organization and like all organizations of this size they couldn't quite figure out what happened. They provided they number of hypothesis as to why it could have occurred but I truly really didn't care. It seems the larger the organization the harder it is for someone to say they screwed up and the easier it is to blame it on some scheduling problem some system or computer software. Blame it on something else yet never never accept the blame.
In the end you get to see a few pictures and quickly forget about the hassles you've gone through and realize it was all worthwhile!
4 comments:
Hi Michael,
Sounds like a rough weekend for you! That's government services for ya! We have some private services in Ontario that provide home care, they are resonably priced. Maybe you should inquire about such services there. I know there is a "We Care" agency in Montreal, maybe they have branches in your area.
I am glad you survived, albeit not comfortably.
The grandies are sweet!
Cheers
Hello Karen,
Trust you had a great time at the cottage it's always nice to get away.
I'll check into those places and see if they exist in our area.
They could care
This is an awful thing to be forgotten in your chair! I am shocked at this....makes me wonder about government health care? (maybe you know the US is always wanting this)
Kim,
In our case I believe the problem is a provincial one, while we may have universal healthcare I live in the only province that did not sign the Canada health act which means at least in my opinion substandard healthcare coupled with incompetence in many areas.
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