GASP! She gets PAID =-o OH NO!
Yes, that is a smart-assed title. I feel that such serious subject matter deserves a little humor somewhere.
I feel that the answer I gave this fellow deserves to be easily seen by anyone that has a question similar to his, so I am moving it from the comments into a post of it's very own.
Sandra
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Derek Gerry said...
Selling my integrity? I am a writer, I get paid to write about products information and whatever catches my attention. I am also a full-time family caregiver, which means that I am not paid to spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year on constant call to assist the person I care for in every day tasks such as walking from their bed to a chair, comprehending how to change the channel on the television when their hand-eye coordination is so bad they can't aim the remote at the TV, empty urinals, clean up vomit, provide daily barber services, assist in bathing, prepare meals, clean house... I could go on, but every caregiver out there can tell you that it gets a bit gross after the urinals.
The point is, I perform ten times the work any nurse you will know performs, right down to being in full charge of knowing the person's medical history, seeing that they get the proper pills, being a dietitian, offering occupational therapy and physical therapy, putting up with depression in the care recipient, ducking steel urinals thrown at my head, getting screamed at over things as piddly and stupid as having not been in the room to hear a request for coffee being warmed up. I work harder than anyone else you will probably ever meet in your life, and struggle daily not to drop back into my own depression.
I suffer from constant fatigue because I can not get a proper night's sleep. I have no social life outside of three ladies that I talk to a few hours a day on instant messenger. I can not get outside and walk like I want to for exercise because I can not be out of running distance back to the house should something happen that I am needed here for. This is not some kind of "no one else can do this job" kick, this is cold hard fact. My older brothers and sisters have TRIED to do my job and all have failed MISERABLY. The only one that made it past a couple hours made it two weeks then screamed that she could not take it, had no idea how I managed and demanded that my mother and I immediately take over the task ourselves once again.
I work damn hard to keep as much of the stress off my mom as I can, because she has her own health troubles and it is killing her to watch my father, who she has been married to since she was 16, go downhill as he is.
You ask me why I let someone pay me for giving my honest opinion on their products? Why should I *not*? I researched it. The Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau both clearly state that there is no need to identify any written material - including that posted online - as being paid for or sponsored in any manner *UNLESS* the person that is posting that information is a recognized authority in their field and someone that the average person might look up to as having a credible enough stance that they might influence that person's decision on a purchase or other activity based on the endorsement of the product/service/whatever by the person.
I'm a nobody. I'm a overweight single white woman that can't even get medical help from the local public assistance office that tells me to come back and see them when I am "Hispanic and pregnant" (the woman's exact words).
You want to get annoyed at me for making a little money to help pay for heating my parents home when the average temperature outside at night is -30 F? You want to complain about my suggesting someone look into maybe giving a caregiver that sacrifices their entire life for another a gift basket? Maybe you want to cry foul that I have made another few cents toward buying my father the powered wheel chair that Geneva Woods Medical is jerking him around about for the past year? The chair that his doctor says is vital for his sense of personal worth. When you can show me where I am hurting another, then I will stop my wicked ways and never post a advertisement for someone. When you can show me where the Family Caregiver Security Act of 2005 (H.R. 175) has been passed by Congress so family caregivers can be paid as a nurse, THEN I will stop looking for ways I can make a few cents when I can not get a job outside the home. Until then, I have medical bills of my own to pay, a $1,200 monthly fuel oil bill to help my mother find the money to cover, and a future that is about to consist of a cardboard box behind Macy's as I sort through the trash bin behind Goodwill.
Any more questions?
I feel that the answer I gave this fellow deserves to be easily seen by anyone that has a question similar to his, so I am moving it from the comments into a post of it's very own.
Sandra
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Derek Gerry said...
Is this a paid post? Why are you selling your integrity?
My reply to him-Selling my integrity? I am a writer, I get paid to write about products information and whatever catches my attention. I am also a full-time family caregiver, which means that I am not paid to spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year on constant call to assist the person I care for in every day tasks such as walking from their bed to a chair, comprehending how to change the channel on the television when their hand-eye coordination is so bad they can't aim the remote at the TV, empty urinals, clean up vomit, provide daily barber services, assist in bathing, prepare meals, clean house... I could go on, but every caregiver out there can tell you that it gets a bit gross after the urinals.
The point is, I perform ten times the work any nurse you will know performs, right down to being in full charge of knowing the person's medical history, seeing that they get the proper pills, being a dietitian, offering occupational therapy and physical therapy, putting up with depression in the care recipient, ducking steel urinals thrown at my head, getting screamed at over things as piddly and stupid as having not been in the room to hear a request for coffee being warmed up. I work harder than anyone else you will probably ever meet in your life, and struggle daily not to drop back into my own depression.
I suffer from constant fatigue because I can not get a proper night's sleep. I have no social life outside of three ladies that I talk to a few hours a day on instant messenger. I can not get outside and walk like I want to for exercise because I can not be out of running distance back to the house should something happen that I am needed here for. This is not some kind of "no one else can do this job" kick, this is cold hard fact. My older brothers and sisters have TRIED to do my job and all have failed MISERABLY. The only one that made it past a couple hours made it two weeks then screamed that she could not take it, had no idea how I managed and demanded that my mother and I immediately take over the task ourselves once again.
I work damn hard to keep as much of the stress off my mom as I can, because she has her own health troubles and it is killing her to watch my father, who she has been married to since she was 16, go downhill as he is.
You ask me why I let someone pay me for giving my honest opinion on their products? Why should I *not*? I researched it. The Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau both clearly state that there is no need to identify any written material - including that posted online - as being paid for or sponsored in any manner *UNLESS* the person that is posting that information is a recognized authority in their field and someone that the average person might look up to as having a credible enough stance that they might influence that person's decision on a purchase or other activity based on the endorsement of the product/service/whatever by the person.
I'm a nobody. I'm a overweight single white woman that can't even get medical help from the local public assistance office that tells me to come back and see them when I am "Hispanic and pregnant" (the woman's exact words).
You want to get annoyed at me for making a little money to help pay for heating my parents home when the average temperature outside at night is -30 F? You want to complain about my suggesting someone look into maybe giving a caregiver that sacrifices their entire life for another a gift basket? Maybe you want to cry foul that I have made another few cents toward buying my father the powered wheel chair that Geneva Woods Medical is jerking him around about for the past year? The chair that his doctor says is vital for his sense of personal worth. When you can show me where I am hurting another, then I will stop my wicked ways and never post a advertisement for someone. When you can show me where the Family Caregiver Security Act of 2005 (H.R. 175) has been passed by Congress so family caregivers can be paid as a nurse, THEN I will stop looking for ways I can make a few cents when I can not get a job outside the home. Until then, I have medical bills of my own to pay, a $1,200 monthly fuel oil bill to help my mother find the money to cover, and a future that is about to consist of a cardboard box behind Macy's as I sort through the trash bin behind Goodwill.
Any more questions?
posted by Sandra at 12:05 PM
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