The New Slaves -- Caregivers
In theory seniors should benefit most from the presence of Illegal Aliens in America. We need low cost caregivers: first to care for our parents so that we can continue to work, later--should we live long enough--to take care of us. No one works cheaper than Illegal Aliens. The problem is that you get what you pay for.
I've had close contact with Illegal Aliens in more than one setting, but most of all I had contact with dozens of illegals in my mother's nursing home.
When my mother first entered the nursing home, the staff were citizens in all the colors of America or, in the case of nurses, temporary guest workers from around the world. My family had problems with the nursing home management that I'll leave for another posting, but the original staff included some definite nominees for sainthood. That staff held difficult, draining, exhausting, dirty and sometimes stinky jobs and those staffers did those jobs with dedication and skill.
Then new owners purchased the nursing home. The new owners first act was to fire the Americans and replace them with illegals from all over the world. The new staffers had certificates that entitled them to be called Certified Nursing Assistants, CNA's, but it soon became obvious that the majority of those certificates had to be counterfeit. In fact, a number of those people were clearly illiterate and could not have taken the certification exam. The new staff couldn't read the names on the menus on dinner trays so they fed cake to diabetics and whole food to patients who were supposed to eat mush. When patients choked on their food, these supposed CNA's didn't know how to do a Heimlich maneuver. They were cheap and dangerous and not at all interested in doing their jobs if work could be avoided.
When you asked one of the original American staffers to toilet a patient who couldn't walk or to change a dirty diaper for a patient who did not have control, that staffer might tell you to wait while she finished what she was in the middle of, but as soon as she was free, she got the job done. The replacement "CNA's", on the other hand, simply stalled rather than get the job done. They hadn't actually had any training and didn't understand that "holding it" can cause dangerous bladder infections or that sitting in a soiled diaper can cause potentially lethal skin sores. Instead of saying, "half a minute," the new staffers would say, "oh, I'm so tired. I work three jobs...I'm so tired." It didn't take long for me to lose sympathy with their fatigue. I was paying about $7,000 a month for my mother to receive proper care. If they were showing up too exhausted to do their jobs, I was all for firing them.
In the middle of all this, I lost my job and then had a multitude of retinal surgeries. I had been stopping by the nursing home every evening after work to feed my mother her dinner so she wouldn't be evicted for refusing to eat. Suddenly I had time to sit around the nursing home for hours each day. It was obvious that although I quickly became dissatisfied with the care my mother received while I sat there, the neglect shown her was nothing compared to the neglect of the people who did not have relatives coming around on a regular basis.
And it was in that setting--where I was soon made to feel like a fly on the wall--that I heard first hand exactly how the Illegal Aliens felt about America and Americans. I was shocked by their contempt for us. I was shocked that people talked openly about feeling entitled to walk off with anything that wasn't nailed down simply because no one was smart enough to stop them.
The people who hated America most and most expressed contempt for Americans were those who had taken amnesty the last time it was offered. They had jumped through hoops to gain a citizenship they didn't want or value. They made that effort to be free to work and send money home for their later years. They had taken advantage of amnesty although they had no intention of living the rest of their lives in America.
Until I was exposed to the "CNA's" at this nursing home, I never really paid any attention to Illegal Aliens or thought much about them. The layoffs at my own former employer were facilitated by the presence of temporary guest workers who were just then overstaying their visas and turning into Illegal Aliens. I am told that despite multiple mergers, seven years later those same young men still have their jobs; the middle-aged Americans who were laid off when I was have mostly gone jobless for those same years. Even so, I didn't connect those men becoming Illegal Aliens with my own economic downturn. I didn't notice the high price society paid for the cheap labor those young men provided.
At the nursing home, the "CNA's" opened my eyes. They caused me to look around. Listening to them was the Significant Educational Event that led me to S.E.E..
I've had close contact with Illegal Aliens in more than one setting, but most of all I had contact with dozens of illegals in my mother's nursing home.
When my mother first entered the nursing home, the staff were citizens in all the colors of America or, in the case of nurses, temporary guest workers from around the world. My family had problems with the nursing home management that I'll leave for another posting, but the original staff included some definite nominees for sainthood. That staff held difficult, draining, exhausting, dirty and sometimes stinky jobs and those staffers did those jobs with dedication and skill.
Then new owners purchased the nursing home. The new owners first act was to fire the Americans and replace them with illegals from all over the world. The new staffers had certificates that entitled them to be called Certified Nursing Assistants, CNA's, but it soon became obvious that the majority of those certificates had to be counterfeit. In fact, a number of those people were clearly illiterate and could not have taken the certification exam. The new staff couldn't read the names on the menus on dinner trays so they fed cake to diabetics and whole food to patients who were supposed to eat mush. When patients choked on their food, these supposed CNA's didn't know how to do a Heimlich maneuver. They were cheap and dangerous and not at all interested in doing their jobs if work could be avoided.
When you asked one of the original American staffers to toilet a patient who couldn't walk or to change a dirty diaper for a patient who did not have control, that staffer might tell you to wait while she finished what she was in the middle of, but as soon as she was free, she got the job done. The replacement "CNA's", on the other hand, simply stalled rather than get the job done. They hadn't actually had any training and didn't understand that "holding it" can cause dangerous bladder infections or that sitting in a soiled diaper can cause potentially lethal skin sores. Instead of saying, "half a minute," the new staffers would say, "oh, I'm so tired. I work three jobs...I'm so tired." It didn't take long for me to lose sympathy with their fatigue. I was paying about $7,000 a month for my mother to receive proper care. If they were showing up too exhausted to do their jobs, I was all for firing them.
In the middle of all this, I lost my job and then had a multitude of retinal surgeries. I had been stopping by the nursing home every evening after work to feed my mother her dinner so she wouldn't be evicted for refusing to eat. Suddenly I had time to sit around the nursing home for hours each day. It was obvious that although I quickly became dissatisfied with the care my mother received while I sat there, the neglect shown her was nothing compared to the neglect of the people who did not have relatives coming around on a regular basis.
And it was in that setting--where I was soon made to feel like a fly on the wall--that I heard first hand exactly how the Illegal Aliens felt about America and Americans. I was shocked by their contempt for us. I was shocked that people talked openly about feeling entitled to walk off with anything that wasn't nailed down simply because no one was smart enough to stop them.
The people who hated America most and most expressed contempt for Americans were those who had taken amnesty the last time it was offered. They had jumped through hoops to gain a citizenship they didn't want or value. They made that effort to be free to work and send money home for their later years. They had taken advantage of amnesty although they had no intention of living the rest of their lives in America.
Until I was exposed to the "CNA's" at this nursing home, I never really paid any attention to Illegal Aliens or thought much about them. The layoffs at my own former employer were facilitated by the presence of temporary guest workers who were just then overstaying their visas and turning into Illegal Aliens. I am told that despite multiple mergers, seven years later those same young men still have their jobs; the middle-aged Americans who were laid off when I was have mostly gone jobless for those same years. Even so, I didn't connect those men becoming Illegal Aliens with my own economic downturn. I didn't notice the high price society paid for the cheap labor those young men provided.
At the nursing home, the "CNA's" opened my eyes. They caused me to look around. Listening to them was the Significant Educational Event that led me to S.E.E..
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