"care" for the elderly? ha ha ha

The company we've got tied up with seems inefficient and inept.  I won't mention their name because my mother does not want to lose contact with the good people who help us.  The problem seems to be managers, not the people who work there....
On the contrary, the individuals are good:  specifically, the man who gives my father a shower, and
our visiting nurse.

But the management!  Jezis Maria!  taka katastrofa!  (Please excuse my lapse into Slovak.)

Today, on account of their stupidity and ineptness, I've missed paying a bill.  I started to pay that bill twice, and was twice interrupted by nurses who wanted  (in once case, demanded)  me to stay.

The problem they (managers) seem to have is that they seem unable to understand the following sentence:

We cannot be reached before noon. The best time to reach us is after 2pm.


Or, if they (management) can understand it, they seem unable to communicate it widely
to employees.

I have heard numerous complaints that this or that party was "unable" to reach us.

Indeed, I have even heard the claim (once, at least) that an individual called at 4pm and got
no answer.

I do not know how that is possible.  On the day in question, I was actually here at 4pm.   I would have heard the phone ring. Might the person have mis-dialed?

Well, apparently to solve this problem, and because "re-certification" was necessary, the Nurse-Supervisor showed up---unannounced--on Wednesday, when I needed to go out and pay a bill. She prevented me from doing so.  In fact, she ordered me to stay.  And she had other orders for me, which I have discussed elsewhere on this blog.  In general, words like "please" don't come out of her mouth frequently.

[Digression:  What is 're-certification'?  My understanding is that this is dictated by the administrators at "Medicare".  I cannot see that this is anything more than a mean-spirited insistence that elderly, ill people prove--again and again---that they are in need of assistance.  But, as I said, this is dictated by those who manage the public medical insurance program for the elderly, not by private medical entities.]

Now her visit on Wednesday was unexpected. Another employee had given us to believe she would come on Tuesday, but she did not show up.  (She says the employee arranging her Tuesday visit never got back to her after I had agreed to the visit.)

However, Wednesday, I spoke to the Nurse Supervisor as we were leaving.  And, we agreed (or so I thought) that I would phone her once I returned from our doctor's appointment.  However, she jumped the gun and was waiting for us when we returned home.  So, she shows up without waiting for my phone call on Wednesday, and forbids me from going out.  (I wanted to pay a bill.)

Now this may all seem very petty, but the fact about living with two elderly people is that I am often prevented in mid-stream from finishing a thought or an ordinary activity (even from using the toilet).

So, by interrupting our activity, and not following the plan we had (I thought) agreed too, the Nurse Supervisor, was adding to my cognitive stress.

I know her reason:  Medicare requires re-certification.  (I am not convinced that is anything but stinginess, but this is not the place to discuss that policy.  In any case, it is not a policy of xxxxxxxxx,inc. or the Nurse Supervisor, but was decided, I take it, by our wise law-makers.)

Now, in fact, the great achievement on Wednesday was that my father was re-certified.  The nurse also, in an unnecessarily bossy manner (in my humble opinion) wanted to suggest that my mother's way
of handling medications could be improved. (Note well:  bullying, in however measure, a eighty-six year old lady is not nice.  And you can bully by withdrawing customary signs of good will such as smiles, etc.  It is not necessary to shout or threaten violence.)

I am not sure why it was necessary for me to be there. Actually the nurse-supervisor did not explain.  She did, however, demand that I stay.

Perhaps I should have insisted that I had a bill to pay. (I wish I had.)  If she had not been so bossy, I am sure I would have escaped to pay the bill.

Well, the next day, exactly as I was about to pay the bill, another nurse shows up. She was actually thirty minutes early.  She is a friendlier, altogether more humane and human person than the nurse supervisor.  So, I once again missed my bill payment because she, too, needed my presence.---Or, she said/thought she di.

I am not so sure my presence was necessary.  You see, I actually am literate and educated.  (I have a Ph.D.) and putting pills in the right boxes ("labeled ''morning lunch, evening, etc.) is really not so hard.---It doesn't take a Ph.D. or a B.A. or anything!  All you have to do i know how to read and know the days of the week!  It is common sense!  I do not need someone to teach me.  I can figure it out... (So what is that when they tell me I have to be there to "learn" (puke)????I call it "paternalism", but fascism would be closer.)

I have it in mind to send xxxxxxx, inc.  a bill for the money we are going to lose because I could not pay that bill.  You see, the bill is not late, but you have to pay extra if you don't pay it early----and the employees of "XXXXX, inc." prevented me from paying that bill.  As I said earlier, one (a nurse supervisor) actually ordered me to stay. (Which, by the way, was a bit rude.....)

I am very unhappy and even disappointed.    So far as I can tell, there is a tyrannical atmosphere among the owners and managers of XXXXX, inc..  They expect their customers to be available at their convenience.  I don't know that, but I don't know how else to explain my numerous unpleasant experiences.

The nurse and the guy who gives my dad a shower are great!  They are super human beings.
However, for some reason, the company they work for is not so super as they are......




PS:  Incidentally, why am I making my complaint here?   Why not write the company directly? I have sent several emails to xxxxxxx, inc. and whenever I send an email
to "Don't Care, Inc." they don't even bother to acknowledge it.  I have no guarantee that anyone is even reading the messages I've sent them. So, either they are not reading them, or they have not received them.

Note, too, that answering a letter, email, message, or whatever is a basic courtesy. It is not necessary to make a lengthy reply; it would be enough to acknowledge receipt of a message.  On the other hand, sooner or later, it is mere courtesy to make a reply that indicates the message has actually been read and understood.  The failure of "XXXXXXCare" on this point of basic politeness is egregious.

And, when it comes to bills:  What about the anxiety and worry caused by this lack of organization and chaos?  My mother and I have experienced wholly unnecessary anxiety because I missed paying the bill...... My life is chaotic enough caring for my invalid father, in a chaotic house.  And the house is chaotic because for many years my mother got no help, and could not handle the dual jobs of managing the household and caring for my father.  (Indeed my mother is an invalid too, but only younger and more mobile than my father.....) So, all around, I think the USA system of so-called Health Care (sic) is a bad system.  In the case of my parents, not only does it fail to give them what they really need, but at every step along the way, the bureaucracy is disrespectful and unpleasant.  And I am being insulted and bullied too.  I don't like it.