Comments on: The Quiet Discrimination

By: Kris

Kris — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:32:15 +0000

I agree with the comment that non-english speaking aides should be screened before being allowed to work for a company. Many of my co-workers cannot read the instructions or medical sheets and often I am called over to pass medications for them. In the course of training new employees, I pass out instruction sheets for some tasks and 99% of the time they are left blank and I am told that by the new employee that it is a “cultural difference” and that they needed to be shown or demonstrated instead of reading the instructions. In response, I asked the employee to read the first line aloud for me and he refused. Another time the employee just admitted that he could not read the paper. I am baffled as to how they got hired in the first place. Perhaps it maybe true that what some of my co-workers said is true. Most companies have a “warm body” approach to filling the roster and skills are not high up on the priority list..

By: Patti

Patti — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:06:02 +0000

I understand what you’re saying. I really do.

But this is why racism is alive and well in America today.

We keep it alive with attitudes like this.

Not that you’re attitude is wrong, it’s just part of the culture of (yes) making excuses for people.

By: Patti

Patti — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:03:43 +0000

Yes they are customers. Which is the point: They can go elsewhere if they’re not happy with the service. Although, in reality, most nursing home residents do not get a choice as to what nursing home they will reside in. They go where the bed is.

There is no legal **right** to cherry picking the staff who will be assigned to care for residents (or patients, clients…) Under federal laws and state laws, allowing this stuff to happen can land a facility in big legal trouble. It is, make no mistake, discrimination. It is sanctioned by management and **rights** are often cited as an excuse. It’s wrong. It’s illegal. And unethical. Refusing care from a person of color, or of a certain sexual orientation, or sex, or from someone of a certain religion, should cause all of us to be concerned. Of course it is a normal routine thing we see all the time so it doesn’t stand out, to us. It should. We need to wake up to see how we add to the perception of racism.

Many people have lost things. We all grow old and most of us will need some care at some point in our lives. This doesn’t mean we can discriminate.

By: Frances Shani Parker

Frances Shani Parker — Tue, 06 May 2008 06:31:33 +0000

People who think they have the right to refuse service to or from anybody based on race, ethnicity, religion, etc. had better start reading civil rights laws, before they learn the hard way through lawsuits they will lose. Also, while racist comments do come from patients with dementia, a study from the Buehler Center on Aging at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL states that nearly 75 percent of nursing assistants (CNA’s) working in nursing homes experience racism on the job. This research showed that racism is expressed by nursing home residents as well as residents' families and nursing home co-workers.

By: Joan Murphy

Joan Murphy — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:09:23 +0000

I am in home care and we acomomdate our client’s preferences ; in part because we are providing care in their homes and they have a right to refuse admittance to their home of anyone. We are almost always ablem to find a suitable case for our African-American aides and thus not put them in this uncomfortable situation. ON occasion we will say to a client I have so and so available but she is African -American and if they refuse then they may have to wait for service to begin. One lady waited 2mos for service to start.

By: Lu

Lu — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:31:53 +0000

I agree with Tracy D. If a resident truly does not want someone as their caregiver, they have a right to have someone else. If I was a resident I would refuse cares from an aide I didn’t want touching my body. Some residents may have been raped or abused by men in their past, and they shouldn’t have to be cared for by a male aide if it agitates them. Dementia residents can be unpredictable…one day they like you, the next day they don’t, and having another aide do their cares might be better for them that day. I know I would prefer female aides instead of male aides. Doesn’t mean I am prejudiced or mean…

By: Tracy D.

Tracy D. — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:37:18 +0000

I have to disagree with this.

They are paying to be in the facility. They are the customer’s. If they were at the grocery store, they could choose who would wait on them. They have the right to refuse anything they like. They also have the right to leave the facility if they don’t like it there.

As a rule, these people have lost almost everything else: their homes, their families, their pets, their health and their ability to take care of themselves. All they have left is the right to accept or refuse the care we offer.

By: Cherry Walker

Cherry Walker — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:38:19 +0000

Since your article specifically mentions Georgia and I am in Georgia can I just point out that the racism that some aides experience can be explained (not excused) by looking at the average age of the residents that are in LTC in the southern states. Most residents are over 70, some reach very advanced age (90’s and older). If you take into consideration the fact that those older people lived in a very different world when it came to seperation of the races, you can be more understanding. Most of our elders have alzheimer’s or dementia…political correctness just doesn’t apply. When they see someone of color coming into their room, where they are alone, insecure and most of the time disoriented…they react with fear and sometimes anger…give them the benefit of the doubt…we are trained to be caregivers…give care, remember that our residents have issues and reassure them that you are “here to help”. A soft and reassuring tone of voice and a compassionate heart has only one color.

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:28:37 +0000

We do have to remember we are dealing with people who have biases and strong opinions of others who are not like them. It’s sad and perhaps wrong, but I can see why nursing home leaders give in to these requests.

If they don’t, the family or resident will find SOME reason or ways to make the working life of the aides miserable. They will even go so far as to mock up charges of abuse or neglect. I’ve seen it happen. Is this what we want?

On the other hand, serious charges like that must be proved before the aide can be terminated. But we all know what happens to those aides who have been charged- they’re targets for future disciplinary action, forever on the watch list.

One way or another, racism always comes back to haunt one party or the other. In our work, it is the staff who have little in the ways for protection against such mean spirited things.

The other issue here is the language barrier. I too have seen detrimental problems occur when a foreign aide is allowed to work without proper screening. The trouble is, we can’t expect or ask them to go through any special testing we wouldn’t ask American aides to do. It’s expensive. The life of residents is at stake though, and lawsuits and other problems do happen when bad things happen. I once had a resident who was on strict fluid restrictions. A co worker from Mexico also worked with this resident. She didn’t understand how to measure drinks properly; in the course of one 8 hour shift she allowed him to consume more than two days worth of liquids. He died of the heart problem we were supposed to be guarding him from. The facility was sued and the family won that case.

The price to pay isn’t always clear at first.

Patti brings up the excellent point that foreign aides do have a choice when it comes to the English language and learning it very well. Skin color is not a choice, but the skills we must have are. Nursing home leaders would be smart to test ALL potential aides for these seemingly minor skills- measuring, reading a care plan and demonstrating an understanding of expectations.

By: Holly

Holly — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:43:41 +0000

Well I have experinced the opposite. I am white and we have residents of color, who refuse my care. Or my co workers who are white. Thankfully we have aides who are of the same race as these residents, but they are not always on the schedule to work. It’s an issue and you are right Patti, management caves in everytime. One day not to long ago they actually called in one of the black aides (who had worked 18 days straight) to do am cares, and then later, pm cares for these residents. Thats bad. Right now they schedule certain agency staff who are black to work on the days the others have off.

One time a couple winters ago all the lady aides didn’t make it in to work but the male aides did. What a day that was we all heard, since we have many residents who demand female aides.

It’s not that we are discriminating, it’s the residents who are.