AMA social worker in a nursing home

amother

OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 7:10 pm

Hi! This is kind of a spin of the current thread about nursing homes.

I am a social worker in a frum nursing home and I would love to debunk some of the misconceptions that people have about nursing homes. I know that some nursing homes are pretty awful, but the ones that I have worked at are really amazing at what they do.

Feel free to ask questions!

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 7:19 pm

My job is very administrative. I don't do formal therapy (we have a psychologist who follows the residents). I meet with them when they come in (with in 48 hours) and do intake. I screen them for depression and memory loss. I cannot diagnose for dementia, but based off of my screening, I refer to a neurologist if a resident scored low on the memory test.
I coordinate discharges (many which are very complex), I orange family meetings with the nursing home staff. I basically advocate for the patients and I am there for them. When residents have concerns, they come to me to voice them, and I do my best to fix them.
A big part of my job is to be a liaison between the families and staff. I also am very involved in our hospice program.
Quarterly, I meet with each long term care resident in the nursing home and we discuss how he/she is doing. We go over the resident's advanced medical directive and I again, screen for depression and dementia. I then schedule a family meeting between the nursing home staff, the resident and the family to discuss how things are going.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 7:50 pm

amother Hotpink wrote:

Where do you live and how much do you make?

I live in the tristate area and I get paid $80,000. I work 30 hours a week.

There is a huge need for nursing home SWs. There is a huge shortage. It is a really hard job, we have a lot of rules and regulations that we need to meet (paperwork, family meetings, documentation...).

After the director of nursing and the admin, the nursing home social worker is the most important worker in a nursing home. We are responsible for the resident's wellbeing and to coordinate safe discharges. I know of some of our sister facilities, who had to pay thousands of dollars of fines due to their social workers not doing their jobs.

amother

↑ Hotpink

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 7:52 pm

amother OP wrote:

Thank you for answering. I was so curious about it.
I was an intern for a therapy in a nursing home and got very friendly with the SW there because she was also Jewish, in a very non Jewish place.
You guys do work hard and have a ton to do!

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 7:53 pm

amother Hotpink wrote:

Thank you! It is not easy, and you have to be very quick on your feet.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 8:01 pm

amother Mimosa wrote:

Do you see neglect? Do you experience any anti semitism

The nursing home were I currently work at is one of the most highend nursing homes in America. We are mostly private pay (families pay us $12,000 a month) and rehab. We get very high profile frum families who simply cannot bring a loved one home due to complex medical issues (hospice, pumps, tubes, ventilators) and we have a renown rehab that regular people come to after bad falls/surgeries.
Honestly, our staff becomes part of the resident's family. We are very territorial over our resident's and many of the nurses/aids will attend the levayas of residents that pass.

Yes, I have seen at rare occasions, some staff members be impatient or rude towards residents (which I shut down very quickly- we have zero tolerance for that). But, at this current position- I have never seen true neglect or abuse.

I have worked at other nursing homes, who are not on the same level as the care that I was describing. And there, I have seen a bit of neglect (never outright abuse). But even that was handled very quickly, the staff members involved were reported to the state.

amother

↑ OP

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 10:08 pm

amother Bone wrote:

Do you feel you’re paid fairly? Considering the amount families pay and the incredible work you do, feels like you should be paid much more.

In general SWs are very underpaid... I sometimes feel that I am making to little for the work I put in but then remember that I am only working 30 hours!

chestnut ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 11:39 pm

amother OP wrote:

The bolded explains it all. What do other people who can't pay $12K a month do? End up in "regular" nursing homes, which are nowhere comparable to yours.

amother

Bronze

Mon, Nov 04 2024, 12:20 am

chestnut wrote:

The bolded explains it all. What do other people who can't pay $12K a month do? End up in "regular" nursing homes, which are nowhere comparable to yours.

If people can afford $12,000 per month they generally would have sufficient resources to afford the best available care.

My experience is that affluent people don’t wind up at nursing homes because they can pay for home health care without any problems. They might be in an assisted living facility but wouid also have their own full time attendant.

That amount is so behind the amount paid by Medicare let alone Medicaid. I would very much doubt there are any Medicaid patients there and probably only Medicare for short stints after a hospital discharge.

↑ chestnut

Mon, Nov 04 2024, 1:13 am

amother Bronze wrote:

I was sure OP described an assisted living facility, but she knows better plus there's short term stints there. Yeah, not your average nursing home ppl talk about.