I was hospitalized back in July for a couple of days. As a result I’m receiving Home Health Aid Services which is paid for by my insurance. I was given an abundance of hours which is really a blessing.
The Home Health Aid is an older woman like myself so I figured this should be okay. She started with cleaning my kitchen which was fine but then she would move and rearrange things. I asked her ti please not do that. The other thing was that she was cleaning the outside of something but not the inside. I found this out when she cleaned the outside of the humidifier but the inside was filthy. Had I used that humidifier, I’d be sick right now. When cleaning the bathtub, I asked her to also clean the bathtub mat. She claimed she did but she didn’t. It wasn’t until I asked her to pick it up that she admitted it was dirty. I have particular “cleaning tools” specifically for the bathroom that I’ve invested in that make cleaning easy. You don’t even have to touch anything with your hands. I also use “steam” (mop & handheld) to clean which I made clear to her is not an option but she tries to avoid it.
She came in one recent morning with papers fro, the office and basically threatened me that if I didn’t sign those papers right then and there, she would not be doing anything including transportation. I called the agency and was told nothing like that was ever said to her and that she misunderstood.
Yesterday she was 30 minutes late. I called her first and then the Agency after waiting for about 20 minutes. I didn’t know what was going on. This hadn’t happened before. She got an attitude because I had called the Agency. I felt I took the proper steps. Later that day I signed off on her Transportation paperwork but I know she inflated the numbers and I told her so. I then sent her to my Pharmacy to do a pick up. My Pharmacy is about 3.72 miles from my home. She came back an hour and a half later saying how my Pharmacy was too far away and she had to drive a total of 14 miles! She then wanted me to sign off on that and I told her no. That’s when she started threatening that she wouldn’t do transportation anymore. We had words. I refused to give her the paper and called the Agency. I spoke with them first and then put them on speaker phone. The home health aid tried to do this thing of speaking Spanish but I put a stop to that and said English only because she speaks English just fine.
I let it be made known that I won’t be threatened or coerced. I will not be held hostage with services I have already been granted. She was told that she cannot withhold transportation and I had her repeat it for both me and the Agency.. I also found out when I sent her to the Pharmacy, the Agency said she had been to their office and she should have told me that. I went ahead and signed for those 14 miles but I feel angry about it because I know she flat out lied.
I felt the person at the Agency wasn’t taking it as serious as it feels for me because it has to do with character and trust of someone in my home. I’m thinking about contacting my State Case manager and talking with them about what’s been going on.
Something in my spirit isn’t settled about this. What would you do?
The Home Health Aid is an older woman like myself so I figured this should be okay. She started with cleaning my kitchen which was fine but then she would move and rearrange things. I asked her ti please not do that. The other thing was that she was cleaning the outside of something but not the inside. I found this out when she cleaned the outside of the humidifier but the inside was filthy. Had I used that humidifier, I’d be sick right now. When cleaning the bathtub, I asked her to also clean the bathtub mat. She claimed she did but she didn’t. It wasn’t until I asked her to pick it up that she admitted it was dirty. I have particular “cleaning tools” specifically for the bathroom that I’ve invested in that make cleaning easy. You don’t even have to touch anything with your hands. I also use “steam” (mop & handheld) to clean which I made clear to her is not an option but she tries to avoid it.
She came in one recent morning with papers fro, the office and basically threatened me that if I didn’t sign those papers right then and there, she would not be doing anything including transportation. I called the agency and was told nothing like that was ever said to her and that she misunderstood.
Yesterday she was 30 minutes late. I called her first and then the Agency after waiting for about 20 minutes. I didn’t know what was going on. This hadn’t happened before. She got an attitude because I had called the Agency. I felt I took the proper steps. Later that day I signed off on her Transportation paperwork but I know she inflated the numbers and I told her so. I then sent her to my Pharmacy to do a pick up. My Pharmacy is about 3.72 miles from my home. She came back an hour and a half later saying how my Pharmacy was too far away and she had to drive a total of 14 miles! She then wanted me to sign off on that and I told her no. That’s when she started threatening that she wouldn’t do transportation anymore. We had words. I refused to give her the paper and called the Agency. I spoke with them first and then put them on speaker phone. The home health aid tried to do this thing of speaking Spanish but I put a stop to that and said English only because she speaks English just fine.
I let it be made known that I won’t be threatened or coerced. I will not be held hostage with services I have already been granted. She was told that she cannot withhold transportation and I had her repeat it for both me and the Agency.. I also found out when I sent her to the Pharmacy, the Agency said she had been to their office and she should have told me that. I went ahead and signed for those 14 miles but I feel angry about it because I know she flat out lied.
I felt the person at the Agency wasn’t taking it as serious as it feels for me because it has to do with character and trust of someone in my home. I’m thinking about contacting my State Case manager and talking with them about what’s been going on.
Something in my spirit isn’t settled about this. What would you do?
