this is what i do!

i have a lot of people lately ask me what my job is. It's not necessarily hard to explain, but sometimes it is hard for people to understand WHY i chose to do this and WHY i love it! In fact there are a lot of aspects of my job that most people say are bad- and yet these are the aspects i love about my job.

I work for an organization that helps people with disabilities (PWD is what i will shorten that to) strive to live their lives to the fullest capacity. My job specifically is that i am a manager of a house. The house is where 6 PWD live and we have 24hour staff there to help take care of them. At this point A LOT of people say "oh kinda like a small nursing home." and my response is "no." In a nursing home people come into the building and are taken care of, but in a physical way. Everyday myself and my staff come into these people's home and help them improve their quality of life. we are always striving to help THEM make decisions. They all set goals and are living a life better than they could anywhere else. they are not able to care for themselves, but they are NOT invalids as most of society thinks they are.

Now my job has a lot of cooking, cleaning, laundry, and helping someone ELSE (adult) out with different hygiene issues. None of this include the mental aspects of my job. These people all have varying degrees of intellectual disabilities, so i deal with a lot of tantrums, arguments, extreme highs and extreme lows. This is definitely a job that you HAVE to LOVE to do because people who come for the paycheck leave before they ever even get one. My job also has more aspects as a manager, for example: i have NEVER gotten off at the scheduled time i was supposed, i have always had to stay and help handle situations. Going in early does not mean leaving early, it means getting extra time to get things done. Open shifts on the schedule= extra shifts i will be working.

HOWEVER: everyday i get to see people grow. Small things (like finishing coloring a picture that took a WEEK to color) are causes for celebration.The smiles and hugs i get from everyone are so genuine it melts my heart EVERY TIME! The people we care for don't understand appreciation, to them we don't need appreciation for the work we are doing. This isn't because they are taking us for granite, it's because we are their friends who come and help them and hang out with them, just like any of us would go and hang out with or cook dinner with a friend.There is not other job in the world where i would leave for work everyday and someone would follow em to the door (everyday) and hug me (everyday) and ask when i was coming back because they will miss me and want to see me tomorrow. THAT is worth every load of laundry, every dirty toilet i have to clean and every time i get yelled at just because someone is having a bad day. the best part is the staff i have understands that feeling. It's like being part of a secret club where only people who work there understand WHY you come to work everyday.


(sidenote- i hate getting political, so this is not political it is facts based on what i see everyday) COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TOPIC ABOUT MY JOB: so there is TONS and TONS of hype lately about the new Obamacare. I have heard every angle from every different type of person. I have a lot of feelings about it both religious and nonreligious but i think it's time for me to tell everyone some FACTS about it. People "pro" obamacare use the argument that it is providing healthcare and opportunities for women and children who would not otherwise have them. My first responce to that is that IF these women and children were really THAT desperate there are 5 different organizations in my town alone (not-for-profit, religious and nonreligious)  that will aid, care for, pay for and establish soem form of free health care for womena dn children. in fact women and children are the most likely to be taken care of- so your argument is really to help the women and children who are too proud to go and seek help for themselves!

I myself am not on state aid, but i work everyday with people who are. in fact i have had to deal with state aid (of ALL forms, medicare, medicaid, link, wic, etc) everyday for the past 6 months of my life. BEFORE obamacare people (this is for EVERYONE not just with disabilities) were able to go to the ER, receive DENTAL care, see doctors, get specialized treatment for things (physical therapy, podiatry, etc), receive eye appointments and new glasses every year along with other things. The only downside was you didn't really get to pick your doctor and it was harder to make appointments because you were not the top priority (honestly did you know that the insurances that pay out the most get top priority of appointments, sick isn't it). However people were able to see doctors, get treated and receive medicine without paying. Obama care cut ALL funding for: dental visits (except extractions), eye appointments more than once every 2 years, podiatry-unless you have diabetes, specialized appointments, along with TONS of other things. Obamacare even cut prescriptions. For example obama will make my tax money pay for ANY woman to have an abortion but unless you have diabetes it wont pay for medications that people need for blood pressure, seizures and other serious health problems. Finally obamacare had cut the amount of incontinence supplies (aka adult diapers and pads) it will send to people who have a prescription and real need for them.

I am not trying to get political, but i would really appreciate it if people would look into the FACTS before defending something truly horrible. If half the people who support obamacare were on it then maybe they would see the effects it has and how truly messed up it's priorities are. A 15 year old girl can get free birth control, abortifications or sterilization so she can be "sexually active" while a 50 year old women can't get a dental check up unless it's to have all her teeth removed (oh and it does NOT pay for dentures).

Honestly if YOU were given such lousy healthcare would you complain? Would YOU be willing to give up your healthcare for this? The saddest part is knowing that it was SO MUCH BETTER before July 1st yet people still defend it, simply because MORE people (who had access before) can now have crappy healthcare.

That's the end of my rant. i really love my job!