The Human Element: Lydia Caron's Story

Lydia Caron has a knack for expressing why she loves her job as a CNA and how vital she considers the work. She's also not afraid to say where she sees issues that affect the quality of care from both inside and out of the workforce. But she goes far beyond just recognizing the problems; she is committed to making changes for the better. One activity that helps her to accomplish this is her job as a peer mentor. She uses her skills, common sense, insight and compassion to show people who are just starting in the job what it means to be a true caregiver. Lydia is a role model and a much needed source of support to those who are hoping to make a difference through their work as a CNA, but may not yet be prepared to navigate the many challenges involved.

The Human Element

I have been a CNA about five years. I went to college, received a criminal justice degree and worked as a security guard for a while. I began realizing I wanted to do something that would make a difference. It was a big step from what I was doing to that of a CNA, but I said to myself, "I've taken care of my brothers and sisters. I could take care of other people. It can't be too hard." I was wrong. It was hard, but I loved it.

Now I work for a homecare agency, and for one which provides staff relief for hospitals, nursing homes and rehab centers. The staffing agency pays more. It also evens out my healthcare experience because I have facility work and home health as well, which I really like. I like seeing people in their homes. They are a lot happier because there I have more time to share with them. When you're in a facility, you don't have quality time to spend with individuals because you're taking care of a number of people at a time.

Not being allowed to stay with one person long enough to really form a relationship with them is one of the most difficult things for me. We often have to jump from one client to another because of all of the problems with scheduling and being short staffed. The two people it hurts the most are the client and the person taking care of them. If you have a chance to form a connection with them, your care is much better. This happens by talking to them and sharing things with them, little things that you have in common or that are interesting. You begin to bond with them, and they with you. When you can take that time, it feels more like you're helping them rather than just being there to do a job. A lot of clients are afraid that they will be left alone. For the two, four or whatever hours you spend there, you become family because you just might be the only constant they have in their life. They worry that they won't see you again. It's very hard to leave a client with whom you have formed a relationship. We are told not to get attached and not to form connections, but you are a person dealing with people -- and people become attached. You can bond and still have a medical detachment when it's needed. A good caregiver always has that human element in their caring. Without that, people won't trust you and won't do what is asked of them.

When I ended my criminal justice career and began as a CNA, I looked around more instead of going through the usual day-to-day motions. You know, "Go to work, get your paycheck, and don't ask questions." I knew there was something wrong with that because this field of endeavor was not working. I believed there had to be a better way. In a while, I found others who felt as I did. When you are surrounded by people who feel the same as you, it's good to be able to converse and consult with them when you have bad day. And there are a lot of bad days.

Respecting Ourselves

In a lot of professions that are dominated by women, we take a lot more guff. We just do the job and suffer in silence. That happens to people who don't have a voice and can't speak up for others. Being able and willing to speak up for their clients makes them more capable of speaking up for themselves. We are told that in order to take care of someone, you must take care of yourself first. Therefore, until we speak up and support each other, we shall never get the respect we seek from the general society. Without that respect, we won't have the wages and the healthcare to provide the clients with their needs. If you expect people to treat you like you are less, then that is what you will reap. I believe that's part of the problem in not having progressed. We too readily accept that we are going into a low-paying field where we may be treated badly because of the wrongful idea regarding the nature of the job.

I remember listening to someone who was discussing old cowboy movies. How they would circle the wagon train during an attack, and shoot out to protect themselves. "Nurses and CNAs," he said, "circle the wagons and shoot in." I think of that every time I go to work because I see it in the facilities. The CNAs who work there have something against agency because the agency makes more money, and thereby refrain from telling you things you should know. Then you have the CNAs who don't get along with the nurses at times because they, too, make more money and have more responsibility. As well, there are nurses who look down on CNAs and won't help them because they consider them inferior. With so much nail biting, it's a wonder anything gets done. That, however, is changing. A lot of people say, "It has always been like this, and will always be like this." Then there are others who say, "It's not right. We must first make these changes amongst ourselves." If every CNA would take a moment to reevaluate their self worth, they would realize that for society this is one of the most important jobs there is. The nursing profession -- and in that I include CNAs, PCAs, PSSs and anyone else who works directly with people in the medical setting -- will improve the quality of their daily lifestyle. We are the backbone of the medical profession.

Another Pair of Hands

One of the ways to start making some changes is by being a peer mentor. A peer mentor is someone who helps in training new people to work in the homecare setting. As a peer mentor I do a lot of job training and field any questions that new people have. If it's something I can't help them with, I ask their permission to consult a supervisor. The program is usually for new people coming into the field, but you can be a peer mentor for those who have CNA experience though new to your company. Even for people who are already working for the agency and are about to see a new client, they can call me to be informed about that client's likes and dislikes, and/or have me go with them to make it a smoother shift.

Ideally, through orientation and first week or two of work, a peer mentor should be with a new person from the time they first come into the company, I usually get a call and the supervisor might say, "Oh, so and so is new, so you will have to job shadow them and help them out." We arrange a time to meet at the client's house.

Going into someone's home as a caretaker is hard. You meet a lot of different people in this work, and not everyone is capable of dealing with that. There are some with lots of experience in one aspect of healthcare, but when they are thrust into the home, they need some help. People with a lot of nursing-home experience will have a hard time slowing down and taking their time when they go into a home. It's a bad thing to say, but in a nursing home it can almost feel like working on an assembly line. In someone's home, you have to respect their space more than you would in a nursing home, and a good CNA recognizes this. On the other hand, we get a lot of very young people who haven't had much experience. Some of them want to boss the client around. I have to change that mindset in order to get them to work with that person so as to encompass them in the care being provided. There are differences. Some people require more attention than others. I try to make them realize that at home you have a better chance to get to know the person, and that's the best way to learn what they are going to need from you.

I try not to put on airs and say, "Well, because I've been a CNA for many years I know everything about everything." Instead, I show the people I'm mentoring that I get the job done by being a regular person. There are a lot of CNAs who pretend to know more than they do, and they talk down to the client. They'll be condescending and patronizing. If you're doing your job at being a CNA, you will be helping them to accomplish what they alone can't do on their own. You're not trying to be smarter, you're just trying to be another caring pair of hands to help them out.

This kind of work enables you to be more yourself than any other kind out there. I always keep that in mind when I'm taking care of somebody. If I'm not being true to myself, then I'm not really taking care of them as well as I could. If you're not true to yourself, you will always worry about how you appear or how you are being perceived. Being yourself translates into being more comfortable. If you're more comfortable, they're more comfortable. In remembering that, I impart it to people I mentor. The older CNAs come from a different time period where they weren't allowed to be themselves. They were trained to do the work in a more detached, medical way. It makes it more difficult for them because they are caught between doing everything clinically versus going with the flow and seeing how things end up. As a result, it takes some of them a while to realize that a balance can be found between the two.

If more places start implementing peer mentor programs, it will help with a number of things. People will stay with the job longer, and possibly go on to further their education. They will move up in the healthcare field and give you more educated CNAs. You'll have people who really want to do the job and see it as a step to another level in healthcare. Eventually, this will help it to become more professionalized. Professionals take pride in their work, which engenders the desire to become better educated in order to do the job well. For some of them, it's a calling and more. Because of the way they feel about themselves, they acquire better representation, better wages, and a good deal more self respect than someone who considers his or her work as just a job to get by.