RE: [QUAD-L] Aides again

[Aaron Mann]

I've been pulling together information on what might be involved in creating a Personal Care Attendant (PCA) business funded by private sponsors / Medicaid / Medicare / Insurance.  I want to create a business that is founded and run by the people that actually use the services.  I believe that, combined, we have enough successful approaches to finding the right people.  In my experiences the road blocks are in the inexperienced Home Health Agency or other "fill in the blank" programs created by often times non-disabled individuals.  They don't recruit properly, don't train properly, and remove too much control from the patient.   My approach has been entirely outside of any agency or other organization.  I find people through advertisements in papers, local colleges and at local medical centers.  I pay what I think is fair for this type of work and detail out every aspect of what my expectations are.  My biggest problem is that I cannot provide a full-time job for these people.  I've run across some great people who, if they could get more hours, would take this on as a profession.   In my ideal company I'd keep it privatized.  This way each "client" could have their own customized care program.  Attendants would get paid the rates they deserve.  Ultimately this would get us the quality care we deserve. From: Lori Michaelson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 2:56 PM To: Quad Subject: [QUAD-L] Aides again DANA WROTE:   "People keep telling me I should write a book too.  We should flood the market with therxse books and name names to show how we are "really" treated!  There should be a chapter on good aides too, or something so that they do not go un-noticed.  Maybe a 2 set book--The Bad, and The Good! Dana [EMAIL PROTECTED]"   Just yesterday my husband mentioned I should write a book on all this too.  But I am so exhausted on the subject... thinking of writing it all feels like me climbing Mt Everest as a quad!  *sigh*   I just wrote a heavy heated letter to the corporate office of my home health agency.  They should have it today so we'll see what type of shit hits the fan or whether it was done in vain.   Lori