My Elder Care Experience
My name is Andre. As a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and a Master of Science degree in Health Care Administration, I have made a career of working in long term care. I have worked in the healthcare industry for over 40 years with 30 of those years in long term care and at 71 years of age, I’m still working in a profession I love.
How My Elder Care Experience Started
Before getting into long term care, I worked
in several hospitals, mostly in the Intensive Care Units. It was there that I
met an administrator who encouraged me to go back to school and get my master’s
degree in healthcare administration. Toward the end of my university program, I
completed my administrative residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas
(where President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead).
Nursing Homes
After Parkland, my career took a turn from
acute care to long term care. This is actually where my elder care experience began. I went to work for a nursing home and spent the next 16 years working as a nursing
home administrator. Working in nursing homes was difficult in many ways. I
watched the deterioration of the residents’ mental clarity and their physical
decline knowing that it was part of the aging process but thinking also, that
removing them from their home must have been a factor in their decline.
Home Health
After 16 years in the business, I reached burn-out and decided it was time to make a change. That’s when I decided to go into the home health business and I went into it boldly. I started my agency out of my home on my dining room table with a four-drawer file cabinet and a small Sears word processor that had a one line, probably 32 character screen. With it, I typed the required applications for Medicare, Medicaid, state licensing, policies and procedures, etc.
It wasn’t long before I was able to move into a leased office space. We grew very quickly through word-of-mouth which in my opinion is the best advertising you can get. Of course, the word-of-mouth spread because of the quality of care we were providing.
In the late 1990’s, Medicare changed its
reimbursement methodology which created a cash-flow problem for many home
health agencies including mine. Many home health agencies closed their doors
and lost everything. I was lucky to find a buyer and sold my company.
Adult Day Care
I soon found myself
developing, licensing, and certifying with Medicaid yet another long term care
business……adult day care, where I worked for 10 years adding to my elder care experience.
The Wellness Center
My work and elder care experience in Adult Day Care was rewarding but again, after 10 years I was ready for a change when a hospital called and recruited me to start up yet another type of business…….... this time a Wellness Center. This job was one of my most enjoyable jobs I’ve ever had. It was a beautiful facility that we built through Federal grant funding. I was able to interact with the clients who were of all ages and health conditions. Some were young and very athletic and others were elderly and in much need of exercise or rehabilitation. My elder care experience and my education in health care management was a valuable asset in administering that program.
The project was funded by a Federal grant that the CEO had written. It was intended to be seed money that would have the Center become self-sustaining after the grant ran out. The town of 2,000 inhabitants could not support it financially and I, along with two of my colleagues lost our jobs.
My Work Continues
After losing my job, I contemplated retirement while I searched for work. At my age, it is difficult to find work when employers are looking for young people who will work for less and have a promising long career with the company. I think we all know that most young people are in a job for maybe 3 years and move on to better jobs. So while I contemplated retirement, I received an offer to go to work in one of the biggest and busiest hospitals in the country, working in case management coordinating home health care. Right up my alley.
After interviewing, I was offered the job and took it and am still working there to this day (2016) and my elder care experience continues.
So, while I still have a job, I am preparing for the day when I will retire and work for myself with my own Solo Build It! Website and continue to stay mentally active. I’m looking forward to being able to go anywhere with my laptop computer and still work on something that I’m passionate about and am no longer tied to a desk or a building; and best of all, my website will be working for me while I sleep or take it easy fishing on the bay.
If you’re like me and you’re looking for some extra cash on a regular basis or you want to build an online business that you can build on for the rest of your life, then a website that just keeps working for you 24/7 while you vacation might be your ticket.
If you have a favorite vacation site, a hobby or are passionate about something that you can write about, you too can set up your own website and make money with it...... and you don’t have to be a 5th grade computer wizard to do it. If I can do it, you can too.
Click on the box below and see how ordinary people like me are profiting from their own online business and enjoying working from home or wherever they may be with their computer.
