The Collapse of Caregiving in Meaford!

I haven't mentioned problems with finding caregivers recently, but all of a sudden they've come back to haunt us!  Specifically VON, the agency that has provided my caregiving for the past several years, is running out of staff!

It's hard to express how much we depend on these caregivers, referred to as PSWs (Personal Support Workers) here in Ontario.  I have had a PSW visit every morning and evening to help me out of and then into bed.  Without them Mrs. F.G. has to step in and do the same work.

Being paralyzed from the chest down, I use a ceiling lift.  A sling gets spread beneath me and the straps are hooked to the lift.  I'm the one who presses the buttons to make the life rise, dangling me beneath it.  The PSW steers me into my wheelchair beside the bed (or vice versa in the evening).  There's more to it than that, but hopefully you get the idea.

Until a month ago VON had four staff to cover the visits in Meaford, two full-time positions, one part-time position, and one for evenings.  This gave each PSW every other weekend off, and one day off each week.  The part-time position was available to fill in, and I was also covered for evening visits.  Now we're down to only two full-time positions, and no evening service at all.

In the past week we have had no support in the mornings on five occasions in addition to no visits in the evening.  That's a dramatic decline in support compared to a few weeks ago!

Looking ahead I don't know what is going to happen.  One of the two full-time PSWs is returning to school in January, so hopefully they can fill that position.  I did talk to the manager (I'm not one to hesitate calling to complain).  But she informed me that they weren't planning to fill the evening position.  I couldn't believe my ears!  I can understand not getting applicants for such a position, but not even advertising it is a dereliction of duty in my books!

So I thank my lucky stars that we have an older woman living nearby who will come and help.  She's got lots of experience having worked in this field for many years.  But as for VON, I'm pissed!