Re: Health Aides making beds.

[Guest guest]

It all depends on where you get your PCAs. Agencies are very institutional in

their thinking. They do not understand that nobody lives in a vacuum. I am on a

self directed program in Massachusetts where I hire and manage my own PCA's. I

believe my PCA should do all the things I would do if I was not disabled. They

are my hands. When I interview PCA's I tell them I am married and they help me

do household things such as all the laundry, making the bed where we both sleep,

and helping me make breakfast and dinner, etc. When I have a friend over they

help me in the kitchen making coffee and serving dessert with me (remember, not

as a maid, but doing it with me as my hands). I make it clear to them that they

enable me to be as independent as possible and have the same opportunities and

relationships as everyone else. If you are on a self-directed program and your

PCA says she does not have to make the bed because of you and your husband sleep

in it, I would

tell her to find another job. If we all stand firm on these things the world

will move closer to the independent living model and away from the medical

model.

 

Regards,

Patti

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