tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-947964490177680498.post3666420437007252510..comments2023-09-30T08:18:57.378-05:00Comments on Pipecleaner Dreams: Love My SmileAshley's Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621835327282616218noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-947964490177680498.post-75023465127171655702010-08-18T19:52:27.791-05:002010-08-18T19:52:27.791-05:00I'm sorry it took me so long to come back to c...I'm sorry it took me so long to come back to check for comments. Our life has been pretty topsy-turvy for a few weeks.<br /><br />We both wish so very, very much it could be different. And this is one of the "better" companies in the local area according to friends with disabilities. I simply can't grasp that. <br /><br />There were other incidents that made it clear this was not an environment he could work in as well. He was heartbroken about leaving, and how it all happened, but I think for him, and his mental health, it was for the best. <br /><br />I truly believe he'd have a case under the whistleblower protections, but he won't follow up on it because he doesn't want life to get any worse for those clients. And he's sure the house manager *would* make it worse, at least until she is removed from her job. We're just hoping it's soon. VERY soon. We know the investigation is proceeding. But it seems most days that glaciers move faster.<br /><br />I sometimes wonder if he should try working for another organization, but worry that he will have been blacklisted as a troublemaker, and what it would do to him to be fired a second time. All he wants to do is help people, and make their lives a little better. It's that helping that feeds his soul in so many critical ways that no other job does. He *needs* to be helping others.<br /><br />It shouldn't be that hard.Heatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03205035567123747141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-947964490177680498.post-78321996681020709742010-07-23T07:34:34.838-05:002010-07-23T07:34:34.838-05:00Heather, it just doesn't seem to me that runni...Heather, it just doesn't seem to me that running a group home has to be that difficult. I feel like I run a group home since I have 5 children and 4 of them have disabilties.<br /><br />Why can't there be more of a family/home environment? Why the need for rigidity?<br /><br />The world needs more people like your husband...Ashley's Momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05621835327282616218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-947964490177680498.post-24477774824080312472010-07-23T04:23:01.994-05:002010-07-23T04:23:01.994-05:00Sadly, I think it's largely in how the homes ...Sadly, I think it's largely in how the homes are run/managed. My husband used to work in group homes before we moved to the US (from Canada). He had worked himself sick, literally, and was very burned out. I think in some ways the years spent waiting for a greencard so he could work were a good thing. He decided this spring to get back into the field. The only one he has ever wanted to work in. The one he spent 10 (mostly) happy years in. And one that gives him so much happiness I can't describe it. We are thankfully lucky enough to be in a position where his income is, if not unneeded, at least not critical to our survival. So long as he's bringing in *some* money, I don't even care about how horrible the pay in group homes is, because he gets so much out of it. <br /><br />His return to the career he loved was short lived, however. He was fired because he made muffins for breakfast at the request of one of the residents. Not because there was any medical reason not to (no food allergies/digestion problems etc, this was something they ate regularly). But because they weren't planned. For that day. They weren't on the menu list for that morning. (They were for two days later...)<br /><br />This home was so rigid, you couldn't swap breakfasts between two days in the week to make the clients happy. How sad is that? I'm sorry for my husband who had to deal with being fired for the first time in his life, and from doing something he loved. But I'm MUCH more upset for the poor kids who live in that house.Heatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03205035567123747141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-947964490177680498.post-23663864873969432762010-06-23T09:04:35.379-05:002010-06-23T09:04:35.379-05:00that is sad....that is sad....Nina Dianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17266778666522633081noreply@blogger.com