I did home health for 4 years and for the most part really enjoyed it. I then transitioned to an assisted living facility and I’m really starting to hate it.
Management is absolutely awful. Not only to staff but to residents. I had one mentally competent resident he is “holding his family back” from coming in and screaming at management Becuase of how he is treated. I get so anxious and sick coming into work. I get yelled and screamed at for trying to advocate residents needs. I’ve been here two years and haven’t even had a preformance evaluation. They threaten write ups consistently but nobody ever gets them even when they most certainly should. This place is tearing me down. I always hear people say that it’s this way at any facility you go to. So now I’m really thinking maybe this isn’t for me. Do I care too much? Not enough? Idk how to handle this. I feel like I’m going crazy. And I really am starting to become sick, and fatigued and I’m anxious all the time. I’m stuck. I’m unable to leave due to my financial situation. I have to make a certain amount to be able to support myself and my family. I cannot afford college nor spare the time. I just honestly don’t know what to do anymore.
Only you can answer if "elderly care" is for you. Or are you feeling that way because of bad maybe even hostile work environment?
If you see ANYONE being mistreated you should report that to either HR (I am hoping they are not as inept as the co-workers you describe) Or contact the Ombudsman. Typically the Ombudsman would get calls, complaints from family members or even residents but I would think a call from an employee would generate a response.
Now, back to you.
I would begin looking for another job.
Other facilities.
return to Home Health.
Depending on your Certification and Training maybe a Hospital
And again depending on Certification Hospice. (there are In Patient Units as well as going to peoples homes or yes into Facilities.
And if you do not have Certification the Certification for a CNA is not that long and some companies will pay for your classes. As far as College many offer On Line programs so time and cost is not as much as an issue. Many will also accept "life experience" for some credits.
Or, consider working for an agency. I've worked with 2 agencies for 2 relatives. They happen to be well-run businesses with good management. There are definitely businesses with terrible management. Don't stay anywhere with poor conditions for employees -- as you already are experiencing it will impact you negatively on every level. They don't deserve you.
You can look for gigs on Nextdoor.com, but if you're going to be your own boss, you need to know about being a 1099 contractor or an actual employee of your private client -- the rules vary by state.
Caregivers are in short supply and so needed today.
As to your problems it is difficult to assess what's happening, but I doubt that it is "the same everywhere" as you have been told. Good caregivers are hard to come by and are treasured in a lot of places, so I would look for other employment.
I think that you should speak with your administration first. It is a two way road and you state you have had no eval in two years. THAT isn't standard and isn't the norm. So ask for a meeting with your administration and discuss openly what the situation is. Ask them how you are doing and listen with an open heart to their assessment. Give yourself time to think about it and you will know what your next move should be. Then follow Geaton's advise. The world is full of need of your skills.
Its like any job, ALs are not perfect but this one seems to be very poorly run. No oversight for the people left in charge.
The mission statement usually blathers about how they center the person in a homelike environment with local chef created cuisine. How that translates to real life is that typically they want staff to checklist that they’ve gotten residents up, feed and dress them, and check and change depends and diapers. The faster, the better. The job definitely doesn’t entail going to anyone’s family or the state with your concerns. You say you need the job, after all.
You go to the state on your way out when you've got another job. If the abuses are severe a worker can go to the state anonymously and not even have to give their name. It's a matter of conscience.
Homecare has it's pros and cons too. For example there's never a guarantee of hours. Very few pay benefits, and really homecare aides don't earn enough to live on. This is the reality. If you were to go into homecare again you know that a client can drop you for any reason even over some imaginary nonsense that they confabulated. You still lose those hours though and agencies can't guarantee you'll have those hours made back up immediately. That uncertainty is one of the cons of homecare. One of the pros is there isn't workplace politics to deal with. Although, you do have to be careful if you share an a position with another caregiver. There's a lot of back-stabbing in homecare if one aide on a job likes a client and may want more hours with them. With me, if I find one aide is trying to push another off an assignment because they want the hours or want them for a friend, so they're talking about an aide to the client and family, first strike they take a pay cut. If it happens again, I reduce their hours to next to nothing so they have to quit us. I always find out too.
If you have good references register with a few employment websites and look for a position in a better quality AL. In the meantime, learn how to compartmentalize at work. You can't fix our nation's broken elder care system. What you can do is provide good care to whoever is assigned to you on your shift. You can live by a good work ethic. If you get a job in a different AL, turn this one into every state agency you can on your way out.
If where you work is making you anxious and sick, it's not worth it. Go somewhere else, but no care facility is going to be perfect.