Interview with Kim McLeod

Very sad situation

November 27, 2009  at   12:58:35PM

Gov't needs to wake up. All people who care for people with disabilities are very underpaid. It takes a special person to care for these cllients, so gov't do the right thing.

twins with Cerebal Palsy

November 27, 2009  at   11:58:03AM

I am a single parent that has raised my kids for 18 years and have struggled constantly with hiring cargivers. This summer I advertised 8 different ads and still never hired a caregiver. The wages are too low and the work is extrememly hard.

PDD cuts to services

November 08, 2009  at   8:55:46PM

As an employee in this field - supporting Adults with Developmental Disabilities for over 20 years, I have grave concerns for the quality and quantity of support available. These cuts hinder what we have been hanging on to. Wages, beneifits and training took a hard hit over the past three years - affects hiring and retention of employees. Now the promised 5% increase that turned into a 2% bonus that no one has yet recieved is frustrated by a province wide demand to returned dollars or reduced contracts to agencies and families provided support. We already have trimmed services to the bone and have little incentive to keep workers. In addition the people coming out of AB hospital will have no where to go (last I heard about 40% of folks designated for community support fall under PDD mandate as well). Families are already maxed, quality of workers in jeopary, more people needing services on the horizon AND little or no insight from government funders. What will become of these people? What about those that don't have families to pick up some weekend support? Will thy neighbor help more? Are we moving backwards to a more expensive and less rewarding style of support like institutional care? What would you want if your child or grandchild had a disability that required some form of life long support? Would you be okay with this treatment by PDD or the Alberta Government?

Wage review for care-givers

November 08, 2009  at   8:52:46PM

It is only fair that the Government of Alberta review existing wages and salaries provided for caregivers of handicapped persons in Alberta with a serious attempt to develop equal wage scales to be put into place guaranteeing that those needing the services of qualified care can receive such. Individuals should not have to compete with "doughnuts" to be financially able to hire those people wishing to provide the services and willing to be available to work at a competitive pay.

From Northwest Alberta

November 08, 2009  at   4:19:37PM

I sent a factual, respectful letter to Premier Stelmach in April 2007, outlining my concerns for the grave lack of caregivers in the Northwest which negatively affects my family. My letter and concerns were not even acknowledged, let alone answered. Usually you can at least expect a useless "Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention" reply. It is pretty clear to me where my family stands in they eyes of the Alberta government, despite all their mission and value statements to the contrary.

I am a former caregiver

November 07, 2009  at   12:41:33AM

I spent over twenty years in preschool and school age care situations. for that i have a bad back, and no pension.... i also have another career now. Calgary used to have a day care with nurses on staff so that feed tubes, colostomy bags, epilepsy medications, etc etc etc were all taken care of.... no reason why day care and family support can't happen still. But it has been dismantled, so it won't happen in Colby's lifetime... I couldn't afford to go back to school to professionally qualify myself for a position I had "grown into", through my passion for equality for humanity... so career change provided a bigger paycheque, (about double) with a pension attached.