I’m not sure which one but one of the old white male republicans was on MSNBC at 5:30 talking about how in his state having 300,000 people on medicaid is way to many and they need to get people off of it. He used the “we need work requirements” like that republicans always use when taking away help to poor people. As a care giver who lives below the poverty level let me tell you “Kiss my ass”. I do more in one month than you do in a year and I do it for 5% of the money and no benefits that you receive.
While you’re working one of your 120 days a year while while having your food, gym, insurance, travel, hair cuts etc. all paid for by hard working taxpayers I’m now on day 4,500 of not sleeping in a bed and never getting more than 5 hours in a days sleep (I say day because the last night of sleep I got was April 2015). And I have to buy my own food, pay my own travel and cut my own hair and sometimes go without luxuries like running water, heat and haven’t had health care since 2012.
From 2005 — St. Patrick’s day 2012 I would work from 2Pm-10Pm then come home, shower and take care of my disabled father from 11Pm — Noon while my mother worked in a factor so he could have insurance. I would often go days without sleep and ignore my own illnesses. In 2012 my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer the the surgery almost killed her, while she did return it left her disabled like my father). I chose to leave my job to become a full time caregiver for both of them.
My day would be pretty routine
8AM take my father to bathroom get him washed up and changed for day
9AM take my mother to bathroom get her washed up and changed for day
10AM — Noon Make sure they take all their pills and get them food
Noon — while my father was working on his puzzle I would put my mother in his power chair to watch TV while walking to get mail and groceries
1Pm — While Mother is watching TV and father is doing puzzle I would throw my mattress on the floor in the next room and get some sleep. Usually 3 hours before my father needed to use the bathroom or my mother needed her colostomy bag changed.
4PM get supper going
5PM — put my mother back in bed and my father in his power chair so they could watch TV
5P-7P get things done like house cleaning, laundry, getting pills filled etc.
8P — get father ready for bed
9P — get mother ready for bed (they would watch TV until
10P-3A — watch TV while they did so when they yelled for me because they needed anything from the fridge or use the bathroom (or colostomy bag changed) I could go help them
3A — they finally went to sleep so I threw my mattress back down and would sleep 2 hours before one had to use the bathroom
That has been my day for pretty much the last 12 years — Not a day off and no time for myself. I did start getting paid through a waiver program through Medicaid as a caregiver for my father. 3 hours a day which isn’t much but every penny helps. There have been days that I go without food so we have enough medicine and so they had enough to eat. There have been months where we have the utilities shut off and received foreclosure notices and every day is a struggle.
For a year I received food stamps and Medicaid but suddenly stopped being qualified because I guess I wasn’t “lazy” enough.
I’m so glad that politicians get 200,000.00 a year in salary and a 3,000,000.00 fund to run their office (sorry have their interns run their office) because those 120 days they put in a few hours must be really hard on them or their family. I think they are seriously underpaid for all the hard work they don’t do — maybe they need a raise or more benefits as one has recently said.
So I dare you if you see me in my few minutes a year in public to tell me I am lazy or don’t work because the time I spend in jail after knocking you out will be my first “vacation” or “me” time in 12 years.
For more info on our struggles and my fight to keep my father at home like I promised my mother before she passed please check out
Veteran fight to stay home
www.gofundme.com/...