Well hello everyone! A great deal has happened since my last blog so on your mark, get ready, here we go!
As of July 28th 2016 I am no longer employed with the Billings Montana Mental Health Center. As the sign above clearly shows my feelings for the situation, I will enlighten you all on the circumstances.
Medicaid has taken it upon themselves to rewrite the duties that I and other case managers like me have been doing for many years. Suddenly, we were no longer allowed to "assist" our clients with any of their activities of daily living such as grocery shopping, ensuring they made it to their doctor appointments, assist them in getting food boxes or even taking action if we suspected abuse toward them or by them toward someone else. We no longer can transport them anywhere. The higher ups stated that all those duties were to be done by a Rehab Aid but the problem is...the office has none and won't hire any. This leaves the clients who have no car or money for a taxi or bus pass with nothing.
The other issue was that we were being told to be "creative" with our notes so that if we did end up doing some of these duties, we could get paid for them. This basically set all of us up to lie about what we were doing with the clients. I have never done well with change and after doing my job for the last 18 years a specific way and telling the truth in my notes, there was no way in hell that I was going to lie about what I was doing or watch my clients suffer because they had no help.
My only solution for this situation was to leave my job and that is what I did. I am thinking about applying for a part time job to fill the next few months until I retire in April 2017 so I am hunting on the job sites and applying for different jobs. I really do not want to work with mentally ill persons anymore so I am looking for more of a normal type of job. At 61 I think I could do bagging at the grocery store and just work when I want to.
It pains me deeply to see the clients suffering now. I had persons on my case load who had no money, no car and couldn't get a bus pass. They desperately needed the assistance that I gave them. To rip that service out from under them was wrong, cruel and frankly, really stupid. I foresee the Mental Health Center falling apart in the near future.
I did very well at the Montana State Fair this year. I made a Steampunk style chess board and designed the pieces myself. I received a blue ribbon for this. I also received some ribbons for photographs and other jewelry items that I put in. I also was given a Best of Show for a piece of jewelry that I designed. All in all, I was quite happy with it.
My whole life is up in the air at this moment. I don't know what to do or how to do it. I have lost 65% of my income and am living on my VA income only. When all is paid, I have $88.00 left to last me until the next pay day so it seems that I will need to find another source of income very soon to last me until retirement. I hope that I can find something fairly easy to do that I will value. I had thought of going into business for myself as an independent case manager but by the time I even started making money, I would be retiring so that did not seem practical.
I am getting the itch to head out of town and do some grandkid lovin or take a trip for a few weeks but I would need to get some income before I do this. However, I really would like to see my daughter and the children.
So folks, that is my story for now. I'll update as things go along but for right now I am dirt poor and feeling it. As always, Cheers! Freedancer
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