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Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

oregonlive.com

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Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#61

Post by nradov »

elil17 wrote: post #36
GaryTang wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or firefighters can continue doing their job like the rest of us, seeing that they’re some of the highest paid members of our society… I think they’re just bitter they can’t use their lazy man recliners as much as they use to. I for one am glad they are finally experiencing what it’s like to work for any private organization.

The firefighters are finding it hard to do their jobs because they're being called to help do chores for senior homes. That is what the whole article is about. It sounds to me like they wouldn't mind helping the elderly if it didn't prevent them from fulfilling their primary job of, you know, fighting fires.

Modern fire prevention techniques and building codes mean that firefighters don't spend much time actually fighting fires. Most of their calls are for vehicles crashes and medical emergencies. (And I don't intend this as a criticism of firefighters, someone has to respond to those incidents.)

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#62

Post by gruez »

john_yaya wrote: post #15

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

>The ones with no families to care for them should be in nonprofit, closely regulated facilities with well-paid staff.

how's that working for higher education? state schools aside, AFAIK most private schools are non-profit. rather than money flowing to shareholders, it'll be money flowing to bloated administrations.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#63

Post by neither_color »

bpodgursky wrote: post #40
john_yaya wrote: post #15

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

The worst part is the payment structure and how it doesn't allow real choice. If you told the 88 year old: "We can (a) pay $500,000 on treatments that will likely extend your life 1 year, or (b) put $250,000 in a tax-advantaged account to put your great-grandchildren through college", I bet that 99% of those 88 year olds would take option B and take hospice care instead. They would all prioritize their children, gran…

And in the rest of the non-nihilistic world those grandchildren would rather have one more year of grandma than any amount of money 15 years later. This whole discussion of letting seniors die to optimize economic potential is gross.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#64

Post by ErikVandeWater »

swman wrote: post #38
john_yaya wrote: post #15

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

Or we could just you know, invest into this since all of us will be old some day and some of us may, even after a life time of contribution, could face unlucky circumstances that leave us alone in the end? What's wrong with dignity for other people, I feel like trying to maximize for monetary profit is going to be our downfall.

The other end of this is depending on the government to ensure the wellbeing of the most vulnerable; the government is the one giving billions to these facilities that do not provide adequate service.

Facilities where the family pays aren't going to get away with mistreatment, because the family will choose a different facility.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#65

Post by [deleted] »

tomrod wrote: post #30
john_yaya wrote: post #15

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

So the solution is to spend less money but pay people more, and shoulder the rest on taxpayers? This probably won't work very long since the population isn't as triangular as it used to be (to my understanding this is what happened to Japan). I get the justified call to fix things for people that require these services. The US can barely afford to school its children, purchase its homes, or enact reasonable public he…

[deleted]

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#66

Post by maxerickson »

peteradio wrote: post #51
soperj wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The US can barely afford to school its children You're the richest nation on earth. You can afford it, the people who control the purse strings choose to use it on other shit that benefits themselves.

> You're the richest nation on earth* *On paper

The material abundance here is obvious, it's not just on paper.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#67

Post by mtnGoat »

Playing devils advocate here but maybe we have too many fire fighters?

I have four good friends that work in metropolitan fire houses all making well into the six figures. They constantly joke about how they get paid to do nothing and haven’t been on a fire in years, mainly they respond to calls at old folks homes. Oh and the only work a four or five days a month.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#68

Post by xyzzyz »

tomrod wrote: post #30
john_yaya wrote: post #15

Senior homes and assisted living centers are a national disgrace. They are entirely about profit maximization (what business isn’t?), and as such hire people at the exact minimum and have well over 100% yearly turnover. The staff commonly steal from residents, and the management do not care. They’d rather retain a larcenous pig who barely executes her duties than have to go back and scrape the barrel for a replacemen…

So the solution is to spend less money but pay people more, and shoulder the rest on taxpayers? This probably won't work very long since the population isn't as triangular as it used to be (to my understanding this is what happened to Japan). I get the justified call to fix things for people that require these services. The US can barely afford to school its children, purchase its homes, or enact reasonable public he…

> The US can barely afford to school its children

FWIW, US has one of the highest spend on education in the world. Among OECD countries, it is only behind Luxembourg, Norway, and Austria, and only barely so. If the educational outcomes in US are below expectations, it’s not because we spend too little, but rather because we’re not getting our money’s worth.

Re: Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

#70

Post by tomrod »

gowld wrote: post #58
titanomachy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> US is unwilling to support euthanasia I don’t know about the rest of the US, but Washington and Oregon have allowed physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill for years.

Parent was referring to physician-mandated homicide.

No, and I'm not sure how you arrived at that.

I was referencing policies like those in WA, OR, and Europe where people can choose to end their life.

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