Posted on 04/11/2007 5:05:49 AM PDT by seanmerc
NEW YORK - Democrat presidential contender John Edwards spends his days shaking hands, giving speeches and persuading wealthy donors to write hefty checks.
On Wednesday, Edwards is slated to get a taste of how the other half works as he toils on the early shift at the Sarah Neuman Nursing Home in Mamaroneck, a northern suburb of New York, waking patients, serving breakfast and living _ for a few hours, anyway _ the life of a $14-per-hour health care aide.
Edwards' visit is part of the "Walk a Day in My Shoes" campaign organized by the politically influential Service Employees International Union. In January, SEIU announced it would invite all the 2008 presidential candidates to spend a day on the job with one of its members, most of whom work in hospitals and other health care facilities.
With organized labor one of the most powerful influences in Democratic politics, several of the party's candidates have accepted SEIU's invitation, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chris Dodd and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. But Edwards is the first to actually take part in a work visit.
Similar work visits were a favorite campaign approach by Democrat Bob Graham, the former Florida governor and senator who competed briefly for the presidential nomination in 2004.
Graham tried his hand at a range of jobs beginning in 1974, working as a chicken plucker, sheet metal worker and busboy, among other things. He completed over 400 work visits before retiring from politics in 2004.
Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, will join Elaine Ellis, 58, a certified nursing assistant who has worked at the Sarah Neuman home for 18 years. Edwards will stop by Ellis' apartment for breakfast before heading to the nursing home, where they'll clock in for the 6:30 a.m. shift.
Ellis, a Democrat who is undecided in the presidential contest, said she believes such work opportunities help illuminate for politicians the challenges facing the health care system and health care workers.
And while she acknowledged the event will be a be a prime photo opportunity for Edwards, who has vigorously courted organized labor throughout his presidential bid, she said his visit will have substantive value, too.
"It shouldn't be just PR," Ellis said. "It should be to educate the people who want to make decisions in the White House about what to do when they talk about health care."
Ellis, a divorced mother of four, said that for 10 years she worked double shifts, five days a week at the nursing home to support her children and help pay for college.
"America is a rich country," she said. "There should be health care for young and old."
Simplistic, idiotic pandering. What a fraud!
Can you imagine? All of the stuff that nursing home patients have to deal with and here comes Edwards looking for a photo op. Good grief!
My God, is there anything this fraud won’t do?
Will make you want to hurl ping.
“John Edwards spends his days shaking hands, giving speeches and persuading wealthy donors to write hefty checks.”
Yet, he can’t walk next door and meet his “Republican Republican neighbor”?
“America is a rich country,” she said. “There should be health care for young and old.”... There is. Pay your share.
“On Wednesday, Edwards is slated to get a taste of how the other half works as he toils on the early shift at the Sarah Neuman Nursing Home in Mamaroneck, a northern suburb of New York, waking patients, serving breakfast and living _ for a few hours, anyway _ the life of a $14-per-hour health care aide.”
***
Toil? I doubt it. They’ll give him a mop to hold as he mugs for the camera. That’s about it.
This guy would have no clue as to the hard work these good people do for the elderly and infirm. I know I can’t do it and I consider myself fairly strong. This guy I know couldn’t handle it. Might muss up his hair or he’ll break a fingernail.
If I were a loved one of one of the patients, I’d try to spirit my family member away for the day.
Bob Graham was a master at using this strategy.
All Graham would need to do is do these little work days and the electorate went gagagogo over him. Bob was the "working mans" politician even when punishing the working man by raising their taxes every year.
Isn’t this a HIPAA violation?
Wonder if he’s gonna help change their diapers and shower and clothe them as well?
See #10.
Now that would be a photo op!
He’s going to register all the Alzheimers’ patients to vote.
I don’t think he’s a qualified health professional. I think someone should file a claim when Mr. Edwards lays a hand on one of the people at the facility (not that he’ll be wiping any butts or doing any heavy lifting). But it’s still a matter of due diligence.
If this is going to be like his ditch digging in New Orleans on the day he announced he war running for president, The nursing home won’t have to send his uniform out to be cleaned at the end of the day.
That was one of the best facilities in the state at the time, but it was still a humbling and sometimes painful experience. It wasn't what I would call glamorous work, but I'm glad I did it.
The nights there were largely uneventful, and left me time to study. But there was one incident when I was working a day shift on the weekends around Christmas. The place was filled with Boy Scouts who had come to sing and to cheer up the patients. A young nurses aide (who was a new hire) and I were checking on a woman who had been admitted the day before in an unconscious state, and wasn't expected to last long. While we were there checking her vitals etc, she passed away in her sleep. It was comparatively peaceful, and she certainly felt no pain, but this was a first for the new hire, and she over reacted somewhat.
Her first instinct was apparently to go running through the boy scout crowded hallway looking for the RN for that wing, and screaming at the top of her lungs "OH GOD PLEASE SOMEONE HELLLLPPPP !!! MRS. XXXXXXXXXX HAS DIED!!!!!!!!!!"
Years later I heard that she had decided not to become a nurse after all and ended up a dental assistant. I think that was probably a good move for her.
He should fulfill ALL the duties of the job. Especially diaper & “accident” duty. All we’ll see are pictures of him “serving breakfast’ & pouring water. What a pandering phony opportunistic fake!
My word, what’s he gonna do next? Work as a cusodian at the “meel”?
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