nursing aides make very little money.....people in this country think $12 an hour is a fair wage for someone to wipe the butt of their demented “love” ones....
In my experience $12/hour would be a very well-paid nurse’s aide. Usually a certified nurse’s aide is lucky to be paid $2/hour over minimum wage.
I also have my doubts that few if anyone looking for a ‘place for mom’ ask how much the nursing staff is paid. They are usually only looking for the best place they can afford.
Three of my sisters that have worked in these places, so I am a little better educated in how they work.
The question to ask is; how many patients per aide the facility has. Don’t be satisfied if they tell you ‘the target’ or ‘state regulations require’. Most facilities routinely run understaffed. They will put people on OT when they know the inspector is coming. Pay a visit to the facility and sit at the nurse’s station and count the number of aides you see then divide by the number of beds. If I remember right there is supposed to be one aide per 6 patients. My sisters would regularly have 10 to 12.
I worked as a nurse aide (Orderly, actually) for $1.15 and hour and wiped people’s butts. Some of them weren’t very nice. I remember one lady particularly. She was very rude and it seemed curious to me she was so nasty considering the parts of her I had had to tolerate. This was all before I went to Medical School. I sort of made it a point to quit wiping asses after that.