Experienced, Educated, Skilled Support Worker Seeking Employment
Description
To whom it may concern,
My name is Victoria and I have been providing support in various capacities for well over a decade. While I have been working professionally in the field for approximately 10 years, I also consider my 5 years of volunteer work prior to be extremely pertinent and valuable. As of today, I am in the process of wrapping up my first year of Practical Nursing.
Before I continue, what follows is a list of the certificates I have obtained throughout my years of practice; I am in good standing for all 7 provincially recognized core competencies and can provide verification for all that are listed below:
-Standard First Aid, CPR & AED - Level C: St. John Ambulance - December 6th, 2020
-Mental Health First Aid: Mental Health Commissions of Canada, July 7th, 2011
-Psychiatric Medications ("including discussion of illness and mental status exam"): Forest Hill Drug Mart, August 13th, 2018
- Medication Awareness Training: Cape Breton Residential Society, June 16th, 2015
- Fire and Life Safety: Scotchtown Volunteer Dire Department, June 18th, 2015
-Positive Principals and Practices of Non-Aversive Behavior Change: Cape Breton Residential Society, June 9th, 2015
-Individual Program Planning: Cape Breton Residential Society, June 9th, 2015
-Basic Principals and Practices of Personal Care: Cape Breton Residential Society, June 10th, 2015
-Non-Violent Crisis Intervention: Community Health Services, November 21st, 2021
-National Food and Safety Program: Restaurants Canada, May 2nd, 2018
-P.A.C.E (lift/medical devices training): Aware N.S, December 28th, 2018
-W.H.M.I.S: Nova Scotia Community College, November 15th, 2019
-Occupational Health and Safety Act: Nova Scotia Community College, November 15th, 2019
-Dementia; Understanding the Journey: Nova Scotia Community College, November 23rd, 2022
-Glucose Monitoring: Internation StatStrip 1.75 Glucose Ketone mmol Ca, March 2nd, 2023
To give you a better idea of my experience, I'll speak to some of the positions I've held over the past 10 years:
-Community Residential Worker: in-home support. Cooking, cleaning, medication administration, reporting/documenting, implementing programming, providing personal care, physio/R.O.M, lifting/transferring (with use of mechanical lifts) etc.
-Mental Health Support Worker: in-home/community based mental health support, extensive experience with psychosis related disorders, specifically Paranoid/Disorganized/Undifferentiated Schizophrenia as well as Schizoaffective Disorder. Extensive experience in mood/anxiety disorder support. Solid experience in addictions.
-Independent Living Support Worker: commuting from client to client living independently in the community (was sole support for many individuals). Scheduling/accompanying clients to appointments, completing grocery shopping, meal prepping, cleaning, providing recreation/companionship, providing financial support, etc.
-Youth Support Worker: was the sole participant in a pilot program via the Department Of Community Services. Providing respite/programming for 2 extremely vulnerable 16 years olds. Working very closely with each client to foster positive community engagement/teach life skills.
-Private Care Worker: Provided private care to various families. Extensive experience with ASD, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Epilepsy, etc. Completing approved physio routines. Extensive experience in ambulatory/mobility support: lifts, transfers, walkers, canes, motorized/non-motorized wheel chairs, etc. Assisting with homework/programming/employment seeking etc.
-Tutor: Met weekly with a high-school student to provide educational support. Organizing/planning/lesson review/teaching proper study habits, etc.
-Nursing Student: Maintained honors. Spent 60 hours in long-term care and approximately 300 hours in acute care (hospital setting). While I am not yet licensed to perform certain nursing skills (i.v. initiation, catheterization, blood transfusions, tracheotomy care, etc.), I have the knowledge to monitor such treatments and am well versed in health assessment. I can also provide outlines for the pertinent courses I've taken to date (Anatomy and Physiology, Alterations, Growth and Development, Dementia: Understanding the Journey, Nursing Skills I&II, Health Assessment, etc.)
While this may seem long-winded, I'd like to provide a bit of insight on the philosophy I've developed over my many years of practice:
Throughout my time in the field, I feel I have established an incredibly strong sense of what I believe to be the pillars of good support: respect, independence, autonomy, and empathy. It has been so deeply saddening to work in a space where those who require care are so often dehumanized/infantilized. I stand firmly by the fact that all bodies/brains are beautiful, creative, intelligent, adaptive, unique, hardworking, resilient and - most importantly - deserving of love and respect.
I've always despised the saying "respect is earned, not given". Respect is the baseline - it should be afforded to every human-being who is not intentionally causing harm. A good support worker respects their client's thoughts, feelings, wants, needs, space, body, time, routines and choices. Respect fosters trust, and trust paves the way to growth.
I believe your mind and body are your own. A proper support worker doesn't seek to control or manipulate their client; a good support worker simply plants themselves firmly by their client's side and helps them to weather their own storm. Caring for someone takes patience - something many lack in this sector . It can be challenging to watch someone make choices that you don't necessarily agree with, though that's precisely what you must do. It's our job to provide education and strongly encourage good choices, but at the end of the day, autonomy is everything. You have to give your client as much independence as possible, even if that means their morning routine takes twice as long if simply to allow them to chose their own clothing, put on their own socks, or make their own breakfast. Good support workers take the time not to do for, but to allow clients to do for themselves (when appropriate).
Lastly, and of the the utmost importance, a good support worker has empathy. Though we can't ever claim to know what it feels like to walk in another's shoes, it's imperative that we empathize with the extreme highs and lows, the successes and the failures. The world is not built for disabled/neurodivergent/elderly people and it's important to be able to feel how defeating that must be. Being able to empathize with those who see life through a different lens is key to fostering their success.
Should you chose to hire me, to care for yourself or a loved one, the following is a list of some of the services I am able to provide:
-Cleaning
-Grocery shopping, meal planning, cooking
-Appointment scheduling/accompaniment
-Errands/transportation (I have a safe vehicle with 2 million coverage and permission to transport clients)
-Programming support
-Budgeting/financial support
-Recreation/companionship
-Access to community services (very familiar with various programs in the HRM)
-Tutoring (dependent on level of support required)
-Personal care + thorough perineal/cath care
-ROM
-lifting/transferring
-Health Assessment
-Vital monitoring (if equipment is provided)
-Glucose monitoring
-Medication administration/ordering/refilling,
-Etc.
For the months of June, July, and August, I have very few limitations in terms of scheduling; Come September, when I return to school, my availability will be limited. I will be happy to provide proof of certificates and references (along with my Nova Scotia Community College portfolio) upon request. Feel free to contact me via email at: victoriamackinnon.19@hotmail.ca or by phone at 902-877-0647 (please leave a message if I am unable to respond).
Very much looking forward to hearing from you,
Victoria
- Company: Kijiji
jobs | healthcare
2023-07-06