Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Why Is Everything A Fight?

It's looking like I'm not going to be working at the hospital now. I'm so pissed off. Everything's a fight these days. I feel like everything's spiraling down right now. There are no jobs out there right now and I feel more for the people in need of mental health care than for myself. There is nowhere for mental health professionals to work in New Orleans. There's nowhere for people in need of mental health services to go. This city has become a joke. What's it going to take to fix this? Is anything being done. I read about it in the newspapers every day, polititcians complain about it every day, I've signed petitions for things to get done, the city has a budget surplus of millions, but NOTHING is being done!

So back to the issue of me not having a job at the hospital. The hospital gave me their "offer letter" today. Now keep in mind that they left a message on my answering machine saying that they had hired me and I just needed to come fill out all of the paper work before they had even asked me if I wanted the job! So I assumed the pay would be decent. The offer they gave me today was 75 cents less an hour than what I'm getting payed now as a PCA. A PCA requires a high school degree. What I do as a PCA is assist people with physical and mental disabilities in their daily care and any other emotional or physical needs they may have. With a Master's degree, this hospital wants to offer me 75 cents less. I told them that considering I have a Master's now and that the job is on the weekend, I couldn't accept anything less than 75 cents more than what I'm making now an hour and she basically told me that's not possible.

My salary now is nothing huge, trust me. I never expect to be rich in the counseling profession. I know it's not a lucrative career and I'm not in it for the money. But what these people want to pay me, I cannot live off of. I think that it's ridiculous that with a Master's degree I could make less money than what some people at McDonald's are making right now in New Orleans. It's pathetic. Something needs to be done with the state of mental health care in New Orleans. Salaries need to be improved for the workers, more facilities need to opened, services need to be more readily available to the public, and the whole system just needs a basic makeover. At this rate, I'm going to have to leave the city that I've come to love and look for a job in other states. I'm only looking for something in the $35,000/yr range. In New Orleans, I'd be very lucky to find anything around $30,000. And that would be on the high end.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ugh, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. Sounds like a nightmare.

chrisa511 said...

That's what it seems to be turning into. Sheesh...Thanks for the support Quix :)

Booklogged said...

We do seem to be living in a topsy-turvy world. So many things are mixed up. I'm sorry to hear about your job nightmare.

Carl V. Anderson said...

Sorry that all fell out the way it did. You may not want to hear this now and I don't mean it as pat as it sounds, but things in N.O. will get better. Seriously. Things with mental health? Hey, you know that I'm in the field and deal with it every day. I constantly have to hire people and hope and pray that good people will take jobs at much less than they honestly should be making. Its rough.

That being said, I think things work out if you just hang in there. Move to K.C., I'll put you to work tomorrow!!! ;)

Carl V. Anderson said...

Oh, and I forgot to say, LOVE the new header!!!

chrisa511 said...

Booklogged, Your right. Things are mixed up. It's not just the mental health thing, there seems to be a general disquiet. I guess I shouldn't bitch and complain when there are bigger problems, but at the same time, it feels good to vent.

Carl, Just bought my ticket and I'm on my way! LOL...but seriously, I really have considered it. I've started looking in other states just to see what's out there. I know it's not a lucrative field and like I said, I don't want lots of money...just enough to pay off my loans and my car and to cover my rent and food....and maybe a book or ten a month ;) I'm just going to keep looking. Glad you like the new header...thought you would :)

Bookfool said...

Love your new banner! I need to learn how to make banners - that's one thing I haven't gotten around to learning.

So sorry about your job situation. And, shoot, you should leap on Carl's offer and move to Kansas City - it is a beautiful city; my parents lived there for 10 years (I was a toddler when we moved to OK) and absolutely loved it. Barring that, I wish you much luck. Have you looked into the Mississippi Gulf Coast? You know my neurologist moved to Gulfport, so it very well could be that there's an active need for mental health professionals, also. Mississippi is doing a bang-up job of rebuilding. There's a really positive attitude, on the MS coast; I've been absolutely blown away by the way government officials have stayed so upbeat, even within days of utter destruction.

chrisa511 said...

Hey Bookfool, Blogger actually made it pretty easy to make banners now. Do you use blogger? I've looked into Mississippi quite a bit actually. It's definitely a possibility. It's close to home too! And Carl's offer is really tempting. I'd really love to move to a different part of the country. Just from what I've seen on his blog it looks like a wonderful place that actually gets all 4 seasons during the year! Imagine that! Here it's just winter or summer!

DesLily said...

I hope you don't go too long without a job Chris.. after all B&N might go out of business if you didn't drop by there so often! :o)

Seriously.. I hope something works out soon.

Bookfool said...

Chris,

Yes, I use blogger. I tried to make a banner, once (like the cat photo at the bottom of the page), but I did something wrong and had the regular header overlaid on top of the banner. Do you need to delete the title? I think that may have been my problem.

Kansas does have 4 very distinctive seasons - so does Oklahoma. I really missed the change of seasons, when we moved here. Now, I just crave winter. :)

chrisa511 said...

Thanks Deslily, I'm hoping something comes along soon too!

Bookfool, Once you add a photo to the header and click save, if you go back to edit, there's a little button you can click that says something like "use photo instead of header?" and there you go! Then, if you want to get rid of the border that still hangs around behind the picture, just make the border the same color as your background. Does that make any sense? :p I tend to not make a whole lot of sense.

Stephanie said...

Oh man....I'm sorry this is happening. It's really a sad thing when baseball players make Millions and people that we really need like teachers and counselors can't even afford gas!

I really hope something comes up for you. Know that I'll be sending good luck wishes your way!

chrisa511 said...

Thanks for the wishes Steph. I hope things work out well too!