View Full Version : Attendant Help Forum, Dr. Young
what happened to the good idea of a forum to help the disabled find aide and aides to find jobs, http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif
Wise Young
10-24-2001, 07:39 AM
Jack, I was hoping for more discussion before implementing such a forum. How do you think that it should be done? Should people post to indicate their need for a PCA or should potential PCA's post here indicating their availability and experience? Incidentally, there is nothing to stop people from doing this right now on the Caregiving Forum. How do we ensure that the postings are real and that people do not get hurt?
Wise.
antiquity
10-24-2001, 11:05 AM
Another forum is not necessary. Attendant care and caregiving are one and the same. I think discussions regarding these concerns can be maintained under this forum.
people could advertise for pca's and pca's could advertise for work. hiring from here would be the same as hiring from the street. it would be up to the individual doing the hiring to check the pca out. backgroung checks and reference checks, amoung other means, could be done by the hiring individual.
a seperate forum, exclusively for this purpose, may get more results. it would be worth a try. if it didn't work out you could close it.
jack
I don't agree that there is no difference between family caregivers and paid caregivers. There is a vast difference!! It is easy to fire a bad PCA, are you going to fire your mom? Your PCA feels no obligation to take you in and care for you...your mom (or wife, etc.) probably does. The strains and stresses are totally different.
If we are going to have a site for hiring PCAs, how are the potential PCAs going to 1) access it and 2) know about it? In our PCA program at my center we find that few are on-line or know how to use the internet (so going to the library is not necessarily an option), while most people with SCI are on-line. There already exist several forums for recruitment of PCAs, most of which are incredibly inactive and of little use in spite of some fairly extensive advertising. Check these out:
http://www.pca-hha.com/
http://www.independentliving.org/assex/index.html
Wise Young
10-28-2001, 05:25 PM
How about a forum that is like a classified ads section? I can set it up so that it is like the Trials and Research Forum, i.e. has a title and front descriptor with space for moe details on the inside. People can comment and ask questions about the service, etc. This can also serve as a place for people to advertise equipment and things that they are interested in buying. Of course, like ads, it is at the risk of the buyer. The web site cannot guarantee the quality of the people, items, or services for sale. This may fulfill the needs of several different requests for such services made over the last few weeks.
Wise.
marmalady
10-29-2001, 09:41 AM
Good idea! I'd like to see folks post ideas on how they found their aides - I'm sure there are some creative 'outside the box' things that have been done! Also, if folks would send ideas of 'how to hire a good PCA', questions to ask, etc., how to get insurance coverage, where to make postings, etc.
I agree that I'm not sure how many PCA's themselves would see this section, as it's been stated before, a lot of them don't have web access.
Wise Young
10-29-2001, 10:56 AM
I would like more suggestions from the community concerning how to implement this forum. Specifically...
1. What should we call this forum... Classified ads?
2. What should the rules of such a forum be? Since people will be putting in ads asking for availability of supplies, equipment, service, PCA's, etc., how should it be handled in terms of the information that is required?
3. What are acceptable things to advertise?
4. Who will be the moderator of such a forum?
5. How should we handle advertisements that are out of date or that have already been fulfilled?
6. Should people put their email addresses... etc.
7. What kind of disclaimers should we put on such a forum?
Wise.
SCI-Nurse
10-29-2001, 12:42 PM
These would be ideal, but I am not sure if they would work with the software we currently have...I'll leave that up to the techies!
1. What should we call this forum... Classified ads?
Suggest calling it SCI EXCHANGE (this covers a lot of territory)
2. What should the rules of such a forum be? Since people will be putting in ads asking for availability of supplies, equipment, service, PCA's, etc., how should it be handled in terms of the information that is required?
I would limit to private ads (no companies, manufacturers or distributers, no sales people). Also I would recommend not allowing any sales/trading of prescription drugs.
I would leave it pretty open after that. Minimum that would probably be needed would be 1) what they want or are offering, 2) price range would consider, 3) country they are in and 4) how they want to be contacted (fax, phone, e-mail). Ideal would be to have an e-mail box as part of the forum that could be used as a "blind" drop to preserve some privacy.
3. What are acceptable things to advertise? I would see several categories: 1) Products to sell/purchase, 2) Products to trade, 3) Products to donate/donations sought, 4) Services for sale, 5) housing/real estate, and 6) Personal Care Attendant services offered/sought. It would help to have some categories to organize it. It would be wonderful if it were searchable.
4. Who will be the moderator of such a forum?
I think we would need someone who would be willing to police this or it could get out of hand. It could be one of our regular forums members...it would not require a professional.
5. How should we handle advertisements that are out of date or that have already been fulfilled?
The best way would be to have an automatic expiration date (ie, 30 days) when the message would disappear. If not, then I am afraid this would fall to the moderator to delete after a certain time period. If something is sold or donated, then the original poster should close the message or delete it themselves.
6. Should people put their email addresses... etc.
Would be best to have an internal e-mail or e-mail forwarding system that is more private than openly posting personal e-mail addresses for spammers to harvest.
7. What kind of disclaimers should we put on such a forum?
Probably would need to say that CARE/CURE does not endorse any products or guarantee quality or condition of any materials, nor are they responsible for payment of any fees. I am sure the attorneys could beef this up as appropriate.
(KLD)
Wise Young
10-30-2001, 03:55 AM
KLD, after some thought, I thought that it would be useful to set up the forum with just a few simple rules and see how the community uses it. For the time being, I will moderate it. Can all the moderators help me with the moderation and post their suggestions as to how to manage it? Thanks.
Wise.
Wise Young
10-30-2001, 04:46 AM
Originally posted by marmalady:
Good idea! I'd like to see folks post ideas on how they found their aides - I'm sure there are some creative 'outside the box' things that have been done! Also, if folks would send ideas of 'how to hire a good PCA', questions to ask, etc., how to get insurance coverage, where to make postings, etc.
I agree that I'm not sure how many PCA's themselves would see this section, as it's been stated before, a lot of them don't have web access.
Marmalady, I just set up the "Exchange" Forum. KLD suggested the name and I thought that it rings well and sets the tone for a forum where people can advertise things and services that they want to sell, buy, donate, or exchange. Because of the increasing numbers of postings that are appearing in this and other forums, any advertisement for items or services may be lost.
I did not know quite how to handle the issue of privacy and therefore decided to warn people not to put too much private details of their lives instead. Because we really want people to post with their registered names, it may be hard to preserve privacy. One possibility is that we can create a "private" anonymous classified ads section on the main carecure site. People can send me emails and I can set up a private anonymous mailbox for responses.
Regarding discussions of how people found their PCA's, I think that it best belongs in the Caregiving forum. However, the Exchange forum could be a good place for people to discuss equipment and services that are being requested or offered. I am not sure how the Exchange forum would work and therefore decided to minimize the restrictions and rules to see how the community handles it.
Wise.