Frustrated, Used And Abused

I am a nursing student going for an RN. I have worked as a CNA in elder care (private duty) for several years. While I love the patients, the agencies and families are a trip. The agencies send you on crazy cases, for example, caring for a couple, each with multiple complex issues, and while they charge the client's $300/day for live-in care, they pay the CNA $125!!!! The other issue is the families that don't care. I have walked into homes of elderly people where there was no food, no heat, or no air conditioning when it's 95 degrees and humid in the summer. Then there are the families that care too much to the point where every single thing is scrutinized, criticized, even what book is being read to Mom or Dad. Those are the cases where you run all day and nothing is ever good enough, and the family is always calling you about stuff on your days off, all hours of the day and night.

Then there are the CNA coworkers that do not care, never relieve you on time, or are always calling off.

I just wish we had a Union with work rights and benefits--esp. overtime and insurance. If an agency can charge a client $300/day, and pays me $125, that is more than a 50% profit. That is worse than prostitution! It's like slave labor, the old sweat shop.