Monday, June 9, 2025

Moving on Up: What It Takes to Manage Work and Family with Going Back to School

Going back to school to improve your career is a daunting task, especially the older we get. But three Local 302 members show that it can be done, and that the hard work and sacrifice are worth it

By Alison Brown

WORKING IN LONG TERM CARE in Ontario is a demanding job—particularly if you’re a personal support worker (PSW) or a housekeeper. PSWs do the daily hands-on care with residents—feeding, bathing, dressing, and many other activities to support their needs. Housekeepers clean everything.

For many decades, this sector of healthcare has been woefully inadequately funded. Staff often work short, suffer burnout, and do not get the kind of pay raises that other workers have enjoyed to help them deal with inflation.

The situation has started to turn around somewhat with the Ontario government’s commitment to increasing the hours of direct care to an average of four hours per resident per day. But it’s still a difficult job that continues to be underpaid relative to the benefits these essential workers provide to society.

Making the job that much more difficult, many residents are entering nursing homes with severe dementia, which is characterized by profound cognitive impairment, loss of communication abilities, and a high degree of dependence on others for daily care, requiring around-the-clock assistance. Some become violent, making the job of providing for their daily care potentially dangerous.

Now add in the pandemic in 2020. The resulting shortages of hands-on staff made the situation unbearable for some, leading to break downs. Many left the field altogether while others were dissuaded from becoming PSWs or quit their program once they realized what the job entailed. This in turn increased shortages, exacerbating the problem.

Thankfully, the difficult days of COVID-19 are behind us. And one benefit of the pandemic is that it shone a bright spotlight on the endemic problems plaguing long term care. Society noticed and pressure mounted on governments everywhere to increase funding to improve the sector and provide our healthcare heroes with the dignity, respect, and pay they deserved.

While some PSWs left the field altogether during the pandemic, others took a different approach: go back to school to become a registered practical nurse (RPN). The job of an RPN involves working with the team of PSWs to monitor residents’ daily care while working with RNs and physicians to perform tasks such as administering medications and providing wound care. It’s still a hands-on job but comes with increased responsibilities, and with that, higher pay.

I sat down with two PSWs who are in various stages of making the switch to become an RPN. I also spoke with a housekeeper who went back to school to become a PSW—at age 55!—proving the adage that you’re never too old to learn.

All three women, who are members of Local 302, shared with me the challenges they face making the move on up in their career: working full time in the demanding long term care sector, going back to school after hours, being there for their family, and finding a bit of time for themselves.

LYNN DANIELS

PSW, Albright Manor

Steward, Health and Safety Representative

Enrolled at Niagara College to become an RPN

I’m currently a PSW at Albright Manor in Beamsville, Ontario, where I’ve been working for 15 years. I started my career in healthcare as a cleaner at the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton.

As I developed relationships with the nursing staff there, many of them told me I would be a fantastic nurse and that I should pursue a career in nursing. I gave it a lot of thought and ultimately decided to become a PSW. I was a single mom with a baby boy, and I chose to register for the PSW course because it was shorter and more affordable. I also didn’t feel like I had the time to commit to do what it takes to become an RPN.

It was always my goal to become an RPN, but it all came down to timing. I now have three boys aged 18, 16, and 12, so life is still a wee bit crazy! But now I have a partner who’s supportive of me pursuing a life change. The alternate delivery program at Niagara College will allow me to work and study with more ease and still allow me to do the things I enjoy doing, like going to the gym.

But balancing work and school with my personal life makes things so much busier. My oldest son has finished high school and is now an apprentice, and my two younger boys play sports. It’s super important for me to be there to cheer them on.

It definitely is a challenge to juggle home life, work, school, and cheering on my one son, who plays for the St. Catharines Falcons minor hockey league team. But I’m used to being busy, even when I don’t have school on top of everything. When I’m not busy, I’m the type of person to find something to do.

Being a PSW can definitely be difficult. You encounter so many difficult behaviours. But you have to remember that all behaviours have meaning.

We always do our best to identify what it is the resident needs and doing so with caution and awareness because things can quickly escalate if you’re not careful. I have a calm, nurturing approach when it comes to the residents—particularly those with dementia.

Many of the residents are rapidly moving into long term care with higher needs than in previous years. Proper training on complex care for these residents upon arrival would be the most beneficial for both the staff and residents.

The best part of being a PSW for me is the relationships I build with residents and their families. The fact that I can make a difference in someone’s life is the most rewarding part of working in healthcare.

I have worked in many healthcare settings from convalescent care to hospice and homecare, but long term care is by far the best place for me. I love seeing the residents play games with the recreation staff, like balloon badminton or “name that song.” I love watching them sing along to a tune they know.

The hardest part of this work is losing residents or watching them suffer due to illness. And seeing their families so devastated is truly heartbreaking.

Aside from the emotional difficulties, being a PSW is physically demanding as well. There’s a lot of walking, lifting, pushing, pulling—and trying to accomplish tasks in a timely manner can lead to injuries, so it’s important to take care of yourself at work and outside of work.

I was once cornered in the bathroom by a resident who turned on me in a split second. This person had a look of anger I’ve never encountered before; it was truly terrifying. Thankfully, I made it out of the situation unharmed.

If I could change anything about my job in long term care, it would be to have more support to navigate the current challenges within the more complex care cases we’re now encountering. I would like to see PSWs included in care conferences because we’re on the front lines and are best suited to advocate for the residents.

Many of us workers would love to see a more holistic approach in terms of palliative care in long term care as well. Perhaps bringing back a dedicated palliative care team would be the answer to providing end-of-life care with compassion.

TINA KRATZ

PSW, Albright Manor

Steward, Bargaining Committee Member, Local 302 Board Member

Enrolled at Niagara College to become an RPN

Like Lynn, I’m currently a PSW at Albright Manor and am in the alternative delivery RPN program at Niagara College. I work full-time at Albright and then go to school in the evenings.

I’ve worked at Albright since 1997, so I’m technically a healthcare aide because the PSW classification didn’t exist in the ’90s. When the Ontario government began using the term PSW instead of healthcare aide, we were grandfathered in.

Working through the years as a PSW, I always wanted to do something more with my education. Now, my kids are all grown up and married and have children of their own. I decided it was time.

The college was wonderful with helping me with my high school transcripts as they were too outdated for the program. It was also a good challenge to get myself back into learning mode after not being in school for a very long time.

But because my kids are all grown up, it’s easier for me to find time for schoolwork. Some people in my program have small kids at home, so they definitely have to stay organized.

On a typical day, I work from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., spend a couple of hours doing homework, prepare dinner, hang out with my husband, and then off to class. As soon as I get home, I go to bed because I’m up so early the next morning. Thankfully, this will only be for a little while longer until I graduate, so there’s light at the end of the tunnel!

One of the challenges with being a PSW is that the position is undervalued. Based on the responsibility level of PSWs, they should be registered like nurses; there has to be some kind of accountability.

Everyone who works in a healthcare facility is amazing and part of the cog of the wheel that makes the facility run smoothly. But PSWs are responsible for literally everything to do with the human being—from making sure their teeth are brushed to making sure they’re fed.

If there’s anything going on with a resident, the PSW is on it. We’re the ones red-flagging issues because we’re doing the most intimate care. We’re the first to notice if a resident is taking a long time swallowing their food or if they need a dietary referral. We see and notice everything.

When my classification changes to RPN, I’ll be responsible for the PSWs as well as medications and wound care. RPNs also have to do a lot of documentation and charting on PointClickCare, the software program used by long term care homes in Ontario.

The best part of my job is working with Alzheimer’s patients. I’ve worked on the dementia floor for 22 years. It’s a locked unit and I would not want to go anywhere else.

I have a passion for the patients, and I enjoy the challenge. And it’s important that we’re there to walk families through it, because having a loved one with dementia is hard on the families.

A family member will come to me and tell me their mom has all these random items collected in her room that she took from another resident’s room, and they’ll be so upset. I have to be there to reassure them that it’s okay and we’re not worried. They’ll be so stressed out about it, but it’s part of my job to walk them through it and help them feel like everything is okay. They need to be reassured that their family members are taken care of.

There can definitely be difficult behaviours to deal with on the dementia floor, but I have a great group of coworkers, and together we try to find the best solutions for each individual resident. You have to see the person behind the behaviour.

As a PSW, you spend more time with your residents than you do your own family. You’re there first thing in the morning until mid-afternoon, taking care of every little detail, learning everything you can about them so you can make their everyday life a little bit better—you definitely form deep bonds with some of them.

It makes me sad when residents don’t have family members that visit them. And that’s even more likely to happen to residents with dementia because it’s so hard for families to see, so they just don’t visit.

We try to make things special. For Valentine’s Day, we had the residents wear feather boas so they felt fancy. Last year at Halloween, all of us staff dressed up. Some were fairies. We had a couple garden gnomes, a butterfly, and a bee. It was all garden-themed.

We try to make residents’ lives as comfortable as possible. For example, we don’t put the news on the TV. The residents like comfort shows like Matlock and Golden Girls. No one needs to be subjected to the onslaught of news we have right now.

If someone working in healthcare is looking to change their classification, I’d tell them to just do it! There’s so many resources out there to help you out.

Reach out to your local college and get connected with a student advisor who will tell you what you need to do. It’ll be so worth it in the end.

CINDY FOULDS

PSW, St. Peter’s Residence at Chedoke

Steward, Bargaining Committee Member, Local 302 Board Member

Former Housekeeper

I’m a new PSW after changing my career as a housekeeper, and I’ve been working at St. Peter’s Residence in Hamilton for 19 years. I used to work in the restaurant industry, but it was too monotonous, and I wanted more consistency, so I switched to healthcare. Also, in this economy it’s tough to live on one income, so I needed a change that paid better.

I went to school during the morning at St. Charles Adult and Continuing Education College and then worked full-time after that. Part of the education program was doing clinical care at one of our sister facilities on the critical complex care unit.

What I found through the program and doing the clinical care is that being a PSW is a lot less demanding than being a housekeeper! As a housekeeper, you have to maintain 32 rooms and 7 common areas including the dining room—and you only have 7.5 hours to do it.

As a PSW, you have a team with you, and everyone helps each other out. I’m also able to provide more hands-on care with the residents rather than just being an empathetic listening ear.

A housekeeper’s average day is absolutely off the grid. You have to come in, clean your common areas, and make sure your PSWs have linen and everything they need for the day. Then you have to deliver 32 residents their personal clothing, reading each and every piece of clothing to make sure they’re going to the right person. That could be up to 175 items!

Then you have to clean 27 touchpoints within each room—the light switches, handles, armoires, bed rails, call lights—any surface that needs to be wiped. And then of course, the bathroom!

Add to that attending to spills, getting the machine to go wash it, buffing and rebuffing the floors if there are scuffs, or if a floor is really bad, bringing up another machine to do a top scrub and tear the wax right down or strip it and wax it and then rewax it. And all of this has to be done in the course of 7.5 hours!

Plus, the residents always want to talk to me. They’re trying to tell me about their day while I’m running around them like a crazy lady, wiping, washing, wiping, washing, wiping. Sometimes, their conversation can take 15 minutes, which puts me behind.

In addition to the full-time work and schooling, I’m a union steward and a member of the bargaining committee. Outside of work, I’m very involved with Girl Guides Canada. I haven’t been able to be as involved while in school, but I’ve still been selling the cookies and attending camps when I’m off for Christmas or March Break.

When I was a kid, I was very involved in sports and was nearly a professional 10-pin bowler. When my daughter wanted to join Girl Guides, I got involved too. She’s 30 now and I’m still volunteering!

One of the biggest safety issues in healthcare is definitely aggressive residents and their families. During COVID, and even now, we tried to get family members to adhere to our protocols, like wearing a mask, and they can get very verbally aggressive and call you every name under the sun.

We got a lot of backlash from family and aggressive residents for telling them to wear a mask, even if vulnerable residents are at risk of getting COVID. It doesn’t matter if you’re an RN or an administrator or housekeeper—if a family member wants to light off, they’ll light off and take their anger and frustration out on any person they see wearing scrubs. And I get it. It’s not easy to put a loved one in a home and trust their entire world of care on brand new people.

It’s important to build trust with the residents. You talk to them about their past and how they lived, how they like to do things. You have to have so much empathy.

If I could change anything about healthcare, it would be for the government to lift funding and put the proper amount of staff on every single shift so that those residents are getting proper care and not being rushed. Because the rushing causes the behaviours.

Let’s say I’m taking care of your grandpa, and he likes to get himself out of bed and to the bathroom on his own. But he walks so slowly that it’s like maple syrup running uphill in 40-degree weather!

I should be able to make sure his pathway is safe and clear and gather everything he needs. I shouldn’t have to be hurrying him, because who wants to be rushed when they’re doing their business?

This is where the government needs to take their rose-coloured glasses off and realize that these residents are human beings, and the care they require needs to be more time-effective. When grandpa is in the bathroom having a bowel movement, I shouldn’t be coming at him with a razor to give him a shave. Can’t grandpa have a bowel movement in peace?

When he lived on his own, I’m sure he read the entire newspaper front to back on the toilet. Now, he has someone coming at his face with a razor. These are human beings who need human contact and communication. They shouldn’t be rushed through their day.

If someone out there is thinking of changing their classification in healthcare, I’d tell them to not let age stop you! I’d been thinking of going from housekeeper to PSW since I was 48, and now I’m turning 55 in August.

When I walked into the classroom on the first day to study to be a PSW, I saw all the young people and thought to myself, have you lost your mind? But the teacher looked up at me and said, “I am so happy to see you! You are officially my oldest student in class, and you will forever be referenced.”

When she said that I told myself, “You got this!” and sat down. My classmates were all two years out of high school, and they gave me so much support.

We’re all in a big group chat and plan on having dinner together twice a year because we became really tight. I was terrified of starting new, but I did not back down or change my mind. I stood firm. I told myself, “You’re doing this and that’s it.”

Scouting Is Not Just for Boys!

The worldwide Girl Guides movement began in 1909, when many girls refused to accept that scouting was just for boys. Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada formed officially in 1910 with the registration of the first Guide company in St. Catharines, Ontario, and quickly spread across the country. The program enables girls aged 5 to 17 the opportunity to explore a variety of activities, participate in community projects, learn life skills, and develop an understanding of global issues.

Thin mints anyone? Yes, Girl Guides sell those mouth-watering delicious cookies! Girl Guide cookies are a beloved Canadian tradition that originated in 1929 when a Girl Guide leader in Regina baked and packaged cookies for her girls to sell as a fundraiser for uniforms and camping equipment.

In 2010, Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada celebrated 100 years of being a trailblazing organization that advocates for girls and women. Some famous former Girl Guides include Celine Dion, Roberta Bondar (Canada’s first female astronaut), Karen Kain, Margaret Atwood, Feist, and Sarah McLachlan.

Source: girlguides.ca

Lynn Daniels

Tina Kratz

Cindy Foulds

Albright Manor staff celebrated last Halloween with garden-themed costumes.

Moving on Up: What It Takes to Manage Work and Family with Going Back to School

Scouting Is Not Just for Boys!

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