One of the quiet businesses not often in the news is the nursing home industry. It is not uncommon for each facility to require a staff of between seventy and one hundred people. Nursing homes fall into two categories. The first is non-profit and the second is for-profit. The non-profit variety is in a class of it's own and not part of this article.
I use the nursing homes as an example because it's the industry I'm familiar with. Why is the nursing home in business? To make a profit. Let's examine a corporate owned nursing home. I am thinking of a large corporation which owns nursing homes and hospitals. Owned is perhaps the wrong word because most of the buildings are only operated by this company.
The buildings are usually owned by a group of investors. The day to day management is provided by a separate company. A company intent on turning a profit. No matter what In the early 90's, Medicare changed the rules of payment and money became less plentiful. Many of the smaller facilites closed their doors. The larger and more profitable corporations took them over.
The particular management company I worked for had a large corporate structure. Large corporate structures require large profits to afford the many levels of management. And these people don't work for free. Money to pay the yearly salaries plus the bonus system has to come from someplace.
The local building is run by an Administrator. Some companies go high brow and refer to them as Executive Directors or some such variation. The Administrator answers to the Regional Director. The Regional has multiple buildings under them. The Regional of the company I'm thinking of reportedly bought a new Dodge SUV for his wife. He reportedly used his Christmas bonus to pay cash for it. That's at least $35,000. More then many of us earn in a year.
I fully realize companies must operate at a profit if they wish to keep their doors open. Individual people also must operate their homes without going into debt if they wish to keep their heads above water. Do businesses need to operate at such a high profit margin without any concern for their employees? Finances aside for a moment, do individuals need to conduct their lives in such a way that they become emotionally bankrupt?
The nursing home industry is a relatively large scale operation based on the PROFIT & LOSS system. What I wish to examine is how this trickles down to you and me. How about the phrase, "What's in it for me?" This is a phrase most of us are familiar with. "How will I benefit from whatever you are asking me to do?" is another.
A friend of mine recently read a book about setting boundaries in our personal lives. She has been giving me the high lights as she read the book. A better title for the book would be, "Me, Me, Me & Me." I fully realize it's difficult when others crowd us but this book takes 'me first' to a whole new level.
I can almost hear military veterans who have stood and fought for our country saying, "I will not allow the government to tell me what to do. They have no right." Or how about dedicated military doctors knee deep in blood saying, "This is way out of my comfort zone." Or the doctors who answer the call to national disasters. How about 911? Have we forgot about the police officers and firemen who didn't stop to consider the consequences before they charged into the jaws of death to save their fellow New Yorkers?
Is this situation profitable to me? Or will it be a loss? The boundaries book told young adults they have the right (and perhaps the responsibility) to turn their backs on their parents if the parents were not meeting every need of theirs. I fully realize not every parent has been sterling examples of ideal parenting. The book wasn't talking about them. It was speaking of regular parents who love their children. What was their crime? Perhaps caring too much. Maybe the parent is perceived as being un-supportive. Or perhaps too nosy. Or whatever excuse is handy.
One lady I know has a daughter who decided the 'support group' she accumulated cared more about her then either of the parents. I am confident this lady was a good mother. I doubt she was perfect, but then again, who is? Certainly not the daughter. This is the woman who sacrificed constantly for her children. The book in question was a road map of the daughter's life. Unpleasant letters she wrote her mother were almost straight out of the book.
PROFIT & LOSS is the backbone of business today. It's more profitable to lie when convenient. We hear so much about business that I think we forget business is nothing more then men and women buying and selling. I once worked for a company which sold groceries to restaurants.
I over heard one of the salesmen talking on the telephone to a customer. He was lying through his teeth. I asked him about it when he was finished with the conversation. His reply? "It's just business." The boss was no better. He lied to his customers so often that when somebody had to fill in for him they had no idea what to say.
The system of PROFIT & LOSS spills over into all facets of our lives. Relationships are based on what the other party is perceived as being able to do for us. Dating is started with filling out a credit history. At the end of the form is the question, "Where do you see yourself in five years."
If what I'm saying isn't true, why are the divorce rates so high? What ever happened to sticking it out with our mates? Apparently it's not lasting values which guide us in our selections of a spouse. By now somebody is asking what a single woman knows about relationships. I dislike child rearing articles written by couples with one child. What do they know about anything? In my case, I base my opinion strickly on the statistics. I don't need a husband just to prove my point.
Nursing homes are notorious for firing people at the drop of a hat. Somebody in corporate has a friend who needs a job. Who cares if they are qualified. They'll learn. Whatever happened to employer responsibility? Or for that matter, what about employee responsibility? Businesses are made up of people. Responsibility is a two way street. I certainly don't mean to be down in the mouth but I don't see any solution on the horizon.
Quitting a job is no big deal many people feel. Quitting a marriage isn't any big deal either. Quitting any relationship isn't anything to lose sleep over. Or are these things a bigger deal then we are willing to admit? When do we accept the fact we are adults? When do we finally grow up and stop acting like children? When do we see things through just because it's the right thing to do?
It's not my intention to anger anybody. It is my intention though to ask you to think before you act. PROFIT & LOSS is a huge subject we have just scratched the surface of. Even the Bible speaks of it. "What does it profit someone to gain the whole world and lose their soul?" Mark 8:36.
If you are not a Bible believer, how about simple common sense? Look at the words quoted as literature if you like. Do you consider yourself a happy person? Is your life fulfilling? Is getting your own way really paying off for you? I've worked with people who had to have their own way much of the time. They weren't what I would consider happy people. Not by a country mile.
Thank you for spending a few minutes with me. If you or a friend is having a problem with stress, e-mail me at ddinpaidra@yaoo.com I would like to send you a free copy of my book entitled, "Take Time Out For Me." Be sure to include the word STRESS on the subject line. At least visit my blog at: http://wwwddinpaidra.blogspot.com
About the Author
Paidra Delayno works in the health care industry. For fun, she markets the fictional works of Loren Douglas under the name DayDreamin' Stories.
