You learn a lot as a primary caregiver. Since dealing with a family cancer diagnosis last year I joined a local support network for caregivers. Three things I’ve learned: healthcare is very uneven, we ended up in a good facility, and finding a social worker on your own is very difficult. I see lots of messages on the support boards from people in poor facilities that can’t find the help they need. I know what social workers do—I had several friends who majored in social work in college—but in this age of all the information in the world at your fingertips, just try to find a social worker! I was trying to find a website to suggest to a person on my board who didn’t know where to turn. Searches bring up links to places trying to sell you their services to find a social worker. Are we really that callous?
People tend not to try to find a social worker unless they really need one. Many people, I suspect, wait until they feel pretty desperate. This is not when you need some salesperson trying to sell you something. Medical care can be very expensive—devastatingly so—and there are professionals out there who specialize in helping you get through such things. Why are they so difficult to find? I tried government sites that seem more interested in telling you how to become a social worker than how to find one. If we’re in such a state that we don’t have enough social workers why don’t we pay them more? Here’s a hint, most politicians could stand a salary cut. My college friends all said they knew it didn’t pay well, but social work was a way to help people. Saints still walk among us.
We have the means to help everyone. What we lack is the will. We continue to let capitalism and the hope of individual wealth run our economy. Economy means nothing without people. And we have many people who are willing to receive less personally to help others get by. Why do we have to hide them behind a pay wall? What does that say about us? We’ve been fortunate. Our medical facility immediately put us in touch with a social worker. If, however, you end up where healthcare choices are limited, or don’t know how to find a social worker on your own, the internet’s not a great resource, unless you want to pay someone to help you find help. What have we become?
