Deolal Beharry, PSW

The following is an excerpt from a conversation between
Carol Farkas, Director of Healthcare Services and Deolal Beharry, PSW.

C: So tell us about your background and what position you
are working in Carecor.

D: I did my PSW in 2008. After I graduated, I applied to
Carecor because I saw the web site, the opportunity, how long they were in
existence and it looked like a good company.

C: Was agency your first choice?

D:  I just went on the
web site looking around for jobs. For some reason Carecor caught my eye. I did
apply to hospitals but I just came out from school, my experience was a little
lacking so I decided to go with agency. I only work with Carecor.

C: What type of assignments do you typically do?

D: I do mostly hospital work, floor duty and private care. I
have worked from palliative care to the neuro department to the ICU.

C. What appeals to you about healthcare when there are so
many other careers out there?

D. Honestly, the need-the need for care. What I noticed also
in some hospitals is they lacked some of that service and I always feel like I
could give that extra.

C: What are the things you feel you can offer as a Personal
Support Worker that you see are sometimes lacking?

D: Maybe, be near to the patients because not all the time
the nurses are available. Just simple things like getting a glass of water.
They appreciate it so much. The family members so appreciate it that there is
somebody in the hospital who cares about their child or their father or mother.

C: What do you think are the characteristics that make a
good Personal Support Worker?

D: I always say you have to respect the clients, give them
privacy, respect, dignity. That is how I look at PSW. Maybe if they press the
call bell so frequently, it doesn't mean they are trying to be annoying. It's
just that they need somebody to be with them, to try to understand their
problems. You can't be arrogant and just say I come to do a job and after 8 or
12 hours I'm leaving. No, they're a human being. I always say that no one wants
to be in a position like that. So if a client is combative you have to
understand the position they are in. Do not blame people for being in the
hospital in a position like that. That is why we are called Personal Support
Worker.

C: How do you deal with it? Obviously it can make you very
sad and can pull you down.

D:  My detachment is
time going by. For my first experience I never thought this would impact on me.
If I get a call from a family member who says the client I looked after has
passed away I would reminisce on this guy, what I did for him. It's just that as
time goes by it just phases off.

C:  How do you think
then that being a healthcare worker has changed you as a person?

D: I would say I am much more concerned. I can respect
people more because we are not too sure what will happen tomorrow. Some
patients went into the shower and had a stroke. Everybody has their
limitations. I haven't reached my limitation yet, maybe one day it will come.
Sometimes I am afraid of death situations. You see some healthy people coming
here, female as well as male, and they don't expect these things to happen to
them and it happens. So you have to appreciate life while you are healthy.

C: What do you do outside of healthcare to relax and balance
your life?

D: My spare time is with the wife. We maybe get something to
eat or just go walking. That's my form of relaxation. I don't have any kind of
hobbies. I do like to go to Niagara Falls. Something about it is amazing.

C: Do you have any advice for a new PSW coming out of
school?

D: If I have to advise anyone, I would say just go into the
hospital, work there and see what it's like. If you work in a nursing home only
then you would categorize only one set of people but in a hospital there are so
many different problems people have, different ailments, stroke, psychiatric so
it's nice to experience it.