Rui Ling Wang

I’ve been a 24-hour care worker for 10 whole years. My patient’s skin was

severely scarred after a burn injury, and she had just come back from the

hospital. Her ankles had grown ulcers, rotten and torn, and her buttocks were

also burned rotten. We home attendants would everyday take care of the

patient’s entire body, flipping her over, wiping her down, changing her clothes,

washing her hair, changing her diapers and so on. When the weather was nice

we would use a hoisting frame to transfer the patient to a wheelchair to go

outside and bathe in the sun. At night, the patient would flip around and change

diapers, calling out for me at any given moment, at least 3 to 4 times. There was

no possible way to get more than 5 hours of continuous sleep. 

Long-term 24-hour care work made me anxious, nervous, sleep-deprived, with

aching limbs and waist, high blood pressure, and stomach disease. You could say

that I too become a “patient”. Also, the building where the patient lived hosted a

lot of gamblers. Oftentimes at midnight the police would knock on the door to

investigate, creating yet another form of pressure and worry. 

I demand that the government stop the system of 24-hour workdays. Splitting

this into 2 shifts is better for the patient and the worker.