They work with older people, many of them with mobility problems who require the help of others for any gesture, dependent in most cases… They are the workers of the nursing homes, who due to their work during the day Every day they come to generate a certain dependence on medications to cope with the ailments generated by their work. This has been denounced by CC.OO. in a day to denounce and raise awareness about this situation held in Valladolid under the title ‘Your rights, the best medicine’.
According to union estimates, more than 40 percent of nursing home workers take drugs to deal with pain and illness caused by their employment. And more than half are affected by ergonomic and biological risks also linked to their work in nursing homes.
In Castilla y León, some 25,000 people work in nursing homes, which means that some 10,000 regularly consume medication to alleviate ailments related to their daily work. “Many do not go to the doctor” for “fear” of losing their jobs, has denounced Ana Rosa Arribas, general secretary of the Federation of Health and Social Health Sectors of CC.OO Castilla y León, who has demanded that the Board take charge of the percentage responsibility that corresponds to the working conditions of the employees of the residences, since 80% of the 700 nursing homes in the Community have public financing when they are arranged.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic came to change everything and had a full impact, especially in the first wave in residences, the percentage of people with problems derived from their work has risen. For example, the number of those who suffer from sleep disturbances, depression and anxiety has increased, Arribas has denounced. Thus, the number of people who require sleeping pills to be able to fall asleep or analgesics to withstand pain has risen, especially musculoskeletal pain due to the load and movement of people, in addition to the increase in work rates, pointed out the Confederal Secretary of Occupational Health and Environmental Sustainability of the CCOO, Mariano Sanz.
The majority are women in a sector in which females predominate, who, in addition, suffer the “inherent risks” of the genre.
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