I reluctantly, embarrassingly, and humbly write this plea for help. My mom and I need assistance. We have fallen on hard times. We find ourselves in a financial crisis. We have no money. We are unable to pay the rent coming up, or the bills, medications, food, etc. We will be homeless soon.

My 75-year-old mother with health issues lives with me now, along with my old blind dog.

Like many others probably in this situation, it was not merely one thing but a chain of events that led us here.

I tend to live a private life. I am not normally one to ask for help.

In fact, if it was just me in this circumstance, I wouldn’t ask for help. But I have my elderly mother to take care of, and she doesn’t deserve this stressful situation we find ourselves in.She struggled and worked hard enough her whole life being a single working parent, and I cannot fail her now.

I have no victim’s mentality; I’m still fighting and trying to figure a way out of this situation but I do find myself in need of help. And I accept my fate regardless. I accept I am the summation of my bad decisions and bad luck. But my mother shouldn’t also have to suffer such shameful consequences.

I work in healthcare; I work in the medical field saving lives as a respiratory therapist. I’ve been in the field for over 20 years. For the last 5 plus years, I was considered a “hero” working on the frontlines of COVID for a large healthcare provider, putting my own life at risk every day. I’ve seen enough death and sickness to last me a lifetime. It was brutal. I, among others I am sure, find myself a bit burned out and probably, if I’m honest, left with some PTSD. But regardless, I carry on and continue to work in this field because at this point in my life, it would be very difficult to switch careers at my age. ( plus I am already an unsuccessful poet/writer.) But I am also good at my work, and helping others is in my nature.

At the beginning of this year, I resigned from this big company due to the way I was treated and changes being made to the department and scheduling. They were implementing just using level 3 RTs to cover the NICU RT as backup. And with among other level 2 RTs, we saw our shifts being taken, so we left.

I underestimated how over saturated my field is with new graduates, and how difficult it is to find any work. So it took longer than expected to find a new job and to go through the long hiring process with my current job. Hence, I went through any money I had saved and sold my car in order to make ends meet. My mother is unemployed and only has her modest social security check.

As I finally secured a job with this registry company and got a contract with a certain hospital, I assumed I would start getting shifts and work. But it has been a slow start. I was unaware that there were at least 10 other RTs who had contracts with this hospital through the same registry company. So when a shift becomes available through their app, it is first come, first serve. Whoever gets the shift first gets to work. I was struggling to get shifts, but I finally got scheduled for the month of June.

It is well known that the summer months are slow for healthcare workers due to people being less likely to get sick in the summer months. So I knew there would be a chance of me getting canceled from time to time.

But it turned out I was canceled for all my shifts but one in June. And it is not until 2 hours prior to a shift at 4 am that you are notified of your cancellation.

Which leaves us where we are now.

On top of this, my mother last week, unknown to me, tried to get a payday loan out of desperation. And in doing so, she fell victim to an online scam and identity theft. They got access to her bank account and password, etc.

We had to rectify everything with the bank and open up a new account for her. But in doing so, it will leave her social security money late due to the system taking 30 days to update her account with the new bank account. It has been a whole mess.

We have exhausted all other means.

And as of now, I have no shifts scheduled for July. I am trying to find another hospital or possibly a travel assignment. But that would mean leaving my mother all alone.

I find myself in a conundrum.

I am running out of time. I can’t believe this dire situation I find myself in. But here we are.

I am mercifully grateful for any donations from anyone. And if I get back on my feet and start to get shifts and work, I will try to pay anyone back.

Thank you, Adrian