Nurse Complains – ‘Had to borrow money to go to work’

If more people followed the path of Titanilla Schaden, there may soon be no shortage of nurses. The 49-year-old from Leonstein in the municipality of Grünburg switched from gastronomy to nursing. Since July 1, she has been caring for people with disabilities in an institution.

made the transition as difficult as possible
You’d think that official Upper Austria, which is desperate for specialists in the healthcare sector, would have put out a red carpet for the woman on the move — but the opposite was the case, Schaden says. The switch was made as difficult as possible for her financially.

The 49-year-old has been training as a nurse since 2021. She received unemployment benefits until the end of the internship in June. Then, in early August, she received her first salary from her new employer for July.

Application rejected twice
“Because I had no income in July, I applied for a bridging benefit,” says Schaden, who is 60 percent disabled himself. When the community refused, they contacted the local social service, who took the application to the state social service. There he was rejected twice.

“That was bad. I needed money for gas to drive to work and buy something to eat.” Just’s car is also on strike and has to be repaired. In an emergency, a friend jumped in: “She lent me 400 euros.” The pastor had also brought a voucher of 100 euros. “That way I was able to make ends meet”, Schaden says, but the anger hasn’t dried up yet: “You look for nurses, and then you leave them hanging in the air.”

“Did not meet guidelines”
The state says the social service has “carefully checked” the application against the guidelines applicable to the Solidarity Fund. The application was rejected “because the living conditions did not meet the guidelines”.