My mother is completely bedridden and lives with my nephew and his family. His wife is her primary caregiver and does a great job but needs a break. I am in my 60s and physically unable to move and change her. Our family is small now and there's no one else. Every place I look for respite care requires a certain number of hours per week for an extended period of time. We're just looking for someone who can come and help for a week here and there. Any suggestions on who to contact?
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Good luck in finding a place. Enjoy your vacation!
It would be better to use caregivers through a caregiving Agency as the Agency is licensed, bonded, and insured. Plus their employees have workman's comp in case they get hurt on the job. And if one of the caregivers cannot make their shift, the Agency will send over another caregiver. Plus the agency deals with payroll taxes, etc.
The drawback is the cost, it is extremely expensive. I know for my Dad, who had 3 shifts of caregivers, it was costing him $5k per week. Curious, if that amount more or less for a week staying at a senior facility in your area?
Wish there was a less expensive alternative, but one may be taking a risk unless that caregiver is full vetted, and your nephew is able to get through his homeowner's insurance carrier workman comp policy as he would now be an employer even though it would be for a week.
One of the benefits of Hospice is that Medicare/Medicaid and most insurance will cover almost a week of Respite care.
Another benefit of Hospice...you can request a Volunteer that could come for up to 4 hours. They can not do "hands on" care though. And it could be scheduled as a routine or as needed.
If you hire privately it is easier to get someone to work the specific hours that you want rather than going through an agency.
The 2 best caregivers I hired I got through the Local Community College. They had just completed their CNA certification and were waiting for the next semester to begin to continue Nursing School.
Sites like Care.com are also allowing you to hire for the days and hours you want.
It really seems to me that your mom is at a place of needing more than home care. It is so kind of your nephew and his wife to do this, it must be overwhelming at times with a toddler in the house as well. It is a shame that they are financially dependent on your mom's money. I know you looked into other options but I wonder if them receiving your mom's moeny might not come back on them at some point down the road.
I hear so much about how caregivers die ahead of their recipients when responsibilities become too much. Sounds like your mother's emergency situation to me.
the only way is to get a relative/family member to come stay while you leave for a vacation.
We needed a 24/7 care for my Mr. and Mrs.. Both had dementia, one had horrible arthritis and overweight, the other also had Parkinson’s.
the day was broken up into 3 to 4 shifts - depending on what the caregivers wanted to do. I got input from them & switched it up once in a while to break the monotony. So we had a staff of 6 including myself, and I was the house manager. ok, hiring. I was very careful!
I did the ad and gave no personal information. I made them use the craigslist email to introduce themselves to me. those who did not reply professionally weren’t even considered. I preferred people who sent a resume but I found a lot of them would prefer to have a first meeting and give it to me there so I allowed that. Next, I met with them at a local fast food restaurant near the home for the first interview. There I expected to see the résumé and I gave them more information about the job, the who, what, why, where, how, & when kind of things. I went over training, pay & increases and overtime for certain holidays. If it went well I would set up an introductory meeting with my Mr. and Mrs. gave them a tour of the house, go over where things etc. This was approximately two hours. Then they spent the next two hours doing things here and there and getting to know my couple.
if we were good with each other then they were hired.
The pay those first four hours was $10. (This was 7-8 yrs ago). Afterwards They immediately started making $13 an hour for the first two weeks, then $14 for a month, and then top out at $15.
I felt the incentive helped them stay longer than a couple of days, if you know what I mean and it helped me save a little money while I was still feeling them out as a good fit for the house. Holidays: because I wanted some time off for myself, I offered time and a half for Christmas Eve Christmas Day New Year’s Eve Thanksgiving eve Thanksgiving day and Fourth of July and it worked.
i did things for the staff and to be truthful I was not the easiest person to work with. and nanny cams are a must! I like to think two people of the CGs went on to be house managers because of the example I set, and in the last 1&1/2 yrs all the ladies hired stayed until my couple had to go into a facility because of financial reasons. There was no staff turnover. I like thinking that I did something right.
as a quick fix I would like to suggest this. Hire somebody to come in even if she doesn’t go anywhere for a few hours. Sometimes just having the relief that you don’t have to be “on” 24/7, & you’re there in case of something, can be very stress relieving. God bless!
for in home, someone suggest local center for aging to get info/recommendations and then ck prices
good luck!