I have 8 hour shifts w/caregivers for my Mom. Mom naps a lot. My Mom has Alzheimer's (approaching middle stage). Memory issues affect her ability to prepare food. When I can't care for her (I'm the daughter), we have an agency provide caregivers in 8 hour shifts, 11am-7pm to cover meal issues. The rest of the time Mom does a few household tasks and naps a lot. Sometimes she wants help w/chores, sometimes not. She does need some help. But in an 8 hour shift, 7 days a week there is only so much cleaning a person can do. When she's awake they are active with her (we have watchful neighbors). My Mom also gets upset if they disturb her by doing things while she's asleep. I drop in unannounced a lot to check on her. We have 2-3 regular caregivers. I have found all at one time or another asleep in the same room as my Mom, while she napped. She generally sleeps soundly. Sometimes she talks about them sleeping and it bothers her. My gut reaction is anger, but I've slept while Mom napped. Should I be upset? Should I talk to them? Talk to the agency? I like the agency and caregivers. We have had consistency, no theft, no abuse, active participation to keep my Mom active. Confused, frustrated, and maybe a bit guilty. Please give me some guidance
Expectations should be set at the beginning. And if things aren't satisfactory the first step is to talk to the aide/nurse, not to immediately call the boss.
Try providing cofee and some nutritious snacks of their choice.
But as DD tells me "Don't get mad Mom take action"
To get a chart, start by collection into a folder all papers that you got from doctor's visits. Care plans can be set up by licensed persons.
If you have professionals coming to the home, ask them about making up a chart. For each page, write 'memo for the record' and the name and credential of the person writing, and the date. This makes the chart eligible to be a legal document.
Before you tell the agency,(which likely would fire her), I suggest you confront her and have that caregiver understand naps are unacceptable and continuing taking them result in your telling the agency. In that conversation try it as a problem solving how to not go sleep.
Try suggestions to not sleep: dietary eat protein for their meal/snack because protein promotes wakefulness and carbohydrates makes the body sleepy; coffee/caffeine is useful/ necessary to stay awake with for; a talking watch is good, especially ones that beep on each hour; an oven timer is useful for timing care such a dressing soak for half an hour; (this is a mixed message because it makes sure the patient is tended by an alert caregiver); possibly the caregiver has another job; walk around and do exercises is one way to stay awake; the use of Iphones and tablets I used to oppose, but I have rethought that for when patient is asleep I believe they are OK; I often suggest using WebMD to learn about the medical case.
Two tips.
Cameras and cell phones.
With cameras you can check in anytime.
Since the cameras are visible to all ( in my case) they are a deterrent on their own for any no no’s. No one can tell when you are checking.
The cell phone is useful for two different reasons.
One is that you can check the cameras via the cell phone regardless of where you are.
The second use for the cell phone is for the sleepy person. If feeling sleepy simply read a few minutes on the phone and the light of the phone will help wake one up and make one more alert.
That’s the same reason one shouldn’t be on the cell phone before going to sleep at night.
Good for waking up. Bad for going to sleep.
Guess I could have read the weekly hometown newspaper that was mailed to Dad, to catch up with the farming reports, that would take 10 minutes.
Couldn't do any housecleaning as I didn't want to wake Dad. So I quietly turned on the TV and scrolled through all 6 channels on the TV. Oh, Dad didn't have cable, either. Eventually I found something to keep me awake for awhile.
Eventually i did doze off. One just can't help it, unless one was a night caregiver who has a chance to sleep 8 hours during the day. Plus the house was sooo hot.
My patient didn't sleep all night (again) and fell asleep 1 hour after my shift started. I got him fed, sheets changed, teeth brushed and pottied before he drifted off.
It is permitted that I can use my phone while I sit in the darkened room. (If not, I'd go nuts!) When I notice I'm getting heavy eyed, I get up, use the bathroom, read by flashlight, do deep breathing, exercise quietly in the room, ANYTHING to keep from sleeping. If the house gets too warm, I'll have a big cold drink and wash my face and hands with cold water.
I'm being paid to stay awake. I can hear (from his breathing) if he's going into a seizure. (90% of his seizures are during his sleep). If I was asleep, I wouldn't catch it. How would that be to wake up to a gran mal seizure?
Falling asleep is punishable by a warning then by termination.
This is a good job (unlike a lot that I've tried out there) and I don't want to screw it up.
I go to bed at 9 pm and get up at 5 am. No reason to sleep.
Plus, I get to read all the AC responses at work ! 😀
You’ve said you like the caregivers they don’t steal, they are kind and take care of your mom well, etc.
People get tired!
You should probably talk with the caregivers. When my mother was recovering from surgery, one of her favorite caregivers would come work at night, then go to her full time job during the day at a company. The caregiver would sleep in the rocking chair next to mom's bed with her legs up in such a way that mom could not go anywhere without waking her up. That way she could make sure that mom did not fall or put too much weight on her recovering hip.
You need some reassurance that the caregivers have a plan for how to be awakened when your mother is up. That could be anything from having your mother wake them up if she is alert, to having a motion sensor beep if your mother gets up. There are also pressure sensor pads that will sound if they sense the person has gotten up. Talk to your caregivers and work out what would be the best solution for all involved to make certain that your mom's caregivers get up when she does.
That time of night can be difficult for an Aide who doesn't do night shift on a regular basis. When my Dad had overnight shift, these caregivers only did overnight shifts, no days shifts, so they got their 8 hours of sleep prior to coming to the house.
I believe that unless an aide asks for permission up front that naps be allowed that an aide should not just assume it's ok. They are getting paid to do a job. They should consider themselves lucky that they may have some downtime to use smartphone to take care of personal business, or sewing, pleasure reading, ect.