Cutting to the chase: Dad is in Assisted Living and also has 24/7 private caregivers (not agency). I was stunned on Thanksgiving to learn that the day shift caregiver left early and the night time caregiver arrived late, leaving Dad (age 92 with advanced dementia) completely alone for 4-5 hours. They told me, at about 8pm that night, that they wanted to be with their families and that they had asked the CNAs at the ALF would check in on Dad. I get that they would want to be with family but I am nonetheless shocked that they would abandon their responsibility to my Dad. Since this was only brought to my attention while it was occurring, I had no chance to make other arrangements for my Dad’s care with an agency, or to go stay with him myself. One CG has been w/Dad 4 years, and the other more than a year. Adding insult to injury, today is payday and they claimed their full time on the time sheet. I have to deal with this matter today and would welcome advice.
can have meals in the dining room. There are RNs to dispense meds and on call for an emergency. He can take part in activities offered such as concerts. Its worked out well.
I completely disagree with what they did; however, please consider if you also played a role by not addressing holiday scheduling beforehand? I assume you are managing the shifts since you state they are not agency. Sometimes an employer needs to bring up issues that could potentially make employees uncomfortable, like holiday scheduling. Or even ask an open ended question to allow an employee to tell you if they have concerns.
You need to discuss this with them, but you need to get your emotions under control first. You want to discuss this is a calm businesslike manner. Try to use a problem solving or I want to understand air and not an accusatory one.
I would express my disappointment in how they handled wanting/needing time off and leaving your father alone without giving you any opportunity to schedule coverage with someone else. I would probably mention this could be considered neglect and if anything had happened to your father while he was alone the authorities may have considered charges. Then I would ask why they didn't call before taking the time off? Was this a spur of the moment decision or had it been planned several days ahead? Why do the timesheets show a full shift was worked? Have they also left your father alone before and recorded the time as working a full shift? I would express their actions have damaged your trust in them and I would probably implement some type of oversight control, at least for a while. Could they get a signature on the timesheet from someone on the AL staff when the shift begins or ends? Send you a text message? Maybe with a photo attached of them in your father's AL building/apartment?
It's a difficult situation but if they have otherwise been good caregivers for your father I would try to work past it.
If not and you really can't see a scenario where you will trust one or both again and it's worth the turmoil and work of finding new aids then make a clean break, tell them why and make sure you tell future aids why you had to let the last ones go.
Such a tough one, I'm sorry you are having to deal with this. Good luck
Express your disappointment with the caregiver that remains, don’t pay for hours not worked, and ask for his/her input for the new schedule.
Hope this helps!