My 88-year-old mother has a difficult personality, and we have been through many, many caregivers during the three years she has received care at home. She is now finally tolerant of her present staff of caregivers, but some of these caregivers also work in nursing homes. I realize that the caregivers who work in nursing homes are more susceptible to contracting the coronavirus, since the elderly population they care for is more at risk of contracting it. Is it wiser to let the nursing home caregivers go, or to allow them to stay on given my mother's tolerance of them? Without my even raising the subject, the caregivers who also work in nursing homes have assured me that they will take precautions to prevent contracting the virus (hand sanitizing, repeatedly monitoring temperature, etc.). I appreciate their pro-active stance, but I feel I must do what is correct to protect my Mom. Does anyone have a similar situation, or have an opinion on this matter? Many, many thanks!
I would think that professionals who work in a nursing home are very vigilant about maintaining proper hygiene to stem the spread of illness - don't forget, these are people who deal with flu outbreaks every year!! - since they 1) don't want to spread any illness to the people in their care and 2) they don't want to bring home any illnesses to their own families.
That being said, you have to do what you feel is best for your mom's overall health. But I don't know, if at this stage of the virus, that non-nursing home employed people are at less risk to carry/spread the illness than those working in a nursing home. If it were my mom, I would likely stay with the help I've already hired, since she knows them, likes them (as much as she is able) and I know they're reliable, trustworthy people.
Again, make the decision that you can best live with. Unfortunately, as so many people have stated in the forum before today, many times care-taking involves not either a good/bad option, but the "best of 2 bad" options.
but, I wonder what your plan is for when a lock down prevents anyone from leaving their home. Voluntary at first. Maybe you might consider a live-in for a short while till this passes. The risks are exposure while you are out, then bringing it in. It is nearly impossible to "screen" because before you have any symptoms...you are infectious.
What do the caregivers who do not also work in nursing homes do when they are not on duty with your mother?
It is your decision, of course, and unfortunately a very difficult one in the absence of guarantees. But do beware unintended consequences.
Supposing you let them go, the disruption upsets your mother, your mother's behaviour becomes more challenging, and both that and the increased workload lead to your losing the remaining caregivers too (healthy ones are not going to be short of job opportunities if they want them)?
I think you might do better to set aside a washroom for them to use on arrival, if possible, and keep it well-stocked and clean.
Your mom is 88. You have blessed her with the very best you could during the three years in which you’ve been responsible for her care.
The management techniques for contagion control in our residential care sites are likely to be among the highest our country has ever seen, especially since the elderly have been identified as a population that is particularly vulnerable to this disease.
Given the information you have, ie. the choice between dismissing a staff that was difficult for you to acquire or taking into account the quality of contagion control in the employment sites where your aides work when they are not with your mother, you are pretty much balanced in making either choice.
I’d probably choose to keep the aides you have, and feel comfortable doing so, since your mom could have some risk of exposure with either choice.
You’re a good daughter. Have confidence that you’ll make the best decision you can.
I wouldn't count on that. There's only so much they can do. Unless they wear a different tyvek suit or change clothes between each patient after every single interaction, then they are spreading the virus. The can wash their hands raw. The microdroplets will be on their clothes. When they go to change someone or lift someone, those microdroplets will be transferred to the patient or their bedding.
You can bet that the NH in Kirkland is doing all that it can with the scrutiny it's getting. Yet the infection ran like wildfire throughout that facility.