In my previous post, I outlined some of the unanticipated things that go along with having paid caregivers. I made the point that family caregivers remain managers of their loved one’s care. These things include dealing with insurance companies, selecting an agency that provides in-home care, (many insurance companies only reimburse fees that come through an agency), and handling the finances. As I confessed, they produced a few new sources of stress.
Today’s post looks at managing the caregivers themselves. That’s something else about which I hadn’t given much thought before our first caregiver arrived. I feel sure that I was heavily influenced by our experience with Kate’s mother in 2000 when we arranged 24/7 care for her in our home. That was a very good experience. The agency quickly arranged for 5-7 people to cover all the shifts. Almost every one of them was with us until her mother’s death over five years later. They were a dependable and competent group that could handle the tasks required for someone who needed “total care.”
When I first engaged caregivers for Kate, I didn’t think much about any special skills for her caregivers. I was simply looking for someone who could be with her while I was away for a few hours. I wanted someone who would be a good companion for Kate. After trying several in the first few weeks, we ended up with two who were with us for an extended time, one for more than four years.
The only problem I encountered was finding people who could establish a close relationship with Kate. I wanted someone she would look forward to seeing. The one who was with us for over four years was the best.
Before Kate had COVID, she was still mobile, able to occupy herself and take care of her personal needs. After her hospital experience, she required total care. That not only meant that I needed more hours of help. I needed caregivers with special training in caring for someone with her needs. That was a whole new ballgame. It’s been a year and five months since then and the management of caregivers has become a big part of my life and is often stressful. Here are some of the reasons.
Like other family caregivers, I value the time that I get away for lunch, meet with friends, or take care of routine tasks like grocery shopping. Some, like doctor’s appointments and my weekly Rotary meeting, involve a specific time, and I don’t like to be late. Inevitably, caregivers are sometimes late or have to cancel. That has presented a problem for me from the beginning. It has become a much bigger issue now that Kate needs more care, and there is a staff shortage.
On a number of occasions, our current agency has been unable to replace a caregiver who couldn’t come. Fortunately, our present agency has “floaters” on the grounds. These are caregivers whose job is to move from one client to another during the day to meet immediate, short-term needs like ours – helping me get Kate out of bed and back in bed that night. Between those times, I can care for her myself. Actually, I like that because her needs are minimal once she is up, and we get to spend quality time together. Even with the backup provided by floaters, I often need to change my plans for the day.
One of the biggest challenges (and another source of stress) is finding caregivers that are a good match for our needs. Kate now requires help with all of the “activities of daily living” (ADLs). If I want a caregiver who is trained for this responsibility, I need a CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant). Not all the caregivers at an agency have this certification, and not all CNAs are equally skilled; therefore, it often takes trial periods with different caregivers before settling into one or more who are best suited for our situation. It can be very stressful when I lose a caregiver and have to locate a replacement.
I’ve come to recognize that the qualities I want in Kate’s caregivers fall into two distinct categories that I consider of equal importance. The first, and more obvious, is the technical skills required to perform all of Kate’s ADLs (bathing, dressing, getting her out of bed, and feeding her. The second is to treat her with tender loving care (TLC) although I don’t expect them to treat her as I do. Our relationship as husband and wife is distinctly different. It is much easier for me to deliver TLC than any caregiver.
On the other hand, I have had only one or two caregivers who made any effort to provide the TLC that I would like. Typically, caregivers just sit in the same room with Kate without talking. That has bothered me because everyone, even people in the later stages of dementia, appreciates being treated like a person. I believe the root of the problem lies in the fact that Kate doesn’t talk much at all. This leads the caregivers to believe that she can’t understand and appreciate their effort to be friendly. I also believe that caregivers’ training provides much less attention to TLC than I think is necessary.
Kate’s early caregivers were better with TLC than those with her now. That was a time when Kate could carry on a conversation more easily. The only way a caregiver can do that now is to “get into her world.” That is not an easy thing to do, even for me. We’ve had only two caregivers (and they were filling in for one of our regulars) who could handle this. Each of them sang songs with/for Kate. Kate enjoyed it, and I was surprised when I came home and found them talking together.
I’ve learned that our situation is a bit unusual for most of our caregivers in that I am an active manager of Kate’s care. I am rarely gone for more than three hours of a 7-8 hour shift. The caregivers are accustomed to providing care without another family member’s presence. Usually, family caregivers leave right after they arrive and return at the time they are to leave. As a result, they can be annoyed and resent any involvement or suggestions from the family caregiver who spends more time at home. That has been a particular problem with one of my caregivers, and it has been very stressful.
That leads me to mention something else that can be a problem – the caregivers’ personality. I have also run into this, and it is with the same caregiver whose other caregiving responsibilities don’t include working in the presence of a family caregiver. I’d rather not go into the details, but this has become the biggest problem I have faced with any caregiver. I am working with the agency to replace her, but so far they have had no luck. Our agency is not alone. Caregivers are in high demand, and people who require total care are often the least preferred cases by the caregivers themselves.
In closing, I should say that I’ve been talking about paid caregivers for in-home care; however, what I have said is also true if one’s loved one is in some form of institutional care (hospital, rehab, memory care, adult daycare, or skilled nursing). Following a stroke, my dad was in skilled nursing for the last three and a half years of his life. I visited with him almost every day. From the first day until the last, I found it necessary to communicate aspects of his care that needed to be addressed. Twice, for example, I arrived to find him in a diabetic shock as a result of their continuing to give him insulin despite the fact that he had missed his lunch. The schedule called for him to get his insulin at 3:00. There was no requirement that he had to eat lunch.
All of this is to say that having paid caregivers is not without its own elements of stress. That often arises from the unanticipated consequences of being the family caregiver, the manager of the loved one who needs care. That said, I wouldn’t be able to handle Kate’s care without our paid caregivers, and I am very grateful to have them.
