Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Compromise Solution

In the morning I was clear on one thing: we could not cut Mom's private caregiver hours from 16 hours a day to zero in one big jump.
I called the agency and said we would like to keep one of the caregivers for eight hours per day and lay off the other caregiver. I thought I could fill in the cracks around giving up one caregiver.
My preference was to keep the evening caregiver so that her daily bath and bed routine would continue to be given by a person she knew well. But I felt that Connie, the evening person, could get another job easily, whereas the morning caregiver, Jona, is six months pregnant and could not easily find another job with as little lifting and hard work as this one.
In addition, Mom has more energy and needs more direction and companionship in the morning. She is more likely to sleep in the afternoon and early evening, so she may be able to get along without a private caregiver in those hours, except that her bath and bed routine will be disturbed. Ocean View offers a maximum of four showers per week, and these might end up being done by different people every day, including by men. Mom would not like that.
I asked the agency to retain Jona (the morning caregiver) and reassign Connie.
Ana at the agency called to tell me that Jona had accepted this plan.
I was happy when I saw Jona at 1 pm because things are resolved favorably. I like Jona a lot. She is so kind and caring with my mother, and I had promised her she would be able to work up until her baby's birth.
Now I can keep that promise and perhaps transition to having no private caregiver when she takes time off for the birth of her baby at the end of June.

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