Yes, home care in Gainesville can be used in addition to a family caregiver who works from home. A caregiver isn’t always available to leave a meeting or take a break from working. Scheduled home care can provide support during a caregiver’s workday.
Working from home can be confusing for family members. Caregivers may leave meetings to help a parent with a task, or complete caregiver duties between work duties.
This can be problematic as
Distance Does Not Equal Availability
Interruptions and distractions can happen during a work-from-home day.
You may need to prepare to present and be involved in a care activity that cannot be paused or stopped. An unplanned interruption may occur at the start of a care activity. Care activities may happen during a meal that is being prepared. A meeting may occur while a caregiver is preparing a meal.
You may be able to hear care activities happening nearby and not be available to assist.
This caregiver conflict is the most problematic.
Rather than ask, "Am I home?", caregivers should ask, "When is it possible for me to take a break from my work to provide care for my parent?"
A family member may be able to manage meals at breakfast and dinner and company during the workday. The trouble is in the time in between.
Scheduled home care services can fill that space.
The goal isn’t to replace yourself during your parent’s day. It is to fill the voids that your work leaves.
Beyond looking at your calendar, look at your parent’s schedule.
Write down the times that you are tied up and can’t leave your desk.
Later, think about the times your parent needs help.
Are there times that your parent needs help during the work day that overlap with the times that you can’t leave work?
Is there a time of the day that your parent needs help that isn’t covered at the beginning and the end of the day?
Do you need help in the middle of the day?
Answering these questions can help you create a care plan. Care plans can be as simple as identifying the times that care is needed and explaining how that care will be provided. Care plans can be adapted to fit the needs of your household.
Your case manager may not require full-day coverage. In a different case, longer coverage may be warranted because the case manager may be interrupted at various points throughout the day.
I would include the older case manager in this discussion.
You may want to seek assistance only for specific activities and leave the rest of your case manager’s activities unencumbered. Working from home doesn’t mean your activities should take precedence over your case manager’s activities.
You need to find coverage during activities that interfere with your case manager’s activities.
What are the strategies for managing interruptions?
It’s not appropriate to communicate to your case manager to not interrupt you during your work hours and expect your case manager to not interact with you for the rest of the day.
You should try organizing your day to include times when your case manager is unencumbered to times when another person is giving your case manager support.
Breaks are scheduled to meet your family’s immediate needs. If you only schedule breaks to address your family’s needs, time to recharge may feel scheduled and controlled. Consider alternating responsibility with a sibling to schedule time to engage with your parent as a child.
A breakdown in the caregiving role, especially if the family caregiver is in the same house, may be addressed by respite care.
There are many ways to provide respite care.
Could having agreed upon relief from caregiving responsibilities allow you to work from home without caregiver companion concerns?
Consider whether you continue to be able to work from home, and whether the older adult is comfortable with the arrangements.
There are a number of indicators that suggest that the family is facing a caregiving deficit including the following:
- You are leaving work meetings to provide care.
- Your work is scheduled to occur in the evenings and weekends.
- Care recipient is unable to perform self-care tasks because caregiver is unavailable.
- You are unable to work because you are concerned about care recipient’s well being.
Your parent understands that you are working and isn't asking for additional help.
There is not enough support for your parent during the portions of the day that you find most challenging.
I think it is also important to consider if your parent has altered their own needs.
If there has been a recent change to your parent's health, including new conditions that may impact their ability to function, or new conditions that may impact your parent's need for support, then support that is provided by a non-medical care worker may not sufficiently address your parent's needs. In that situation, it may be prudent to contact a medical professional for an assessment.
It is often helpful for a care worker to support your parent with various daily activities. The care worker is not permitted to cross the legal and ethical boundaries of care and support, including performing activities that should be provided by a medical professional.
Some Gainesville families are considering whether it is possible for them to continue to have you work from home, given the constraints of your parent's care situation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Home Care for Work-From-Home Family Caregivers
Do I need to hire care for my entire workday?
In general, care is meant to help alleviate the competing demands of work and care giving responsibilities. The level and type of support needed will vary among caregivers and families.
Can I support my parent if a Care Pro is also supporting my parent?
Yes. Home care allows you to supplement the support your parent receives and to continue to fulfill your care giving responsibilities. You may find the Care Plan to be very helpful to structure the support you give.
What if my parent doesn’t want a Care Pro in the house all day?
Rather than presenting home care as a complete change in the support your parent receives, identify and discuss with your parent the support your parent needs and when. Home care can be structured to provide support during specific parts of the day.
What if I need Home Health or Skilled Nursing Care?
Home Instead does not provide medical home care. A Care Pro will not be able to provide medical assessment, treatment or care. Home Instead does not provide any clinical or emergency support. If that is the care your parent needs, contact the appropriate support.
What hours should I include in a Care Plan?
Consider your work schedule against your parent’s routine. Look for repeated schedule conflicts. Once you identify a schedule conflict, consider if there are times your parent could benefit from support to engage in a meal, activity, or outing.
What should I do if the support my parent requires is increasing?
Make updates to the Care Plan to reflect your parent’s current situation. If your parent is experiencing an increase in their support needs due to a medical condition, seek the input of the medical professional on your parent’s care team.
Many people these days are trying to do two jobs from the same location. Working from home in Gainesville may no longer be the convenient option it once was. If you find yourself needing to do two jobs from the same room, or if your parent requires support at times that do not work with your job, reach out to the Home Instead team serving Gainesville. They can help you develop a Care Plan to support your parent and to address your job requirements.
About the Author
Matt Cohn has spent more than 25 years helping older adults and their families find the right support to remain safe and comfortable at home. He owns Home Instead locations serving Gainesville and other communities in Georgia and Louisiana, and has worked closely with families, caregivers, and care professionals through many of the decisions that come with in-home care.
