Well, my current 'provider' called me this evening and quit without giving me any notice. This one had worked a whole month!
I realize that MOST of these women only take these part-time care provider jobs to 'fill-in' till something better comes along. Still, I think they should show some responsibility to the people they help care for by at least giving two weeks notice. It really ticks me off...
In 2006 I've gone through In Home Supportive Services Providers like a chocoholic through a bag of M&M's. I can't even remember how many there have been. Or their names.
It probably takes about 4 - 6 weeks to find a replacement. The hours & energy spent getting the lists from IHHS, calling the people on the list, doing telephone interviews, setting up and conducting in-person interviews, and checking on references probably would be better spent on other items.
So not only do my floors get dirty quickly, but I have less energy for fixing meals, taking a shower, or playing with the girls. (Not to mention Blogging!) Clean laundry quickly piles up on the dining room table, delivered groceries that I don't have the energy to put away live UNDER the table, dust layers the furniture, and sacks of trash, neatly stack up on the patio chair.
This all sounds chaotic, but not so! It's my system of coping with life all by myself. A system I've developed by trial and error over the years. And somehow I muddle though; though I must admit, I've never gotten used to living in a 'dirty' house.
But one MUST have priorities! And though I don't 'like it', the above things are not high on my list anymore.
I realize that MOST of these women only take these part-time care provider jobs to 'fill-in' till something better comes along. Still, I think they should show some responsibility to the people they help care for by at least giving two weeks notice. It really ticks me off...
In 2006 I've gone through In Home Supportive Services Providers like a chocoholic through a bag of M&M's. I can't even remember how many there have been. Or their names.
It probably takes about 4 - 6 weeks to find a replacement. The hours & energy spent getting the lists from IHHS, calling the people on the list, doing telephone interviews, setting up and conducting in-person interviews, and checking on references probably would be better spent on other items.
So not only do my floors get dirty quickly, but I have less energy for fixing meals, taking a shower, or playing with the girls. (Not to mention Blogging!) Clean laundry quickly piles up on the dining room table, delivered groceries that I don't have the energy to put away live UNDER the table, dust layers the furniture, and sacks of trash, neatly stack up on the patio chair.
This all sounds chaotic, but not so! It's my system of coping with life all by myself. A system I've developed by trial and error over the years. And somehow I muddle though; though I must admit, I've never gotten used to living in a 'dirty' house.
But one MUST have priorities! And though I don't 'like it', the above things are not high on my list anymore.
Without help, my priorities change drastically. I try to shower 3 times a week, do up the dishes every other day, the laundry I do as I can, putting it in laundry basket on the dining room table and draping things that need to be hung over a chair. I empty the trash and get the mail a couple of times a week. If my energy level is REALLY low, and my muscles really weak, I need to lie down in the middle of the day.
Often I will ignore the phone and email till I can 'get to it'.
I eat mainly microwave frozen entries, adding cottage cheese, canned veggies, fruit cups, diet jello, etc. Oatmeal, toast, eggs, and sandwiches. Easy fix, easy clean up, easy carb count stuff!
I 'pooper scoop', and feed the girls daily, as usual; but their dishes pile up in the sink with mine! And sometimes days will go by without me really 'playing' with them.
It's amazing what one able-bodied (meaning: not ill) IHHS Provider can get done in the 4 hours a week I'm 'allotted'. When I don't have it, there is such a difference in how I live, even to maybe being out of milk or some other needed commodity, for days.
A hell of a way for a perfectionist, type-A person to live, but sadly I've come to accept it...
Consider yourself fortunate -- although Social Services says I need help, IHSS says I can't have it because the judge has yet to say I'm disabled. Which he refuses to do until I'm getting IHSS. According to him, if I don't have household help, it means that I'm not disabled. What it means is that with below poverty level earnings, I can't afford it.
ReplyDeleteI tried hiring in the open market, and got people who don't have a clue that cleaning for the disabled means more than dusting (which I can do myself). All the things evvy mentioned that need doing in her household, I've been told they can't or won't or just plain don't want to. They're not allowed to do my laundry, they're not allowed to carry anything.
And act like they don't speak enough English to understand directions "put it here, where I can reach it", though they speak perfectly when it's time to say "pay me", "give me this", or "if you refuse to pay me because I accomplished absolutely nothing in the past four hours, I will sue you for fraud".
For more on this subject, see my blog at http://journals.aol.com/kmc528/Lifeasweknowit/
Friends say I'm the government's responsibility and the government says I'm my friends' responsibility, and meanwhile, I just fall through the cracks and chores I physically cannot do go undone.