Mom is blind and has incontinence challenges. Every so often (once a week or so) there is stool on the shower chair and on/around the toilet due to vision challenges and incontinence. I asked the home health aide to make sure the shower floor is not slippery and the bathroom is sanitary. (I am not able to clean it as I am in another state. When I am there I do clean it).
She mentioned my request to my mother. My mother asked her to at least wipe down the shower floor with a paper towel. She would not. She ignored my request and did not respond.
Isn't that part of a caregiver's responsibility? To make sure the person is safe and sanitary?
She does light housekeeping (dishes, laundry, mop, vacuum) and that was part of the expectation.
Thanks
If privately hired and no written contract...well that needs to be hashed out and signed before the next paycheck.
I once had a private aide who refused to wipe the kitchen table off daily. Said she didn’t use it. She was supposed to be using it as I had asked that aunt have her meals at the table instead of in her chair. I had already folded on that one.
The strange thing was this person was highly recommended by a relatives church friends. My DH aunt loved her. She was very good with aunt. I hated to let her go for that reason. It seemed petty on both our parts.
Ultimately I realized I should have let her go straight away when she didn’t want to do what she and I had agreed on when hired.
She had worked for an agency before and wanted to use agency reasons for her decisions. I also managed care from a distance so I get that it is a challenge.
A couple of aides later we found an excellent fit and she has been with aunt for several years now.
I realize there is no comparison between the two chores but I needed and aunt deserved a willing spirit to keep things clean. There are too many issues with caregiving for the most basic to be ignored.
Being out of state, especially, it might be time to look into AL options, at least as respite until competent aides can be found. But don't stick with this one. A person who won't even clorox wipe after your mom goes or she uses the toilet poo is someone who doesn't care about one of the major documented transmission vectors of disease, even back to the "poo-er." Plus it's disgusting that she won't.