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I’m never comfortable making posts like this, but I’m afraid I’m in a situation once again where I need to bite the bullet and ask for some help. Last March I was forced to leave my position as a live-in-caregiver for an elderly gentleman with Alzheimer’s. I’d been with him for just over two years, and unfortunately his condition was deteriorating past the point where I was able to safely care for him in-home by myself. I understand that he is currently doing well in a fully-staffed nursing home.
After that, I went back to work for the family I had previously worked with cooking dinners in the evening. From March through June I did the same job, preparing dinners for them, though with a substantial increase in salary. They told me I was worth it. Then in July the gentleman of the couple went into the hospital. When he came out again, he needed a great deal more help, and I was hired as one of three caregivers who would help him and his wife so that they were covered 24/7. My shift ran from roughly noon to roughly 8pm, with some variation depending on appointments and other factors, and included bathing him and assisting with dressing and transporting him from one area of the house to another when he was not capable of walking and transporting him to doctors appointments and on other errands, as well as continuing to cook dinners for both him and his wife. This arrangement was working very well for all of us until October, when the gentleman went back into the hospital. Almost immediately my hours were reduced, with one of my coworkers being forced to work double shifts to make sure that there was always someone there to care for his wife. We tried to work this out with the clients, their family, and the agency responsible for employing my coworkers (I was employed directly by my clients), but to no avail. Many conflicting and contradictory reasons were given, but ultimately I think the underlying reason was the manager of the agency my two coworkers worked for taking advantage of my client’s dementia and using it to position her agency to take over fully. What had been a very pleasant arrangement with clients I have known since 2012 turned bitter and hostile, and with a heavy heart I chose to leave their employ.
Since then, I have been job hunting and trying to arrange things so that I can move from Northern Virginia up to Howard County, Maryland to move in with my fiancee. I have, sadly, made much less progress in that regard than I would wish. Both my fiancee and my current roommate have been very supportive, but I can’t just lean on them and I currently find my savings dwindling and bills coming due again. To say nothing of the continuing costs of food, gas, and vehicle maintenance.
So I’m asking once again that if you can afford it, please buy something from my online store or make a straight donation through it: http://dreamhart.org/store/ I can also make custom pieces if anyone would like something specific, or I can offer webdesign work. I can also do some work coding and customizing wordpress or mediawiki plugins, though I’m still far from an expert in that area.
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