Think Outside the Box When It Comes to Paying For Services
by Sheryl Karas M.A.
When caregivers pay for help they usually think about finding in-home support for taking care of the patient. They want someone to help with a bath or to provide respite so they can do other things. It's very unusual for me to have a caregiver ask for help in figuring out how to get the other things in their lives done so the time they spend time with their patient is more relaxed. Here's a new way to think: consider hiring help for the things you have to do but don't enjoy, then focus on making the time you spend with and without your patient more enjoyable.
Make a list of tasks you don't enjoy but feel frustrated doing without. Pulling weeds, mowing the lawn and watering the garden, cleaning the house, doing laundry, buying groceries, running errands, making phone calls, arranging for services, cooking dinner, and paying bills are all items which can easily be done by other people.
Then check your budget. Can you afford a gardening or housekeeping service to come once a week? How about once a month? Rent-a-wife services (look under Organizing Services or Personal Services in the Yellow Pages) can help you get organized, run errands, do shopping or laundry and a myriad of other tasks. Or try running a classified ad for a "Personal Assistant" or "Gal Friday." Too expensive? Hire a teenager!
Teenagers are an underutilized resource in the community. They don't need to pay rent so they can afford to accept a lower rate of pay than other people and they need flexible easy ways to earn spending cash or to save money for college or other expenses. Many teenagers would be thrilled to find a job that pays minimum wage ($6.75/hr) in their own neighborhood. Most teenagers willing to work have the maturity it takes to do the simple tasks we're talking about here. Some could even be trusted to provide respite for a few hours if the patient tends to be calm and needs no medical attention.
Finding a teenager for hire is as simple as calling your local high school and asking to place an ad in the school newspaper or post a flyer in a visible location. Church bulletins are excellent places to advertise for help. You could try placing an ad in your local newspaper. You could also try the Hire-A-Youth program (454-4080 in Santa Cruz, 763-8750 in Watsonville).
Caregiving Articles
A new version of this article can be found in Sheryl’s latest book The Spiritual Journey of Family Caregiving.
Caregiving Articles
© Copyright 2007 Sheryl Karas & Paul Hood