Hiring caregivers

Status
Not open for further replies.

Kristina1

Senior member
Joined
Jan 26, 2017
Messages
822
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
03/2017
Country
US
State
MA
City
Grafton
Mod note: There has been some interest in a thread concerning hired caregivers. This topic can include interviewing, paying, training, and organizing caregiver hours as well as sharing experiences we’ve had with caregivers (both good and bad). -Karen

Kristina:
yup. I manage organizing my PCAs (paid caregivers) hours and timesheets. Yesterday I spent a couple hours making up new schedules because I recently got approved for more hours. I had so much fun and was super proud of my spreadsheets. Most exciting thing Ive done all week lol
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Kristina, would you be willing to share a spreadsheet for tracking the hours of caregivers? I totally respect your decision to deny sharing as I know the time and effort this kind of work can be. (As a teacher, I created almost all of my assessments and activities and hated to share outside my district.) We just started with an aid several mornings a week, and have been trying to determine how to manage this
I had so much fun and was super proud of my spreadsheets
 
So basically, see the example timesheet? I have a running timesheet for each PCA formatted in two-week payperiods going back for as long as they've been with me. Not shown in the example, I also have columns that calculate their paid time off (they get one hour PTO for every 30 hours they work). This timesheet is formatted for the place I have to submit their hours to, so 90 minutes is written as 1:30.
 
I use google docs and google sheets.
These are fantastic! You should be so proud of yourself! Hats off to you. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😁😁😁😁😁😁

I'm a Google user myself being a Google certified educator. Having said that I didn't use Sheets to the extent that I am skilled at creating them-using is always easy once a template has been created. (My expertise lies in Forms, Slides, Docs, Classroom, and Drive)
 
thanks! hope it's useful!
 
You spread sheet nerds are awesome. I use an old fashioned method. A loose leaf notebook where each caregiver logs #hours per shift, and we tally these for each pay period. We also use a bookkeeping service to calculate withholdings for tax purposes.
 
Does anybody want a separate thread on organizing hours for caregivers? If there is interest, I’ll move those posts to a separate thread. But the discussion on stalking flowed so naturally into the spreadsheet discussion that my inclination is to leave it as is unless there is additional interest. It was a cool flow of discussion, like at a party, and this is an “off topic” forum, so all sorts of discussions and discussion styles are permissible. 😃

mod note: that is how the current thread started. The above posts were moved from a thread in the off topic forum to start the current thread.
 
Last edited:
either way works for me :)
 
I currently have two hired caregivers trading off working 4 hour shifts M-Sa. Each caregiver works 3 days a week and they cover for one another if they have to miss a day for whatever reason. So far it’s working out very well. I had to let go of the original caregiver I had hired last summer because she wasn’t upto the task of the evolving hands on care required with ALS. The current two are doing great.

My CALS functions as the care manager. My caregivers tell me that they have other clients who hire a care manager who coordinates the caregivers. The care manager functions analogous to a general contractor.
 
I manage my own caregivers from hiring to scheduling and timesheets. It's something that engages my mind and that I enjoy, I also find some measure of reclaimed control/autonomy through it. As a side note it seems to make some caregivers uncomfortable having me be both their employer and their charge. I interviewed one lady who, even though I was asking the questions, would look at my husband and give him her answers, and direct her questions to him while referring to me in the 3rd person. I tried to hire only people who were comfortable with the fact that I was in charge and that while my body might be broken my mind isn't. Even so, one of my PCAs tends to give my husband a "report" when he gets home.

Anyway, my hours are not very uniform because my main/preferred PCA doesn't have a clean same-time-everyday availability.I give her whatever she can do and fill in the rest with my other PCA. I have a 3rd who is primarily back-up, but does take 2 regular shifts.
 
I just recently hired a caregiver several weeks ago independent of any agency. She is a trained/certified STNA . She is starting out with hours in the morning or afternoon depending upon my husband's work schedule to get me dressed, cleaned, fed, and ROM exercises done. So far it is working well. I want to get her trained and comfortable as my needs change. This was a difficult task to get started as my husband had to be convinced that I needed the assistance.
 
Cathy, when I had my first caregiver over the summer, I was not convinced I had enough needs to keep her busy. I had her start out just two days a week to give my CALS a break. I was able to go to the bathroom on my own and walk a little bit with a walker. I had the caregiver help me with meals (through a feeding tube), ROM, dressing, and going for a walk with me (I would be in the wheelchair) to get me out of the house.

My needs evolved when I became non-ambulatory. My current caregivers do all the above plus help me with my toilet needs and Hoyer transfers. The respite for my CALS is essential. Your needs increase exponentially when you loose control of your legs or hands. It’s helpful to get a caregiver on board beforehand.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top