Jemmie

Member since August 21, 2008.
1 Comments, 2 Replies

Bio

My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease approximately 5.5 years ago and soon afterwards could no longer live on his own. Through a preagreement he came to live with my husband (of only 7 months at the time) and me.

As his disease progressed he needed more and more care than we were able to do on our own and needed assistance. We started with the agencies. They sent out so many different people every day it was almost comical. The things we were promised never materialized and I would alternately cry, rant and rave and get plain old-fashioned mad at the situation. All I wanted was for my daddy to be cared for in the manner in which I cared for him while I was unable to be home and do it myself due to work. Period. And, since I was paying anywhere from $16 to $20 an hour, I didn't think, as the consumer-customer, I was being unreasonable. Though, in retrospect, I found I was! What a nightmare that time was.

So, whenever I would do my nightly tirade against the injustices facing my daddy and other seniors my hubby would wait till I took a breath and then quietly tell me to "fix it." And, slowly, over the next few months, I did. I found an angel for my father and I started my own home care agency to assist others in my situation. My best friend and I opened "Annie's Home Care Angels" and have built our agency slowly, based it on respect for the clients, listen to the clients' needs and develop a care plan from those needs. We refuse to offer "cookie cutter" services because what I need and what my neighbor may need are so totally different. And since the client is paying for our time, they are the boss. Gee, what a concept. We also set our pricing at about 20% (on average) lower than our closest competitors. We also pay our "angels" higher than the industry standard in our state and therefore we do get more qualified help and we can demand more of the angels as well. We have a great and tight-knit group that is family. We train each new angel as a team.

And, even though I have assisted in creating the best agency that is setting the new standard of home care, I still get overwhelmed when dealing with my own daddy from time to time. I guess it proves that giving advice to someone is a whole lot easier than living in that person's shoes. LOL!

So, I am open to anyone caring to chat or blog about the ups and downs of being the family caregiver. I have a lot of "tricks up my sleeve" if you will. LOL! And, I do have pretty broad shoulders and, as my business partner says, "You will mother anyone that steps into your path." And she is so right! HeeHee!

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