June 4, 2020

The Mayor of 82nd St

I call him the Mayor of 82nd St. a wonderful man indeed I call him this because I'm told He helped anyone in need.
June 3, 2020

How I started checking on my caregiving cousin, instead of on his mother

Al and I are the same age. Al’s mother is 100 years old this summer. She is a cheerful and sociable woman who acts like she’s in her 80s. She still stands up straight, and has to be told to please use her walker because she has macular degeneration and sometimes falls.
June 3, 2020

Immunity, not Antibodies

While it is understandable why the Executive Order and Act were contemplated and enacted for hospitals and doctors, the application to nursing homes and nursing home staff is quite troubling, in light of the significant, long standing problems with staffing and infection control policies in nursing homes in New York. There is a push to have the immunity provisions repealed, but to date they are in effect.
June 1, 2020

Spittle

I did not pick up this dental floss pick seen in this photo, which is exactly as I found it on the coffee table in front of the sofa, the home health aide’s bed in the home of a 95-year-old homebound woman.
May 23, 2020

I Am Not a Home Health Aide

I didn’t train to be a home health aide and I don’t have a certificate to work as one, but recently I did an eight hour shift because there was no one else. The job of a home health aide is simple yet complex.
May 23, 2020

How Not to Become Lost in Caregiving During a Pandemic