As the owner of Reliant In-Home Care, as expected I help families all the time with their elderly love ones needs. Today I am faced with a different reality. Here I am once again, after assisting my own parents when they were alive in their last years, I am now the care manager for my dear Mother In-law. Just today while sipping my morning coffee, I received the call that she fell once again in the Residential Board & Care home, where she is living. I went over to the B&C but the ambulance had already taken her to Tri-city Medical Centers Emergency room. After going over to the ER, talking with the nurse, social worker, ER doctor and doing all the important work of filling them in on her history, medications, and recent changes; she is know being admitted into the hospital. I can tell you that my professional emotional equilibrium doesn’t apply when it comes to my own family member. It is just clearly a draining and demanding on your emotions when your caring for a family member.  Unfortunately the board & care doesn’t have the staff to supervise my Mother In-law during the night if/when she decides to get up unattended. So like what has know happened, she is put in danger of falling.

It is just very different when you are working as a care manager or caregiver for someone you don’t personally know. There’s just no way you can maintain the emotional detachment that is cultivated when working as a professional on a job. This experience I’m going through as my Mother In-laws care manager, even though I’m not doing the full time caregiving, is again such a pointed reminder of the toil caregiving does on a family member caring for a loved one.

I highly encourage family caregivers to get professional home help so you can avoid potentially harmful situations and depleting yourself emotionally & physically. In-home elder care services typically charge by the hour and though the rates seem steep, consider the reasons for the high rates. Not only are Reliant In-home Care professionals bonded, insured, supervised and background checked but with an employee status their withholding’s are managed and their paid weekly. As professionals they are not just ordinary people who happen to like caring for elderly or disabled but they are highly trained and capable for providing personal care and can be counted on to respond to different medical emergencies appropriately. Having professional assistance in the home, even on a minimal basis can ease the burden. We’re praying my Mother in-law returns to her home soon but were also reading ourselves to handle the new level of care she will require. The reality is that I usually step in and manage the emergencies regarding my Mother In-law but as a professional business owner, it would be impossible to be her full time caregiver.