Day in the Life of a Caregiver

I’m Beth, a Certified Nursing Assistant at Cedar Hills Assisted Living. My shift starts at 6:30 a.m., which is the time that most people are getting out of bed. By now I’m used to it, but I still bring my 32 oz travel mug filled with coffee and French vanilla creamer. Yum! I’m also taking nursing classes at the community college and this job gives me valuable experience. I love connecting with my residents and their families.? I swipe my time card and the day begins!

6:35 A.M. – 7:30 A.M.

Shelby, the third shift caregiver meets me at the first floor caregiver office. She’s logging out of her InFORM handset. I take the handset from her and log in.

“It was a quiet night,” Shelby reports. She glances at the clock and rushes to collect her things. “Can’t talk now, the notes are in your chat”.

I nod and check for the messages that have been left for me. The executive director or the activities department will send us messages on our InFORM handsets.

In the chat from Shelby: Phyllis woke up early this morning for a snack, so maybe let her sleep a little later.? Brenda struggled to get to the bathroom so she might need some additional assistance getting to breakfast.

The activities department sent a message reminding us that Roy Leonard and his Amazing Accordion are coming into play for this month’s birthday celebration. I have been assigned to help serve cake and make sure everyone gets the celebration they deserve.?

6:45 A.M. – 9:15 a.m. ?

My first call is from Thomas on my handset. I take the call and knock on his door. I make sure he has his red reading glasses and today’s newspaper with him before I reset his device. For call reason, I put in ADL Assist.

At the table, he pulls on his reading glasses and starts reading the paper. I ask him if there’s any good news today. Thomas shrugs his shoulders and tells me to check back later.

I go back to my area and help the rest of my residents get ready to go down. After all my residents are seated for breakfast, I sit with the other caregiver, Tiffany. We chat about what we think the day will look like and help residents with the dietary aides are busy.

9:20 A.M.

At about 9:20 a.m. I get a call from Phyllis. Turns out, it’s not a call but a reminder from TaskMan. Phyllis’ favorite activity they offer here is chair yoga. The activity staff and the executive director programmed in reminders for caregivers to take residents to their favorite activities, remind us about ADLs, and even allow staff to put in maintenance requests. I knock on the door and hear Phyllis yell for me to come in. I take her down to the south activity room. She asks to be wheeled next to her two friends. At 10:00 a.m. I get a call from Phyllis to come back to her room.

11:45 A.M.- 1:00 P.M.

The past few hours seem to have flown by. It’s lunch time and the smell of pasta and cheese is wafting from the kitchen. I take some residents down. One resident pushes her pendant and points out that her cabinet handle has broken off. I open TaskMan and put in a maintenance request. Tom or Ben will see it and take care of it later. My handset buzzes with a new text message from Tiffany.

“Can you help me get Mary into the tub after lunch?” I text her back that I can assist and remind her that I’m supposed to help with Leonard and His Accordion at 2:30. A calendar reminder from TaskMan pops us to remind me of my 2:30 obligation. It’s going to be a busy afternoon.

1:15P.M. – 2:10 P.M.

Tiffany texts me that she’s ready for me to help her with Helen, the resident who loves her afternoon baths. She’s a 2-person assist to lift, so I help get into the tub. Once I know she’s safe, I tell Tiffany to send me a text message. I start bringing residents down to the birthday party. The activity room is buzzing with excited chatter from the residents. This sight always makes me grin.

2:10 P.M. – 3 P.M.

The party is getting rowdy.? Residents are singing along and clapping. The activities staff is dancing with some of the residents. My face hurts from all the smiling I’m doing and the laughter from the residents is contagious. Tiffany texts me for an assist to get Helen out of the tub. I laugh. We used to give a time or stick our heads out the door and yell for help. Another option was to leave the resident along while we looked for help. None of these are great options which is why I’m thankful for InFORM.

I let the Activities staff know I’ll be right back. I help Tiffany get Helen out of the tub and I go back to the activity room where I’m greeted by a rousing, “Roll Out the Barrels”. The two activities assistants motion for me to help scoop ice cream into bowls with slices of cake. I text the next shift to make sure they know that Phyllis is leaving with family for the weekend. The nurse came to prepare her meds for the weekend and put the envelopes in the drawer.

Janet and Heather stroll into the dining room where they get a big bowl of cake and ice cream. The other residents cheer as Leonard announces he’s taking requests now. ?

We walk down to the office with our cake and ice cream in hand. We give report and log out of our InFORM handsets. As I’m walking out, I realize I forgot to tell them about Phyllis. Sure, we wrote it down and there are memos up, but we’re all humans. Then I remember the text message I wrote out. Whew. InFORM has saved me again!

I think of how smoothly our building has been running since we got InFORM. Phyllis used to call her family and tell them things we did or didn’t do, like not answering her call light for hours. Then one of her daughters would call the Director and repeat what their mom said. Then we’d have to take extra measures so we could prove we were taking good care of her mom. Now our Director has a monthly meeting with Phyllis’ family where they review the graphs she pulls from the InFORM system. Her complaints have decreased significantly, and we have a better relationship with Phyllis and her daughters.

Plus, with the texting features and reminders, we communicate so much better now. No more yelling, pulling the pull cord, or searching for our partner. Now, we simply send a text and the residents stay safe.

It’s 3:00 and I clock out. My day is done!

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