CARE GIVING: Cell Phone Use while on the job.

 
 Several elements about cell phone use while on a care giving assignments.

• "The caregiver is distracted by the phone call or the text. This is time you are paying for, but more importantly, during this time of distraction, your loved one could fall, take the wrong medication or just plain feel lonely and left out."
• "Many elders have hearing problems. They may think the carer is talking to them and get confused when they respond and don't get an answer."
• "Someone with dementia may become paranoid. They hear a person talking to someone who isn't there. This can lead the person with dementia to wonder who else is in the house and become an issue that lasts far longer than the phone call by the carer"

Ask Agencies about Cell Phone Policy Use 


 Add to your list of questions when interviewing a care agency, a question about cell phone use policy. A good agency should have one in place. If they do not and you bring it up, they should be honest and say there isn't one but there should be a policy by the time your loved one is added to their agency care list.

One of the complaints I had while managing care for family members was about cell use.  It can be very annoying to hear someone in the wee hours happily talking to someone in another country in a language you do not understand.