We Already Talked About This Once, But ...

Recently, we discussed the difficulty that clients and family sometimes have separating excellent home care from a particulare Home Care Aide.  When we, at Support For Home, have to make a change, sometimes family just has a hard time accepting it.

Recently, we had a case of a Home Care Aide not showing up for an assignment.  Unfortunately, it can -- and will, at some point -- happen with the best senior care agencies.  The real crux of the matter is how the home care agency handles it.

This was a client undergoing dialysis on a regular basis, and the day in question was a dialysis day -- but the employee failed to show up.  Under California penal code section 368, that is a potential criminal offense for the individual.  We covered the assignment and got our client to dialysis. 

When the employee called, the next day, we informed her that she had "self-terminated" her employment with Support For Home and that, as she already knew, it would be reported to the authorities.

That is bad enough.  The former employee behaved in an ethically reprehensible manner.  It is up to the authorities whether they deem it to be something they will prosecute.  For us, there is no alternative.  She is no longer an employee.  We cannot trust her and will not subject any client to such potential behavior.

However, the family member of another client for whom she provided services actually wanted us to rehire the former employee.  That person was unable to take an objective view and realize the potential jeopardy the client might be in with someone who already demonstrated a willingness to abandon a dialysis patient.  Our answer -- it's not going to happen.  We will happily lose a client before we will hire back someone who behaves in such a manner.