We have a hired caregiver for my mom, and we live out of state. When the caregiver occasionally gets sick, we are always scrambling to try to find someone to cover for her. Are there services you can call for such situations? Similar to calling a babysitter? It would be with only same day, a day or several days notice at the most.
If your mother's caregivers are from a homecare agency, they are supposed to provide a fill-in aide if her regular is out sick or on vacation or taking time off. You should not have to "scramble" for anything if she uses a homecare agency. The agency charges big bucks for service and and part of that is a guarantee of available service. If she uses an agency and they don't come through, drop them like a bad habit.
You can check out a caregiver website like care.com and advertise for a per diem person. I have seen many ads like that on different caregiver websites.
Let us know what you find out.
IMO it is not a good idea to use a "babysitter" sub unless this person has been vetted in advance and they've met your LO and family and you know for a fact that they have experience in dealing with the elderly, have first aid-training, have any skillsets applicable to your LO (ie, are they a fall risk? Do they know how to use the transfer belt? etc). Many people think all they have to do is sit there with the elder (and usually glued to their phones) but then what happens if the elder gets freaked out by the new person once s/he shows up? I know it shouldn't be rocket science but it is a little more complicated than having a warm body next to your Mom...
It's the agency's job to "vet" their caregivers, but really most don't all that much.
I took many fill-in hours over the years for people I didn't know and never saw again. It's fine. It's the agency's job to supply these people.
Or they can hire a private one.