My family members and I have taken on the responsibility to help care for my 92 year old loved one. Her husband of 69 years passed away in February. She wants to remain in her home and that's also what we want for her. She has had 24/7 care through an agency since her husband's passing. My loved one does not have any children and three of the four of us that are helping her stay in her home live out of state. My mother is the only family that lives in the same state. Because of there not being much family around and because we truly care that our loved one is okay, my family placed Blink cameras in the house (well before caregivers came into the picture) so that we could monitor things and would know if an emergency came up. The caregiving agency was told about the cameras when they were brought on board and the cameras are in no way hidden. They are out in the open and can be seen.
The caregivers have a big problem with the cameras and go so far as to move the cameras, turn them upside down, and hide them. It has gotten so bad that a caregiver just sat in front of one of the cameras and started cursing at my family and is now walking around the house with no shirt on.
Is it uncommon for people to have cameras when there are strangers in a home with their loved one 24/7?
I posted earlier but I want to share a disturbing but humorous story with you about why my daughter loves having cameras in her dog’s daycare.
My daughter occasionally takes her dog to a doggy daycare when she has to work long hours, goes out of town or has other things to do where she will be away from home for a while.
She now refuses to use a daycare that doesn’t have cameras. Her old daycare in Denver had cameras and they were an awesome daycare.
Let me tell you why she feels so strongly about it. She left to go out of town and placed her dog (Siberian husky) in a daycare near her apartment. This place didn’t have cameras but had good reviews.
My husband offered to pick up the dog for my daughter at his daycare.
There were two huskies in the play yard. When the worker called for my daughter’s dog to come, the other dog came over to her. She didn’t check the tags because the dogs looked so similar. She brought the dog inside to the waiting area to give to my husband.
The dog ran over to my husband and my husband went out to the parking lot and the dog happily jumped into the car.
He came home. The dog ran up to me to play, then went over to the basket of toys that I keep for my grand dog.
The dog also went into the kitchen and ate food and drank water from the bowls. She did everything that my daughter’s dog did. She looked and behaved identical to my daughter’s dog. We thought it was my daughter’s dog. Who would suspect that they were given the wrong dog?
So, my daughter walks into our house and the dog immediately runs over to play. Suddenly, she screams, “Dad, this isn’t my dog!” My husband and I said, “What?” She freaks out! We freak out! She shows us the dog tags. Yep! It’s not her dog. She noticed a very slight difference on the black stripe on the fur.
She calls the daycare and says, “You gave my dad the wrong dog! Please see if my dog is there.”
The worker checked and thankfully her dog was still there.
She called the other woman from the phone number on the tags. She was lodging her dog while here on vacation.
My daughter called the other woman and said that she had been given her dog by accident. She told her that she was going to take her dog back to the daycare and pick up her dog.
My daughter said to us, “Oh, my gosh. The other woman could have picked up my dog and taken him back to North Carolina!”
So, now she boards him at Camp BowWow. They have cameras! She downloaded the app.
They have never mixed up any dogs. She can check in on him anytime she wants to. She feels more comfortable having cameras at his daycare. She put the app on my phone. I can check on him too. It’s comforting to be able to monitor him anytime he is at his daycare.
A picture is worth a thousand words!
People should be used to cameras by now. We have cameras in banks, in our stores, daycares and many other places. We have cameras pointing at us continuously.
Our governor has allowed us to place cameras in our nursing homes. My mom’s end of life hospice care home had cameras in every room and hallways.
I applaud you for having cameras in your home.
I also feel that nanny cams are great! I have a friend that had a bad experience with their nanny.
My friend hired a woman that had good references. She caught the woman drinking while she caring for her toddler. The nanny passed out on the couch and her toddler was running around unsupervised. She saw the whole thing on camera. My friend left her job, went home and fired her on the spot.
We have a camera in my sisters home. I told the agency that assigns the caregiver about the camera and that it was a way to monitor how my sister was doing with the caregiver and then when she is alone. It also helps me evaluate the issues that sister is going through and where the caregiver can help. A couple of times I've had to call the agency & insist that the caregiver does a couple of things in the care plan even if sister says she doesn't need it. Once I was told that it was being done, and I told them I have a picture showing that it wasn't. That prompted a good corrective change.
A company of any repute should NOT be doing anything of the sort. They need to be fired and replaced ASAP. You should upload that video to Youtube and let the world see how their employees act around the elderly and helpless.
And post the link here, of course.
Tell the agency to not send caregivers that have a problem with cameras.