I'm a part-time aide in a special ed elementary school. I'm gone about 4 hours and before the pandemic hit, I hired an aide for my mom.. My school was remote March- June , then summer came, and in Sept, I took 3 months unpaid leave. I have about a month left for my leave to end.
I'm not keen on hiring an aide for now - I guess I will have to insist on a covid test every week for them. We have a created a bubble at home by not stepping out and still get groceries delivered.
So it is hard for me to imagine an aide coming daily into this bubble. But Mom will get all anxious when there's no one to reassure her that "Wren will be back soon from school". She will most likely just sit in the dark in her room since she cannot operate a laptop or ipad etc. She could read magazines that I can leave for her. My family will be in their rooms with Zoom meeting/online classes and will not check on her.
My head says to quit but my heart is breaking. The job is my only lifeline to sanity even in normal times. We don't have an active social life. I love my students, colleagues and my salary contributes to mom's expenses (health insurance mainly).
If I quit, who knows if I will be hired back when covid is over??? Even if I am hired back, I will lose all seniority and the school follows last hire-first fired policy when budgets are cut. I might get assigned to a nasty teacher (have heard horror stories) .
I'm getting a headache even as I'm typing this-I cannot go on sitting at home with mom for the next year without my school job. If mom catches covid because I worked in my job, I will put it down to bad luck. OTOH, I will also feel guilty that I did not do everything in my power to keep her safe.
I cannot work remote since my school is open & staff is back at work.
I would keep my job and ask any aide's that come into your home to wear a mask. That's about all you can do.
Good luck!
It is gangrene that is listed on her death certificate, although there is some debate as to whether my aunt clipping her toenails is what led to the infection in her foot).
My point is that COVID is here to stay. The lock downs earlier this year prevented the hospitals in some cities from getting overwhelmed with cases (I live in NYC and saw this first hand in my neighborhood).
Elders are vulnerable to infection and unless they are totally isolated, they are going to catch what is out there. I would work, hire aides and remain cautious and do lots of masking and handwashing at home.
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