Having grown up with parents who smoked, I learned to hate the habit. Why? Because they were addicts, always looking forward to the next nicotine fix. As the last smoke wore off, they became jittery, crabby, and hard to deal with. I wouldn’t want someone who is living from fix to fix taking care of my loved one. And I doubt that a nonsmoker caregiver would want to risk their health in that house. The smoker needs to quit for his own benefit. Ask the doctor to help.
Something I found really helpful when the folks moved in, and the in house smoking increased alot.. was to invest in a large in home aire purifier. We have an open floor plan main level and it really does help alot. and I think you will be able to find a CG if you are honest about the smoking. My cleaning gal smokes, and she also does home care for an agency,, don;t know if she smokes in those houses but lets face it,, alot of the older folks still smoke! And my mom loved to have a smoke with the cleaning gal! ( in full honesty the CG is a friend of ours! )
I don't know if all agencies but certainly some, try to match people together as best they can (at least on record) and have an employment checklist for the aides--everything from what services they can/are willing to provide clients to the type of environment of a client's home (dogs okay, smokers okay, perfumes not okay, etc.).
I had a client who wouldn't state in his ads "no smokers" b/c he felt it narrowed an already narrow playing field. A lot of his aides over the years smoked.
We seem, though, in an age where most everything is frowned upon if not perfect and ideal but think nothing of the hazardous chemicals used to clean houses or spray on lawns or eating everything encased in plastic to the point it's in our blood and stools or......sorry, got on a bandwagon for a second.
Yup; there are lots of caregivers that smoke ....it's still legal, you know! Those caregivers would LOVE to have a job where they can smoke w/o being chastised for it, or sent outside in 2 degree weather, snow or rain, etc. So yes, I think you will have no problem finding in home health care aides for an elder who smokes.
Does your mom smoke inside the house? If so, I think you will find it difficult to find caregivers willing to spend hours at a time in that environment.
A dear friend of mine is a heavy smoker, unfortunately, and when she and her husband smoked indoors I found it almost unbearable. I can’t imagine choosing as a non- smoker to work for a smoker.
I can understand how this makes things difficult for family.
I expect so. We certainly don't restrict services to people on the grounds that they smoke in their own homes. We might ask them not to smoke during calls, and very few clients are so inconsiderate as to light up when we're there, but it's not for us to tell them what to do.
Your state may have relevant workers' protection legislation which covers this topic, have you had a look? Are any agencies telling you they won't send workers out to smokers' homes?
I had a client who wouldn't state in his ads "no smokers" b/c he felt it narrowed an already narrow playing field. A lot of his aides over the years smoked.
We seem, though, in an age where most everything is frowned upon if not perfect and ideal but think nothing of the hazardous chemicals used to clean houses or spray on lawns or eating everything encased in plastic to the point it's in our blood and stools or......sorry, got on a bandwagon for a second.
At any rate, good luck in your search.
Good luck!
A dear friend of mine is a heavy smoker, unfortunately, and when she and her husband smoked indoors I found it almost unbearable. I can’t imagine choosing as a non- smoker to work for a smoker.
I can understand how this makes things difficult for family.
Your state may have relevant workers' protection legislation which covers this topic, have you had a look? Are any agencies telling you they won't send workers out to smokers' homes?