The aide who was filling in for us a few years is no longer available. Another agency sent us someone to fill in for a few weeks and it was not a good match. It was holiday time so I tried to keep hanging in there but it became stressful for everyone until finally I had to insist on a replacement after the holidays. She was great but does not work on major holidays which is usually when the regular aide goes away. So my question is how to test the waters with a covering aide before actually leaving mom with the person. For new aides we do a 1 day training. So I am wondering if I should increase that to 2 days training OR have someone come for a weekend prior to the actual vacation, give the regular aide off and see how they click. Hopefully if all goes well the aide/agency can commit to the upcoming vacation otherwise it would kind of be a waste. I would like to travel on the regular aides next vacation week and I am afraid it will be another disaster and I may regret leaving town with constant calls from mom. Help!
One has to remember, Aides are working to make a living, and one or two days off every week so you can find someone would be difficult for them salary wise.
I know back when my Dad had around the clock care, there were 3 different Caregivers each day... and different Caregivers on the weekends. So Dad had a variety of different people with different personalities. But he was happy to have someone in the house as he was a fall risk. And if someone was off due to illness or a sick child or spouse, it was yet another new face to learn but Dad figured it was just for 8 hours.
I see from your profile that your Mom has Alzheimer's/Dementia so that can create more of a challenge. If the miss-match for your Mom or you? Does she not like new people in the house?