I can only speak for myself but I missed far less work time when my children were small than I do now caring for an elderly parent... I have to laugh when managers still get concerned if a prospective employee has small children. I want to yell " who cares about that??? how old are their parents & how is their health???" I'm still 10 years from retirement so thats not an option. I have 3 weeks vacation & 5 sick days. I did use 11 vacation days personally this year but the remainder of my "paid time off" has been used on my 87 year old mother's doctor's appts; hospital stays etc. There are services that can drive her to/from but she needs someone with her who can go in to the exam room with her to take notes, ask questions etc. as she doesn't remember what the dr says . She actually had 7 different drs appts in the past 2 months! . My brother & I try and split them but she's not comfortable w/ him in the room if she has to undress or lower her gown etc. plus he has the same issues missing work as I do. I really hope someone starts to raise this issue on a national level as I know I can't be alone. Wondering what others thoughts on this are...
And your right about the 1 pm appointment. The wait at my mom's doctors office is usually always an hour minimum in the waiting room and then a 1/2 hour in the exam room!!! Can you call the office and make the appt's? That's what I do now and I work it around my schedule and then just tell Mom when we will be going.