Caregivers employed with senior care companies know the realities of caregiver stress. Caregiverlist invites all family caregivers and professional caregivers to take a moment for relaxation with our photo of the week and inspirational quote. This week's photo features amber sunset. Thank you caregivers for caring for our seniors and please refer your friends to apply for part-time and full-time job positions on www.Caregiverlist.com and visit our career center for additional career tools.

"Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see." 

Mark Twain

Caregiverlist's Samantha Franklin explains that Professional Senior Caregivers in Philadelphia, PA, are always in demand. Philadelphia senior caregiving jobs are available for full-time, part-time, and live-in caregiving and certified nursing aide positions, as senior care companies hire from 3 to 6 new caregivers each week. Apply for Caregiver, Certified Nursing Assistant, Certified Home Health Aide, and Companion job openings near you on www.caregiverlist.com. Do you know someone who is looking for caregiver employment? Refer-a-Friend for caregiving jobs and enter for a chance to win Scrub of the Month , courtesy of Scrubs Magazine. 

Subscribe to the lastest seniorcare and caregiving videos on Caregiverlist YouTube Channel. 

Visit our Vimeo Caregiverlist Channel for senior and caregiver senior care and employment news. 

Senior caregivers know that aging often brings about changes in physical abilities. Identifying issues with vision can help prevent falls and other incidents attributed to seniors not being able to see properly. The Vision Test app allows caregivers to give their senior clients basic at-home tests to assess their vision and determine if a certain issue should be raised at their client's next appointment with their eye doctor.

There are several tests within the app itself- the first being the basic letter chart that comes to mind as soon we think of the eye doctor. Other tests include astigmatism, duochrome, colour test and distance test (for iPad users). The tests ask the user to hold their phone at an arms length from their body and then to cover the left eye and answer the question presented, then repeat the test with their right eye covered. 

If an area of concern is raised when the user receives their instant test results, they can easily go into the Optician Finder section of the app and search for a nearby eye doctor to make an appointment with. The app is not meant to stand in for attending an eye doctor, only to help caregivers and their senior clients recognize problem areas and come prepared to their appointments. 

Poor vision can lead to a greater risk of falling for seniors due to a blurred or unfocused view of their surroundings. Some issues can be fixed by prescribing glasses or contacts, while others may require eyedrops or laser surgery. 

The app name is Vision Test and it is available for free for Apple and Android products. 

Senior caregivers, let us know your feedback on this app and keep us posted if you discover additional apps that assist with caregiving duties and help relieve caregiver stress. You may also refer-a-friend to a senior caregiving job and win prizes weekly and monthly on Caregiverlist. 

-Paige Krzysko

Seniors with age-related illnesses sometimes experience difficulty with eating, because of tremors which cause shaking in their hands and arms. Now, a new spoon offers a solution. Many times it is not the disease, but the medications taken to treat the disease, which result in a side-effect causing tremors in the body. This “shaking” results in the inability to control body movements.

Seniors and their caregivers must then cope with the additional side-effects, such as the inability to eat or walk without assistance.  Now, new technology has stepped in to assist seniors with this added challenge.

Lift Labs researchers have developed a spoon which counteracts the movements of a wavering grip, reducing the shaking by 70%.  A knife and fork will soon be added to this technology.

A new baby often receives a new baby spoon to celebrate their birth and now all of us may be receiving a senior spoon to assist us as we celebrate, or lament, entering into our senior years.

Aging comes with challenges, as we lose many of the freedoms we may have taken for granted when we were younger.  The ability to know you can eat a meal on your own is one such freedom. Perhaps as the senior population continues to grow, more technologies will transfer over to innovate solutions for healthy aging. Senior caregivers may learn more about these new spoons at Lift Labs.

Seniors needing additional care may also explore the costs of senior care and their care options in their area with a digital care plan.

Caregiverlist has always acknowledged that Certified Nursing Aides have one of the toughest (albeit most rewarding) jobs we know. Providing hands-on assistance to seniors in a variety of settings — nursing homes, assisted living facilities, private homes (through quality home care agencies) and hospitals — comes with a variety of challenges and rewards.

Our friends at Scrubs Magazine asked their C.N.A. Facebook fans to share some of the most uniquely frustrating aspects of their jobs. Here’s what they said:

8 frustrating things about being a CNA

1. “High patient ratios, feeling underappreciated, but most of all, nurses who won’t pay attention when you tell them something is up! As a CNA who is in nursing school, I have learned to recognize when something is not right, but too often the nurse shrugs me off and the patient suffers when it turns out that I was right in the long run.”
—Amelia Garner Shrader

2. “I have been a CNA for 16 years and I love my job! No, I do not want to be an RN or LPN! The most frustrating part of my job is the government telling our corporations how to staff their floors. Do they not understand that by giving us proper staffing, it would allow us to give our residents exceptional care? It would also minimize C.N.A. burnout, abuse (emotional and physical) and work injuries. Since when is the minimum-possible the best way to go?”
—Kim Cugini

3. “I would say the most frustrating part of my job is seeing extremely sick patients, totally paralyzed and living on ventilators, with no family ever around and being a full code. So unfair for those poor people.”
—Cassie Hagglund

4. “The most frustrating thing about being a CNA is working with other CNAs who are merely there for a paycheck…they show it by how they treat even the sweetest person. I understand and know some residents are tough, but some don’t understand what’s going on and some just can’t do a lot about the problem!”
—Melissa Beeman

5. “Trying to be in no less than three places at one time…STAT!”
—Liz Mellendorf Garascia

6. “I’m a CNA, and I am in my second semester of nursing school, so I know both ends. As a CNA, a very frustrating thing is being extremely busy and having a nurse tell you that a call light is going off. In the amount of time the light was going off, the nurse could have easily answered the light to see what the patient needed. So simple. I help everyone with their call lights; there is no reason to not help out because of the letters after your name! Also, being talked down to is a pet peeve.”
—Samantha Barclay

7. “The pay—22 years and $10.80 an hour. And there is no CNA to RN program…why?”
—Liz Johnston

8. “Feeling helpless that you can’t help every patient; getting emotional for the patients who never have family who visit them; when you work hard and try to do your best, but the other staff aren’t helpful and act like they don’t care for the patients or like you’re bothering them when you ask for help. You’re all they have, so that’s probably the hardest part. It is extremely rewarding, though, when you get patients who truly appreciate you—that makes it all worth it.”
—Nicole Martin Buss

How about you? What do you think are some of the more frustrating aspects of being a C.N.A.? And let’s balance it out — feel free to share what makes all the frustrations worth it.

Refer a Friend to Caregiverlist

 Refer-a-Friend for a Chance to Win Prizes!

Simply provide us with your friend's name and email address and you will be entered into a monthly and weekly giveaway.

Monthly Grand Prize Winner: Scrub of the Month (top, bottoms and pair of shoes), courtesy of Scrubs Magazine.

Weekly Winners: A Caregiverlist t-shirt, lapel pin and a 10-hour online caregiver training program as a member of the Professional Association of Caregivers.

 

 

At Caregiverlist, we monitor the questions we get from our community of caregivers. One of the most frequently asked questions has to do with the application and hiring process for home caregivers through our site. Here’s our caregiver job FAQ:

I am interested in a job as a caregiver. Do you hire me directly?
No, we don’t hire caregivers directly. We work with quality home care agencies in your area who will have access to your application, resume and certification information. If you fit their needed caregiver criteria, they will contact you directly. They hire for part-time, full-time and live-in caregivers.

I’m unclear about how to apply for a senior care job on Caregiverlist. Can you walk me through the process?
Yes! Our application takes about 5 minutes to fill out and, once submitted, gets pushed out to all the home care agencies in your area with whom we work — one application, lots of potential employers! Watch the video below and see just how simple the application process is:

How can I stand out in a sea of applicants?
Good question! It’s true that senior caregivers are in great demand and the need for great caregivers growing. However, the best caregivers get the best jobs and we’ve made it our mission to help you in the process.

If you are new to the caregiver field, we recommend you start with our basic, online non-medical caregiver training. It satisfies many states’ minimum 10-hour training requirements. Some states require more, so be sure to check out your state’s requirements. Once you’ve passed training, you can indicate your certification on your application.

Next, we suggest you fill out a resume and attach it to your application. We’ve found that it really helps your application stand out.

Third, while it’s not absolutely necessary, you can purchase a background check to see what other employers will be seeing and what it says about you. There’s no getting it — anyone who works in the caregiving field will be subject to a thorough background check. Home care agencies agree that background checks are a vital part of the hiring process and if you walk in with your own, verifiable background check, it really shows your initiative.

Once you are on your way in the caregiving field, you may decide to go further and become a Certified Nursing Aide. We provide a free Sample Certified Nursing Aide Test to see if you have what it takes to become a C.N.A. If it’s something you are interested in pursuing, we can provide you with C.N.A. and C.H.H.A school directories. Caregiving is a challenging and fulfilling job. We at Caregiverlist are dedicated to help you get started on this important career path and make a difference in a senior’s life.

Caregivers employed with senior care companies know the realities of caregiver stress. Caregiverlist invites all family caregivers and professional caregivers to take a moment for relaxation with our photo of the week and inspirational quote. This week's photo features morning dew found on the flowerbed of garden lilies. Thank you caregivers for caring for our seniors and please refer your friends to apply for part-time and full-time job positions on www.Caregiverlist.com and visit our career center for additional career tools.

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

Theodore Roosevelt

Caregiverlist's Samantha Franklin explains how  to become a Professional Senior Caregiver with 10-hour training course and certification from Caregiverlist.  Caregiverlist provides online training for professional senior caregivers. Once you complete the caregiver training, then apply for Caregiver, Certified Nursing Assistant, Certified Home Health Aide, and Companion job openings near you on www.caregiverlist.com.

Becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant (C.N.A) increases the number of job opportunities available to a senior caregiver. Certified Nursing Assistants help take care of bedridden patients, assist with dressing, bathing and feeding and take vital signs among other personal and nursing duties. Senior caregivers who wish to pursue becoming a C.N.A. can look into schools in their state that offer training programs. Before receiving certification, caregivers must past a C.N.A. qualifying exam. Caregiverlist offers a sample test to give caregivers an idea of what to expect on the exam. 

To review questions and study for the exam on the go, the MedPreps CNA Test Prep app offers free practice C.N.A. test questions for senior caregivers. The app features approximately 1,000 questions covering topics that could appear on the test, from client rights to activities of daily living to communication issues. Users are presented with a question with four multiple choice answers at the bottom. The app indicates an incorrect answer by lighting up red and a correct answer by highlighting the choice in green. No matter which answer is chosen, a box in the right corner labeled "Explain," brings up a screen that explains the correct answer in detail. 

The app enables caregivers to study for the test at any opportunity where they might have ten spare minutes. Try answering just five questions each day while enrolled in C.N.A. school while riding public transit or before bed. Look at which questions you originally missed as the test approaches and see if you can answer them correctly now. 

App Name: CNA Test Prep

Available for free for Apple and Android platforms. Limited questions are available in the free edition, unlock all questions in the paid version of the app. 

"Practice for your upcoming Certified Nursing Assistant Examination with our database of 1000+ CNA practice test questions!" 

Senior caregivers, let us know your feedback on this app and keep us posted if you discover additional apps that assist with caregiving duties and help relieve caregiver stress. You may also refer-a-friend to a senior caregiving job and win prizes weekly and monthly on Caregiverlist. 

-Paige Krzysko

Nurses, C.N.A.s, C.H.H.A.s and caregivers alike can use a little love, with a little break in price.

Scrubs magazine announces the very first Code Happy Pop-up Shop: 25 Fabulous Finds! This special online store will be open only through 09/29. Use promo code CODEHAPPY2 at check out to save 15% off your total purchase.

Here are some of our favorites:

Personalized Thumbprint Jewelry
Even if you don't consider yourself a jewelry person, this thumbprint necklace is sure to convert you. Keep your child's, husband's or mother's thumbprint under your scrubs and close to your heart! And what a beautiful conversation piece to share with your patients. Each kit includes everything you need to make a fingerprint pendant, including practice clay that contains particles of precious metals that bind together to create the fingerprint. Instructions are included. ($75.99, Prairie Creations)

Daily Beauty Tea & Glass Tea Tumbler
How is this tea good for you? Well, the whole-leaf, antioxidant-rich Oolong + Pu-erh Tea has anti-inflammatory, skin and metabolism-enhancing herbs and spices such as cacao nibs, burdock, astragalus and cayenne. The tea supports liver detox, proper digestion, skin's natural functions and enhances your natural immunity (perfect for nurses who don't want to catch every bug that comes through the hospital!). It gives you energy with health and beauty benefits, and none of the jitters! Comes with 8-ounce Fair Trade glass tumbler. ($42.99, BijaBody)

Yantra Mat in Black
Addicted to yoga? We can't blame you (caregivers definitely need time to relax and de-stress!) and want to introduce you to the Yantra mat. Each one has 8,820 acupressure contact points arranged in 210 flower shapes. These are positioned on each mat to make sure that equal pressure is applied at all points. Each flower comprises 42 pressure points and is calibrated to give equal pressure, making the mat extremely comfortable to lie or sit on. The mat comes in a stylish carrying bag and is easily portable, so you can use it at home or at work, and it will pack easily for you to take on your travels. 60 X 70". ($49.99, Swedwerx)

Remember caregivers, these items are only available until 09/29. They make great gifts or a treat for yourself! Use promo code CODEHAPPY2 at check out to save 15% off your total purchase.