My FIL has home care and he got 4 CNAs to come in 24 hours. My question is about their cell phones or blackberry or whatever. My FIL is antisocial and does not talk socially anymore. At times he does not like to talk to the caregivers. So the caregiver next to him often talks on her cell phone or plays with her/his portable phone. They charge their phone in the house too.
MY feelings is this is not too good regarding the respect for my FIL although he does not mind. One caregiver just keeps talking or holding onto her cell phone while she cooks or cleans.... About 70% chance in a day she is always on it since she has 2 kids and her husband is home for this week. Still she is the talker of her family and everyone ( the inlaws) seems to have no job and was talking to her all the time. Not literally all the time of course, but enough for a lot.
What is the right thing to do? You cannot ban the cell phone uses for urgent uses or some uses, but am I wrong to tell the caregivers to tone down this use of the cell phone a little bit?
I think my FIL is confused enough and the use of the cell phone by others may further confuse him.
Nina
Carol, thanks for the reply. I guess my FIL allowed it because he likes her and wants to please her. The other thing is he does not like noise so I always wonder why he does not mind her talking next to him on the phone in her own dialect. He is boring and has nothing to say to her unless he wants to talk about his problems like memory or fear. At times he does not talk much unless one asks if things are ok. At this point I am not sure what the caregiver should talk to him about.
But the issue is the patient's right. Often one thinks the patient is incompetent or is kind of mute, so the people next to him can do anything they wish like noise making or talking on the phone. I mean, if she reads a book, it is fine with me. But to make things loud or to use the cell phone like showing off the machine in front of him and etc. seems to make me think it is rude. She is still kind of not sure why. Well, I cannot explain everything if people don't get it. At least the manager gets it.
Thanks for your support,
Nina