Evacuating a Client
It was December 24, 2005 when Melinda Reed owner of No Worries shares this memory: I received a call at 4:30 am from a Caregiver at a Client’s home in a Portland high-rise building stating that water was coming down from the ceiling (a water heater two floors above had gotten a leak in it and was flooding all the floors below it). Our Client, was frail, bed bound, on oxygen, on Hospice, and didn’t have family. I called Caregivers, Mary and Dorothy, who came right over to help. Olga, the night Caregiver, stayed over several hours to help with the evacuation. I arranged for a room at the Marriott Residence Inn, the ambulance transport, and helped pack. Another Caregiver, Hillary, came right over and got the car and took it home to care for it. We moved the Client back 3 months later after extensive repairs had been completed to her apartment
Finding Solutions
We were especially grateful to have a Skills Lab when a Client was discharged from the Hospital and the hospital bed did not arrive. We called and the medical equipment company said there was a glitch and the Client would need to be assessed for needing a hospital bed and then it would be ordered and delivered within a week.
Physical Therapy arrived at the home and tried to figure out how the Client could manage without a hospital bed and determined that without a hospital bed the Client would have to go back to the hospital.
The No Worries Nurse who was at the home updating the Service Plan, called the office to report the problem. Several of the office staff took apart the hospital bed in the Skills Lab and took it over to the Client’s so he would not have to go back to the hospital.
Front Page of Oregonian
We all look back on Y2K and are grateful that there were not the anticipated problems. However, No Worries took the risk of problems seriously and spent 18 months preparing Clients and Caregivers for a possible emergency.
No Worries was on the front page of the Oregonian on December 30, 1999 in an article describing how prepared they were for whatever could happen. This effort became the foundation for emergency preparedness for No Worries.
Whether it is snow, ice, or wind that knocks out power. No Worries prepares Caregivers to be at work no matter what the situation.
Winter Car Kits
In 2018, No Worries gave out Winter Car Kits to every Caregiver so they would be safe when they were out driving in winter conditions
The rest of the story…
After two weeks of ice and snow I am happy to report that our Caregivers have been incredible! We had Caregivers who drove for 2-4 hours to get to their Client’s home, leaving early to make sure they got there on time. We had Caregivers pack overnight bags and stay at their Client’s home to make sure the Client had care. We had nurses putting on chains for Caregivers until 8:30 at night and early in the morning. One Client was evacuated after 24- hours without power. Stacy, Scheduling Manager, was crowned “Ice Queen” after going out in the snow and ice at all hours helping Caregivers get to their Client’s homes.
Dependable with Sick Calls
No Worries has Clients that are receiving Complex Care and that have Nurse Delegated tasks such as tube feeding, insulin administration, tracheostomy care, suctioning, and colostomy care. When a Caregiver calls in sick another Caregiver who has been Delegated needs to provide that care. Recently a Caregiver called in sick and she was taking care of a couple who each had Delegated tasks. Another Caregiver was able to go there for 5 hours but could not stay any longer than that. Nurse Jason Sanders was on-call that weekend and went over when the other Caregiver needed to leave and took care of the Clients through the night at no additional charge to the Clients.
We Care. We will be there. You can Count on Us.
