How to Moonlight as a Care Giver

To work as a care giver is a very worthwhile endeavor. There are many individuals that have a full time job and then moonlight as a care giver. As the person or persons employing you as a care giver has entrusted you with the care and well being of their loved one, it is important to take this position very seriously. The following guidelines will help you to properly prepare yourself as you moonlight as a care giver. Read on to learn how to moonlight as a care giver.

Instructions

1. Take a course on care giving through various facilities such as a hospital, nursing homes, churches, community college or a nanny agency if you are planning to work with small children. Your course should include basic comfort needs of sick or impaired persons, basic first aid and even CPR instruction. If you will be working with children, make sure that the courses are child or baby appropriate.

2. Make sure that you will have more than adequate time for your moonlighting job as a care giver in addition to your other daily activities or employment. When you are employed as a care giver, it is extremely important that you are punctual and dependable. Do not take a job as a care giver if your transportation to and from work will be a problem.

3. Find opportunities for employment as a care giver through some of the same facilities that would handle instructional type courses like hospitals, nursing homes, churches, community colleges and nanny agencies. Should you have a nursing or medical background, you should be able to require a higher salary.

4. Work with your employer to have all the necessary information you need to attend the person you are giving care to properly. This should include knowledge of their medical condition, food and medication allergies, medication schedule, religious preference, doctors phone numbers, family contact numbers and even information on their likes and dislikes. Often, you would be hired as a moonlight care giver to sit with an elderly adult, prepare their meals and help them with some personal items when their family cannot be there.

5. Know that sometimes moonlighting jobs as a care giver are short termed as the person you care for may be in the last stages of a serious illness.

Tips & Warnings

• Many times it is beneficial to form friendships with other care givers as a support group.

• Make extreme effort to bond with the person you are caring for, as it will benefit both of you. You just might make a lifelong friend.