On-Demand Attendant Services: Improving Independence and Relationships
How an on-demand attendant services app would improve my relationships
By: Harrison Brown
My typical day goes as follows: I wake up, my personal care attendant arrives, helps me with my morning routine (bowel/bladder, showering, getting dressed and ready for the day). After she leaves an hour or two later, I am on my own until she arrives again the next morning. I can (usually) handle meals, errands and bedtime routine on my own.
However, life is unpredictable and sometimes an unexpected issue related to complications from my spina bifida/hydrocephalus arises. For example, the mitrofanoff I use to empty my bladder sometimes leaks. Once in a while, my bowel flushing routine goes awry. Sometimes I run out of medical supplies or need help with a trip to the pet store for cat and fish food!
I am fortunate that I have two siblings and several other close relatives who live nearby. So when I need last minute help, my process goes as follows: I start working my way through the list, texting and then calling if no one responds right away. I have to take into consideration things like time of day for work schedules and sleep schedules (my brother is early to bed), whether I have ice cream sandwiches in my freezer (my sister requires bribes), and the last time I reached out to each (I try to manage my requests so I don’t bombard one person and burn them out). My second last resort is to call my parents (if the situation is dire) who live an hour away, and my last option is to try calling my morning attendant to see if she is willing and/or able to work overtime (she has young children so not always an option). When no one is available, I often have to cancel plans last minute. It also becomes a risk for further health complications and not to mention suffering through less than pleasant personal hygiene situations.
It’s a constant and complicated balancing act between getting my needs met and not getting my number blocked.
Having an app that could connect me with qualified personal care attendants in my area on demand would be a gamechanger, for both my physical and mental health and for my relationships with family. Knowing that I could access willing/ready personal care assistance with the tap of a button would alleviate a huge amount of stress, both off of me and off of my siblings, parents and extended family. This would allow us to get back to normal family equilibrium and away from constant calculations of who’s on deck and who might actually take my call.
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Header image (ice cream sundaes) via Shutterstock
Harrison Brown is a sledge hockey player, scuba diver, unofficial NHL commentator, and collector of creatures. He lives in Ottawa with his rescue cat, Bowser, and several tanks full of fish, shrimp, frogs and other gross things [editor’s note].
