WWILL, What a splendid solution for your independent care for you. Yes, we do what we have to do.

From 1998 to 2000, my husband's mother used a G-tube at home with us as inexperienced caregivers and a family care nurse who didn't know how to provide tube feedings. The home health care nurse firmly changed the plan for a reasonable schedule with a reasonable amount of nutrients. My mother-in-law decided we could manage without a home care nurse, so we advertised for a Monday-Friday aide with tube feeding experience and airway care for a partly-paralyzed throat. In 1998, I took a class in Managing your Home Care Provider presented by Washington State's Protection and Advocacy and learned how to advertise with a concise newspaper ad, how to do a telephone screening interview, A local voluntary care management service provided by a cloistered convent of women who had been health care professionals maintained a list of certified home caregivers and upon our application with a fee, provided a list of daytime providers for part-time employment. My mother-in-law decided to personally interview three of the applicants. One patted her on the head, causing a very short interview. The single parent young woman with nursing home experience was hired for 5 days a week. We learned the payroll process for a domestic worker that the IRS and the state expected. We set up a medication and nutrition and aspiration care schedule and personal care routine, sharing the round-the-clock tasks. My mother-in-law and her son provided payment to the caregiver. Sadly the tube feeding process and aspiration care was not the best, with at least one bowel infection and declining health. Tube feeding with a combination of nutrients, including real food, might have been better. I hope enteral nutriton care for folks with swallowing problems has improved immensely!