THE CASE OF THE MISSING HOURS

She walked into my office late Thursday night. Caregiver. Ten years in. Rain worked the windows. Cigarette smoke hung beneath the light. Outside, the city kept grinding away at whoever was still awake. She laid a schedule on my desk. 36 hours. Then the timecard. 19. "Seventeen hours are missing." I took the case.

Tuesday:

client hospitalized. Eight hours gone.

Wednesday:

family cancelled care. Four more.

Thursday:

another cancellation. I worked the usual suspects. Hospitalization. Cancellations. The end of a case. Nobody was guilty. The hours were still gone. My next lead was an old scheduler at a twenty-four-hour diner. Twenty years in home care. I slid the timecard across the table. "Seventeen." She barely looked at it. "She's lucky." "Didn't look lucky to me." "Then you haven't seen a caregiver lose forty." She crushed out her cigarette. "You're looking for somebody who stole those hours. That's your first mistake." That stayed with me. The caregiver had done everything right. She showed up. Did the work. Kept her end of the bargain. I've got a code about things like that. I can live with bad people getting bad outcomes. It's the good ones getting them that keeps me working nights. So I kept digging. Eventually, the investigation turned up something I hadn't expected. Seniors Helping Seniors Northern Colorado. A caregiver position. $20 an hour. 20 hours guaranteed every week. Up to 40 hours a week. I didn't trust it. So I investigated that, too. The guarantee held. Clients could still be hospitalized. Cases could still end. The city could keep taking. But the first twenty hours didn't disappear with them. I sat behind my desk and watched the cigarette burn down. Outside, the city kept doing what it always did. I closed the file. Somebody who makes a living showing up for other people deserves something that shows up for them. That's the code.

Pay:

$20.00 per hour

Benefits:

Dental insurance Flexible schedule Paid time off Vision insurance Application Question(s): Are you able to perform shifts in Loveland, Windsor, Fort Collins, and Greeley? Are you comfortable providing all of the following caregiving services; cooking, light housekeeping, driving clients to doctors appointments, incontinence care and toileting, and dementia care? Are you at least 40 years old? Do you have a functioning vehicle with valid car insurance and valid drivers license?

Work Location:

In person