Care and earn

[frazerd]

My wife has just had to giving up being a full time employed carer due to arthritis, which is sad because she loved it. She does however go in for a couple of paid hours a day to organise activities instead. She has also been asked to accompany residents to the hospital or to clinics etc and is wondering if there is a market for her to perhaps accompany 'unsteady' local elderley residents to do ,say, their shopping, or go to the cimema or the park etc and charge a small fee (minimum wage) per hour. Do elderely AB subscribers think this a useful way for two groups of people to help each other? I know there are volunteer groups who can help but the elderly may feel too proud to ask them.

[WendyS]

I'm sure there would be a need for a service like this. My only doubt is whether people will want to pay for it or not. Perhaps if your wife enquires at your local library to see what groups exists for senior citizens and then makes contact with the committee members, she might be able to float the idea with them. Alternatively, do you have a local community newspaper in which she could advertise her services? Or a parish magazine? If you have an Age Concern or Help the Aged Charity shop in your area, perhaps they might be able to put up a card detailing her services.

[Ethel]

I imagine this could be very awkward.

A trip to the cinema, for example - who would pay for your wife? After all your wife may not want to see the film, and if the other person paid it would get very expensive.

More worryingly, could your wife be deemed negligent if someone in her care had a fall or other incident?

As the minimum wage is around �5 an hour I think an elderly person who needs assistance would rather pay from practical help such as cooking and cleaning.

It would need a lot of research first, but basically a good idea.

[frazer_d]

Thank you for your feedback. I'm sure my wife will take both into consideration before proceding.