Delaware Top Blogs

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Thief

A few years ago, my elderly uncle, who lived alone and was in poor health, needed an aide to help him with daily tasks.  The family was lucky enough to get Lisa, a graduate student.  She was a wonderful caretaker, caring and compassionate; we all said that she saved Ed's life.

Ed then moved into assisted living, and when he wrote a check, the bank returned it.  He had insufficient funds.  Lisa had emptied his bank account.

But she was such a warm, caring person!

The scenario repeated itself on Long Island, where the husband of a friend of mine found that his home health aide, like Lisa a wonderful, caring person, had stolen the pain pills he relied on for relief of the pain of cancer.

Something similar happened to me.  An aide I hired to help Mr Charm, whom he liked a lot,  was competent and took good care of him.  I wonder how she cared for the gold jewelry and pain pills she stole from me.

It really hurts when someone you like and trust betrays your trust. 










3 comments:

Kitten said...

How horrible! It's such a shame that the problem seems to be so wide-spread. Do you have any ideas on screening in-home helpers?

miriam sawyer said...

I was naive. I thought someone who was good at caring for the sick would not be a sneak thief. I also thought the agencies did background checks.

Kitten said...

I also thought the agencies did background checks.

They don't?! That's certainly important information. I would have made the same assumption. After-all, what are the agencies for?