Caring : National Association for Home Care magazine
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Caregivers for AIDS patients find themselves drawn in to their patients' lives--sometimes inappropriately. Others find that to avoid this situation, they must maintain a distance they might not prefer. The difficulty in defining boundaries points out the need for support and counseling for this group of professional caregivers.
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Mark is a 45-year-old man with advanced AIDS. His care partner, Gary, has a full-time job in the design industry. A home care aide visits Mark five days a week for 10 hours at a time to provide personal care while Gary is at work. ⋯ In May Gary must attend a conference out of town and he is worried:who will care for Mark for those three days? Gary calls the At Home Options (AHOP) nurse and explains the situation. She arranges for nighttime nursing coverage for those three days, and ensures that Mark's home care aide can stay for the weekend. Gary is able to attend his conference and concentrate on his work, secure in the knowledge that Mark will be well cared for and that scheduled respite care, although not a benefit with traditional insurance, is covered through the AHOP program.