This position is for overnight care on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights starting at 9:00pm until 7:30am end time on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday mornings. We need seven nights of care and have one staff already to help on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. The ideal candidate would be able to cover ALL THREE remaining nights plus have availability to occasionally fill in on other nights when a sub is needed for our other staff. For clarity, the core schedule for this position would be as follows:
Saturday 9:00pm - Sunday 7:30am
Sunday 9:00pm - Monday 7:30am
Monday 9:00pm - Tuesday 7:30am
The care would be provided to a joyful and charming 15-year-old young man with severe autism and seizure disorder. His daily living skills and activity interests are more aligned with a 3-5-year-old child. He loves to be read storybooks and helped in his own reading attempts, have pictures drawn from the ideas in his mind as well as do his own amazing abstract art, listen to music while dancing and drumming, and tell stories about his most beloved characters (or "friends," as he refers to them) with favorites including Winnie the Pooh, Dr Seuss, Curious George, Little Bear, Wiggles, Sesame Street, and Mr Rogers.
Support services would be provided at our family home in the Southern Highlands neighborhood. The candidate would need to have very reliable transportation to this location and ideally not have a commute of more than 30 minutes or at least not feel that the travel time is a burden so that the job is sustainable. We are seeking a LONG TERM employee for a minimum of 2 years. Please calculate and consider your driving time and your commitment to this position/schedule carefully before applying.
The overnight shift would begin when our son is already asleep and would involve sleeping in a separate bed in the same room in order to respond to any seizures or bathrooming needs that occur during the night and also assisting with his morning routine. Most of the time between 9pm-5am the caregiver could be sleeping, however there would need to be the ability to awake quickly and respond efficiently to seizure or other needs during the night which would be approx 5-15 minutes each and approx 0-4 times per night. Occasionally our son may have insomnia and be up for 1-3 hours during the night (approx 1 in 10 days).
Our son gets out of bed around 6am and the morning routine would consist of assisting with bathroom, washing, dressing, breakfast, supplements, and some quiet play time such as reading, coloring, or listening to music.
Please note, due to seizure triggers, no devices with wi-fi capability or other electronics that have lights are allowed in the same room as our son. Cell phones can be brought into the home but they must be kept in the hall and put on airplane mode whenever they are not actively being used (and they would only be used to contact us if we are out). The same goes for Fitbits, Oura rings, smart watches and the like needing to be kept out of the space. Therefore, the caregiver would need to be COMPLETELY comfortable with having no personal devices during their shift.
Caregiver also needs to ensure there are no strong scents on their person during their work hours as these are also seizure triggers; these include perfumes, scented body products like lotions or deodorants with added fragrance, scented detergent or dryer sheets, or the smell of cigarette smoke.
The most successful staff in this role are capable of going right to sleep right at 9pm with no reading or activities that requires light, wake quickly and function well immediately for duties during the night, fall back asleep easily after each caregiving episode, and be refreshed and energized in the morning for full assistance with personal care routines and seizure monitoring/response.
Experience with seizures and autism is not required. Very thorough initial training and ongoing mentoring would be provided.
The perfect candidate for the job would have the following qualities:
Live nearby.
Be highly responsible and reliable: never late, rare absence, exceptional follow-through.
Have a big heart, patience, empathy, and love to be of service.
Be physically strong and agile to manage the seizing body of a 150-pound young man.
Additional potential needs of this position that would make a candidate stand out include:
Ability to sub on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights when needed.
Ability to stay past 7:30am for additional direct care when needed.
Ability to arrive prior to 9:00pm for household assistance when needed (kitchen cleanup, tidying, folding laundry, breaking down boxes or other odd and ends).
Ability to come during the day for 3 hours when needed to sub for daytime care staff or to assist during staff meetings.
Application for this position involves an extensive screening process including 20-question written intake, 9-question pre-recorded verbal interview, 30-minute video interview, 90-minute in-person interview, and two-week trial period.
Funding for this position is provided by a disability program. Employment paperwork needs to be completed and background check approved prior to starting work. Paychecks are direct-deposited twice monthly (15th and last day of each month).
