When my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2011, I thought the hardest part would be watching her decline. I was wrong. The hardest part, more often than not, was the phone call at 7am telling me the caregiver who was supposed to be there in an hour had canceled. Or the respite worker who simply stopped showing up, with no warning and no explanation.
The Real Cost of Unreliable Care
Nobody tells you this part. You picture caregiving as physically and emotionally hard — and it is — but what wears you down day after day is the uncertainty. Some mornings I missed work entirely because there was simply no one to be with my mother. Other days I sat at my desk unable to focus, wondering if she was safe, if today was the day something would go wrong.
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me
Looking back, there were a few questions I wish I'd known to ask earlier when evaluating care options:
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1. What happens if my regular caregiver is sick or unavailable?
A good agency should have a real answer — a backup plan, a team structure — not silence or scrambling.
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2. How much notice will I get if something changes?
Same-day cancellations shouldn't be treated as normal. Ask directly what their track record looks like.
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3. Who do I call if something feels wrong?
You should never feel like you're troubleshooting alone. There should be a real person, reachable, who takes your concerns seriously.
Why I Started Careweave
Every part of Careweave was shaped by the gaps I lived through. We built our approach around one core idea: families deserve caregivers they can actually depend on — not just another name on a schedule. That means real communication, real backup plans, and caregivers who show up, consistently, because we know exactly what it costs a family when they don't.
If you're in the middle of this right now — the worry, the instability, the exhaustion of trying to hold everything together — I see you. You're not asking for too much by wanting reliable care. You deserve it.