Viki will be featured on AskMomRN’s radio show on 7/26/10 at 10am

Viki will be featured on blogtalkradio’s AskMomRN’s radio show on 7/26/10 at 10am.

Tamara Walker, RN, the host of MomRN has advice, support, and encouragement to help you on your journey through parenthood. MomRN is walking right alongside you on this path, with two teenage kids of her own. Her eighteen years of motherhood, plus three years as a pediatric nurse, a dozen years as a professional child care provider, and growing up as the oldest sibling of six children has given MomRN a unique variety of parenting experiences and expertise. Her expertise has helped thousands of parents as they strive to be the best parents they can be.

In March 2007, Tamara appeared via video on the Rachael Ray Show providing a helpful parenting tip for a segment on children’s health. She also wrote and starred in “Safety Smarts”, quick safety tips for use between shows for the Smile of a Child television network. Currently, she is a featured writer for Examiner.com and writes articles as the Oklahoma Child Safety Examiner.

The Ask MomRN Show covers a wide variety of parenting, family, safety, and health topics and features several well-known expert guests. Parents are welcome to call in with questions and speak with MomRN and her guests during the show.

Have a kind and respectful day.

Create a caregiver manual to help you train your next caregiver.

Dear Viki,

I have to hire a new caregiver for my dad. I get so tired of having to take time off of work to train the new person. Is there anything I can do to make this easier?

Yes, I recommend creating a caregiver manual just like you might have an employee manual at work. The way to do this is when you are training this new caregiver, write down everything you are telling the new person. Write down things like how your dad likes his sandwich made or what time he takes his naps. Create categories such as food preferences, activity preferences, clothing preferences, schedule preferences, medications, allergies, emergency numbers etc. Whether you write it down in a notebook or on the computer, keep adding to it as you train the person. Then give the new caregiver a copy so they can refer back to it. You can also ask the caregiver to write notes in it as things change or as she/he learns new things about your dad. This way, the next time you have to hire a caregiver, you have a head start. You can give the training manual to the new person to read before they start and they can use it as a reference for those first days when you leave them on their own. This doesn’t mean you won’t have to train them. You just won’t have to make yourself crazy trying to remember if you have gone over everything with them and you won’t forget to mention something important. (Keep an extra copy in a safe place. You don’t want a disgruntled employee to take off with your only copy.)

Have a kind and respectful day.