CoVid-19 and the Winter Ice Storm

My family was on TANF for most of 2020. I was enrolled in a CNA training course that was delayed roughly 3 months due to CoVid-19. That's 3 months that I could have been earning an income in the healthcare field.

Also during this time I was at home with my child due to CoVid closures of day care centers in my area. I finally had gainful employment by the fall of 2020. These were the first months that we did not have to seek assistance with rent and utilities.

We were also affected by the Ice Storm of 2021. We are in a rent-to-own agreement with our landlord that states that we are responsible for all repairs to the property. Unfortunately because we are not yet homeowners, we were unable to qualify for most disaster assistance available in our area.

During the Ice Storm, our pipes burst in multiple places. We were without water in the house for almost 3 weeks and my husband had to replace plumbing throughout the whole house at a cost of over $6,000.

My son and I were displaced from the home and had to stay with my mom in Norman while the repairs were being made. I lost one of the two part-time jobs I was holding and had to seek employment in the area I was staying.

During the time I was staying in Norman, I signed a contract for employment at a facility in Purcell, 135 miles away from home, but only about 20 minutes from Mom’s. I made this commute for 5 weeks, which created more financial burden due to increased travel cost for work. Both of our vehicles broke down before the end of my contract, so I was paying to be taken down to work. When my contract ended, I was only able to work locally, which led to a decrease in work hours.

After coming back from staying with my mom, we found a nanny for James. Her name was Lakayla. She had been a licensed nanny when she lived in Illinois, so though although the certification may not carry over, I was sure she knew what she was doing. She was great. Good with the boy, supportive of me, and available pretty much whenever I needed her, which was great since I work as a PRN CNA and sometimes there is no notice before they ask if you can come in to work. A lot of the last minute shifts offer bonuses for taking the shift.

(Now - End of Shift: Paid Early! Paid Extra!)

When my son’s nanny was taking care of him, I didn’t really hurt for shifts as I knew she would almost always be available and I could take more of those last-minute shifts. For an 8/hr shift I would pay $20, so I thought that was a pretty good deal for nanny services. I continued to pick up shifts at the facility in my hometown.

Things got better for little while until little by little, my bills and expenses began to not meet up with the income I was bringing in. I continued to pay my bills that were due that week and making payments to my nanny for watching James. Later in the fall, September maybe?, James’s nanny was offered a job as the Director of Development or another high level position at a daycare near where her husband was working. I know she dealt with having him gone all the time, so when they decided they would move to Kansas so they could both live and work in the same area so their family could be together all week and not just on the weekends, I really did not blame them.

Things got a lot harder after Lakayla moved to another state. She had given me a two-week notice, but that still didn’t give me very much time to figure out who would now watch James while I worked, I had a friend who offered to help and did watch and hang out with James and didn't really ask to be paid. This allowed me to save $100 a week or more so I was able to pay more of the bills we were starting to fall behind on.

It was now October and I had thought that many facilities were not allowing unvaccinated aides to work in the building. There were a lot of shifts at a facility in the next town over, but I thought I couldn't take those shifts after 10/17. My boss informed me that the date was actually 11/17, so I began working to try to get as many shifts and hours as I could so I could finish catching up on my bills that had fallen behind and attempt to form some savings so I could have something to fall back on if work dried up, which they did when I could no longer come out to work at this facility after 11/12 unless I was fully vaccinated.

After I lost my shifts at Via Christie due to my vaccination status, I purchased a car from Car-Mart of Ponca City as a means of transportation to get to facilities in the Oklahoma City area where I could find more shifts. The car I purchased has not been safe for this drive since I purchased it, which has led to an increased transportation cost without the ability to obtain the work hours required to maintain this cost. I swear the car has been in the shop more often than not and I am still waiting to find out if they are done diagnosing and fixing my vehicle and whether or not it would be ready for a trip down to Oklahoma City.

Currently, my husband has been driving me down, dropping me off at whichever facility I have a shift at, continuing down another half hour or so to drop my son off with my mom, before finally going to our room. The amount of back and forth and all over the place driving has been consuming gas like no other. It also does not help that my husband’s Chevy Equinox needs to have the thermostat, spark plugs, and exhaust replaced to run properly, produce heat, and save on fuel.

We used just about every dollar we had to get back up from the city at the end of my last week. We are seeking help with funding to get the parts from the part store and hoping that my husband has the time and energy required to fix the car before our next long drive. My husband is handy, but parts still cost money and take him away from time when he could be doing other things to actually make money.

I got my CoVid shot yesterday finally after receiving a text message from my employer that if our Vaccination Records were not submitted by 5pm, we would be removed from the schedule. So I found a pharmacy that carried the Johnson & Jannsen vaccination and got my shot. In less than 2 weeks now I will be fully vaccinated and able to work wherever I choose.

I’m currently booked for a lot of shifts over the next 3 weeks. I’m hoping that by the time I do all this work and get my paycheck things will end up more right side up.

Week One (12/12 - 12/18) - 46+ Hours at Purcell Care, Thunder Care in Moore, and Brandon Place in Oklahoma City

Week Two (12/19 - 12/25) - 60+ Hours at Thunder Care in Moore, Care Suites in Oklahoma City, and Purcell Care.

Week Three (12/26 - 1/1 ) - 60+ Hours at Heritage at Brandon Place in Oklahoma City, Thunder Care in Moore, and Sienna Extended Care in Oklahoma City.

Week Four (1/2 - 1/8) - 80+ Hours at Thunder Care in Moore.

The lack of sleep is exhausting and I don’t even feel like I’ve had days off, but maybe I can get a little more rest this evening before our early morning tomorrow.