The University of Oregon launched two new caregiving resources for UO community members on Sept. 17 to help faculty, staff and students balance their work and personal responsibilities during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Care Provider Network aims to connect families with potential caregivers within the UO community. Caregiving may include babysitting, tutoring services or elder care. The Shared Care Network may help UO families looking for mutually-beneficial arrangements that share childcare responsibilities.
“While UO cannot provide ready-made solutions to childcare and other caregiving issues individuals are encountering,” the UO human resources website read, “we have created new networking opportunities within the UO community to help alleviate some of the pressure points.”
Caregiving can be particularly challenging for individuals working from home, pursuing degrees, or helping children with remote school.
For Cat Luna, UO psychology student and mother of three, the biggest challenge is her “capacity to be able to shift between mother, student and employee,” all in one space.
“If you’re doing a job, you have to be focused on doing that job and you can’t necessarily multitask between meeting your kids needs and getting your work done,” Heidi Iwashita, doctoral candidate of communication disorders and sciences, said.
The UO human resources website provides Excel spreadsheets of potential caregivers and families looking for shared care. Individuals insert their contact information, availability and the type of care they are able to provide. It is up to those seeking arrangements to screen individuals and contact them to discuss payment and scheduling.
Gabby Sullivan, private tutor and graduate student of strategic communication, joined the Care Provider Network to expand her services.
“The pressures that people can be under as both students and parents is a lot,” Sullivan said. “Virtual learning is a lot for anyone, but especially a parent who’s a working student.”
Iwashita said she saw potential in the Shared Care Network because it could eliminate the costs associated with hiring a caregiver.
“I think it’s really a win-win,” Iwashita said about the Shared Care Network. “We can be there and help support members of the community and support each other and also our kids get those opportunities to make friends that they’re not getting as much of if they don’t have in-person school.”
“The time to put together these resources for parents were a long time ago, in March, when the daycares closed,” an anonymous UO student and parent said. “Now they’re coming out with this, but for parent families, this was a really urgent need that we needed to take care of right away, so parent families probably already have a system that works for them.”
Luna said although the Care Provider Network is “better than nothing,” she wouldn’t use it because providers aren’t necessarily certified caregivers.
“As a parent, your kids are your most valuable asset to protect and it’s your job to make sure that they’re healthy and safe,” Luna said. “It’s always hard to send them out into the world with someone you don’t really know.”
