In our experience, most of the time the agencies just sent "someone" even after I told them exactly what was needed. Once one of them even sent someone who was not even trained for the kind of care my mother required. I have accepted fair to excellent caregivers but I always said "never again" when I was sent "caregivers from h*ll."Be prepared to change agencies without remorse. In our case there were limitations due to the fact that my mother was receiving assistance through the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders administered by our local Area Agency on Aging. I will say, though, I did have to drop an agency not because the caregivers were bad (they were generally stellar) but because their office administration was horrible.
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Something we had to do is get a lock box for the house key as the caregiver is not given a key to the home. Then also you need to not have any money around, bank statements, check book, jewelry, etc if the caregiver is alone with the client. I have locked the computer room and have a locked cabinet in the basement for those things. Just something to think about. Otherwise article is just how things were done when I had to get a caregiver for my husband who had dementia, while I worked. We have had some caregivers who did not work well and did interview 3 agencies before I picked one. I did have to call and complain a handful of times when we started mostly. Make sure you get things done the way you want them to be done. Not all caregivers are a good fit either.
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Something we had to do is get a lock box for the house key as the caregiver is not given a key to the home. Then also you need to not have any money around, bank statements, check book, jewelry, etc if the caregiver is alone with the client. I have locked the computer room and have a locked cabinet in the basement for those things. Just something to think about. Otherwise article is just how things were done when I had to get a caregiver for my husband who had dementia, while I worked. We have had some caregivers who did not work well and did interview 3 agencies before I picked one. I did have to call and complain a handful of times when we started mostly. Make sure you get things done the way you want them to be done. Not all caregivers are a good fit either.
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Article very informative.
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I think the article is very helpful in some situations. However, in our situation their is a real shortage of agencies and aides. Though we have had a few good experiences, we have had tons more bad ones. We are never introduced to a new aid. In fact, we do not even know that we are getting a new one until the doorbell rings and someone says this is (name) from (agency). This has been going on for more than a year, in spite of my complaints to the agency and eventually to the state health department. We have been trying for more than a year to resolve this issue. Just this weekend alone we have been sent three new aides----extremely confusing for an elder with Alzheimers.
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Good article. Communication with the aide and the agency is the key. We currently have a wonderful girl coming in who is in nursing school and really breaks up the day for my husband, takes him outside in his walker, etc. but we have had the opposite as well who took offense at having to empty the commode and spent most of her time sitting with her phone, to the point of not even bothering to look up when I returned from an errand. She had "the cold shoulder" fine tuned! Work with the agency if someone just doesn't click; and ease into the introduction slowly, if like in the case of my Mom who wanted nothing to do with additional help. My husband on the other hand enjoys the attention. A male- female of the species issue perhaps :)
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This was wonderful information. I have home housekeeping beginning this new week.
Thank you.
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Quite Beneficial!
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My mom is 92 with severe dementia & uses a walker with great difficulty! Refuses to do anything but set! She walks a few steps to the dinner table, but that is it! Can be verbally abusive an physically abusive at times! Who is going to come into her house an help me with these issues?
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It's been a year ago today, lost my mother, wonderful Woman she was! But we hired a part time caretaker, Ms Lisa, she also was and still is a wonderful woman. We were blessed to get someone so caring and knowledgable on care for our loved one, my mom. She understood what we asked of her at the time and also was very good with my mother and most importantly my mother really liked her. I did too, She genuinely cared. I got a text from her today remembering her a year later, these days who does that, Ms. Lisa, Thank You!
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Sorry, but this article sounds like a fairy tale to me! After having home care for my husband fot two years, my experience is very different, in spite of several changes of aides, agencies, etc. Here in upstate NY the aide
Considers the care plan to be a guide to how he/she fills out the timesheet for the hours spent on her I Phone
.It is very disheartening.
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Good article, but a lot depends on the person who will be needing the care. Many elders don't want "strangers" in the house, and that is what happened to my Mom.

While my Mom was in the hospital, the representative meet with me at my parents home, we went over a long list of various questions, she took a tour of the house, gave out recommendations, etc. The next day was the "first day" as my Mom came home.... all of the sudden my Mom was "well", doing things around the house. Dad enjoyed having some new to talk to, so he was all in favor of having the caregivers there.

Mom view each caregiver that came through the door as someone who was replacing her.... guess Mom felt we thought that she couldn't do her "job" as being the housewife. My gosh, she was 97 years old, could barely walk, barely see or hear... she needed help. After 3 days she asked the caregiver to leave so we canceled.

Within 2 weeks Mom was back in the hospital with yet another serious fall, and has been living in a nursing home ever since.... if only she would have accepted the caregivers.... [sigh]. I called the caregivers back for my Dad who is thriving under their watchful eye.
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I will also add that I don't know how well caregiver's are screened and background checked. Ask. Ask. Ask. And try to get some kind of documentation. Also, the caregiver sent to us called for directions and I gave them to her and she still did not either understand or something (because GPS sends people on an unfit road to get to our place in the country and they must heed MY directions and not GPS). She also could not speak English well at all and I had a hard time understanding her when she called for directions a second time. And I'm not sure she could understand what I was trying to explain to get to my house. I complained about that to the service; send me someone who speaks EXCELLENT English, please. So just beware that who is being sent to you, you will not see or talk to until they knock on the door.
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The most important thing is make sure the caregiver knows about the sick person's condition and any movements or position changes that will cause pain or discomfort to the sick. My husband's cancer had gone into the spine and created a compression fracture causing him pain in certain positions. Well, the caregiver did not ask, and before I could say a thing was in there propping pillows behind him and disturbing his comfort zone. I immediately removed them and told her the situation, but it was an unfortunate intrusion into his relaxation. I made sure to monitor constantly. I would create a sign of all condition issues, medications, dosages and times due, emergency numbers, and hang it next to the bed/chair where people, anyone, can see. It is a helpful reminder.
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Sorry but it has not been my experience to have the "nurse" or assessment person show up with a new aide. Some of the aides they have sent look like destitute persons. And aide behaviors are less than stellar. Maybe I am too picky but I have not been pleased. Maybe we are too far from a major city to warrant good quality.
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It's a good article, worthwhile - but many agencies are filling many care slots, so they use multiple caregivers, and a different caregiver may show up the next time.
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