What can I ask caregivers from an agency to do in my home?

Make sure they actqally know how to do these tasks. I had a caregiver from an agency who didn't know how to load a dishwasher because she'd never seen one before. It took no load of off me to have to come in and take everything out of the dishwasher's top rack (plates laid flat, sliverware scattered about, etc) and reload it.

She was a little "challenged" in other areas as well, so she lasted one day.

This should be all set up with the agency. There are CNA, certified nurses assistants and Home health aides. Their responsibilities are similar but different. It will be better for both you and the aide if her responsibilities are listed on a piece of paper.

I’m in a similar situation. The agency has told me that they do “light housekeeping duties”, so we’re trying to restrict them to areas she uses. Steam the kitchen floor (as she is frequently incontinent in the mornings), change her sheets, do her laundry, dust her room, scrub her toilet, vacuum her floor (and living room floor), and (hopefully) bathing her.

We feel like we can handle the rest of the duties like we normally do, but this will take a bit of a load off. We plan on making a weekly schedule and say for example, “Can you do these chores every Monday, those chores every Tuesday, etc” and that way there will never be any “When was the last time someone changed her sheets?”