I take care of my 95 year old mother who is bedridden. I am finding this hard. I am stuck in my house. I barely leave my house. I am lucky to go shopping. I have no one who can help me. I hired a caregiving agency to help me. First agency person was not dependable and they had nobody else, they are desperate for caregivers. Went with another agency. I was going to start back with piano lessons but caregiver never showed up and when I called they said she could not get out of driveway. It snowed 2 days ago. They said she could not get out in morning but everything was melted just about by afternoon. I guess the caregiver wanted whole day off. I am frustrated. I can't seem to be able to make any plans. I am hoping it gets better. Does anybody else find it hard getting caregivers?
One thing that can make a huge difference, though, is where you live. If you're hard to get to or in a sparsely populated area, then naturally there are simply going to be fewer caregivers around. Something to bear in mind for all of us who dream of country cottages for our old age...
My Dad was self-pay, and the caregivers showed up for each of their shifts [3 shifts], and if it was a really snowy day the owner would pick up the caregivers and leave them off at their client's house. Or if bad weather was on its way overnight, the 3rd shift caregiver would stay and fill in for the 1st shift if the 1st shift couldn't make it in.
I know when it comes to driveways, it depends on which direction one's driveway faced. My neighbors across the street would have clear driveways while I would still have several inches of snow and ice on my driveway because the driveway faced north.
I used a nationwide group called Home Instead, and here in my area they were excellent.
I to have had a lot of trouble finding good in home care for my wife! About 10 year’s worth. I finally found two great care givers and an acceptable agency. Below is my 12 points of thing to look for and what I came to understand.
1. Find a caregiver that lives close to you! It is amazing how many problems this solves.
2. Find a care giver that does not have any other time commitments other than care giving. Several of the agencies hirer collage students which have class schedules and when their schedules change they will quit. Also if you are their second job it’s a big red flag for me. I have had more than a few not show up because they had to work late at their primary job.
3. Be inpatient with the agency. I stayed with several agencies far too long. You are paying them to manage their care givers. I would not stay with an agency whose caregivers didn’t show up more than 5 times a year. If the agency does not do a good job at first they will not get better no matter what they say.
4. Not to be prejudice against the young but I have had better luck with older retired or older housewife caregivers without small children at home. However watch their health. I have had several agencies send people out who could not walk up a flight of steps. Also be wary of their mental state. Being weird is O.K. but I have had several, sent by agencies, which were just completely gone out to lunch. Some of them denned doing thing I know they did. Saying crazy things that they do in their lives and for their health is very common and is easily ignored. We had a vegan once who wanted to completely change all the stuff we eat. She didn’t last long.
5. Each care giver has their own way of doing things. Some of which bother me to know end. However I came to understand not to sweat the small stuff.
6) Buy a safe and lock up all the valuables and meds.! Including yours!
7) Wright down all the things that you want the care givers to do(and really be specific and think about it)!!! Then make a check list of the important stuff for them. My list was a full 3 single space typed pages long. I then created the check list from that which was one page double spaced. I give the new care givers only the check list because I find that they don’t know how to read (most likely don’t want to).
8. I do my own training. The first shift I do all the work and they watch. Also, I review my big list before the shift and while I am doing the work I also talk about all the stuff on my list. The second shift they do all the work and I watch and correct them as needed and go over the big list again. This also gives me a good indication of their physical abilities and mental state. It usually takes about a month before they fully get the routine. Make sure they understand that questions are O.K. If after a month they still haven’t figured out the routine something is wrong and you need to dump them. If you can’t be around consider getting some hidden recording devices just to observe what they do when you are not watching them.
9. There is no substitute for developing a personal relationship with the care givers. The agencies tell them not to do this but I find most of them will anyway. It also can provide an early warning if something is wrong or they are planning to leave. Also, help them out if you can! I rotundity give my care givers a ride to the airport or a ride to pick up their car from the repair shop. If they will not open up to you it’s a Red flag for me.
10. Make sure they understand that this is not phone time. Every Caregiver we have had a phone problem. The quality of the care is a lot better when they are not distracted by their phones.
11. Be sure that the caregivers know that you will not can them just because the patient gets angry with them. My wife constancy complains that the caregiver does not do her job correctly. I know better.
12. My wife is very sentive to pain! Even when I am her caregiver she clams I have really injured her. I know better! So I have on occasion had to reassure the caregivers that I understand accidents will happen and that she will magnify an inadvertent scratch completely out of proportion. Of course real abuse is another thing.
I hope this helps!
- The better caregivers want to work longer shifts. If you can do something like eight hours a day, three days a week, you'll get a better/more reliable person vs. a shorter shift (2-3 hours every day). Caregivers don't like these short shifts because they spend too much time driving around, so if you've got someone working that schedule, he or she will likely quit if something "better" (= longer) comes along.
- The better caregivers want extra money. If your situation is challenging (LO has poor behavior, very remote house), or if it is very important that the person show up every day (for instance to be on an international conference call), talk to the agency about paying an extra dollar or two an hour. Again, you'll attract a better quality caregiver and the $20 extra dollars you pay a week will be very worth it
- Again, if reliability is an issue, you may be better going through one of the bigger agencies. In our large offices, we keep an "extra" caregiver available in case one of the other caregivers has a problem. If s/he does not get staffed with a client, we'll have him or her do office work.
- Agencies vary a lot. Most national brands (like Home Instead, mentioned here) are franchises with each office owned by a different person, so a great experience in one location (where the franchise owner is fantastic) doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a great experience somewhere else (if that franchise owner isn't quite so good). Check references, check Internet reviews for the specific office in your town, ask friends and medical professionals for recommendations in your town.
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