How to Hire Care at Home

Eventually, family caregivers need outside help to maintain their loved ones at home. Here are some steps for getting started.

Make a list. Do you need help for house chores, or for personal care or general supervision, or even for medical procedures? The clearer you are, the clearer the job will be for the person hired. Tip: Don’t mix busy housework with providing companionship for a restless patient.

Decide time. Do you need an hour or two daily for bathing assistance, or a full day a week, or overnight so that you can take a break? Tip: Both private aids and agencies prefer a block of 3-4 hours, to minimize travel time.

Hire privately... Some find a caregiver through word of mouth in a support group, or from their senior center. Some counties have a registry* of people who have some classroom training. Hiring privately avoids the overhead costs of an agency, but you become the employer, with legal responsibilities.

..or use an agency*. Some agencies offer comprehensive services, including care management and nursing; others are limited. After an initial assessment they sign a contract with you. Agencies screen, supervise, bond and insure their employees, and provide backups. Tip: however good the agency, success depends on the skill and chemistry of the individual aid.

Start carefully. Your loved one may not welcome a stranger in the house doing little work! Offer a simple explanation: for example, that you need the help. Introduce the person gradually with obvious tasks. When trust is built you can leave them together.

Be fair. Good caregiving involves heart as well as skill. To keep a good aid, be considerate and generous as well as requiring high standards.

*Call Helpline, 1-800-272-3900 for lists. Call also for Steps to Success: Decisions about Help at Home for Alzheimer’s Caregivers. Download Hiring In-Home Help from Family Caregiver Alliance (www.caregiver.org).

Specific resources:

Some dream of finding a live-in caregiver who will take lodging and a small stipend as payment for care, but the dream rarely comes true.

It is hard to find people. They are one in a million..is just that. May cost less, avoiding agency overhead, but you become the employer wit responsibilities.
(call Helpline, or look online),

Thoughts
Reassurance: It is a natural thing to do, an extension of your family care (informal) Scary for some, but it works out.

Scope: OK for some things, principally supervision…but not so great for socialization.

Cost is secondary; but full time eclipses care home.

How to initiate: Start low, go slow…with useful tasks. Resistance.

How to find people: SGs, local sr center postings,
It is hard to find people. They are one in a million..is just that..
Agencies have advantages: screen, supervise, bond and ensure, pay taxes, a stable for coverage, finding chemistry.

How to maintain: It is a relationship as well as a job.
Justice for the caregiver.

thank you Twice Blessed. I was wondering how to go about starting to hire help at h ome. Very valuable -- I have printed it out for future use.
Take care,
Marge

ttt for "hangin in there"

for the newbees....ttt
zerotears