How to Find In-Home Care for your Loved One and Ensure Reliability

According to the AARP, approximately 44 million people in the U.S. provide care to an elderly person (See Reference 1). Many seniors or their family members eventually hire in-home caregivers to preserve the elderly person's independence and quality of life. Hiring an in-home caregiver is a challenging process and should be performed with considerable diligence. Whether you hire an individual caregiver or an agency, visibility to the care provided is critical.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Telephone
• Internet connection

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Instructions

Deciding on an In-Home Caregiver

• 1

  Make a job description of what you are specifically looking for in a caregiver and discuss exactly what care is to be provided with your physician, family members or other advisers (See Reference 2). Agencies and caregivers provide a broad range of assistance with everything from meal preparation, housecleaning, hygiene care, exercise, transportation, activity planning and socialization to medical assistance.

• 2

  Choose either an individual caregiver or a professional agency based on the needs of the elderly person and your budget. An individual caregiver has the advantage that dollars spent go directly to that caregiver, so you can typically afford someone with better credentials when compared with similar money paid to an agency. Advantages of a private agency include oversight of the caregiver, periodic inspections and tests, limiting liability and ensuring the caregiver is there on time and completes the care plan.

• 3

  Meet with several individual caregivers and/or professional agencies. If meeting with an agency, consider whether the agency carries liability insurance and inquire if the agency's caregivers are bonded and whether a criminal background check is conducted. Ask what specific training is required for the agency's employees and review credentials carefully -- always checking two or three references (See Reference 3.)

• 4

  Review the care plan that is established by your agency. Make sure that a detailed list of tasks is scheduled for every day the caregiver will be present. Pay particular attention to the most critical tasks and make sure a time is established for their completion to ensure consistency and reliability.

• 5

  Insist upon real-time visibility to the care that is provided. Many agencies use "paper care journals" that are kept in the senior's home and inconsistently completed, collected and inspected. Paper care journals also create a significant lag time between the care that is provided and when the agency knows about it. A Web-based system like ClearCare gives you real-time visibility -- not only to whether the caregiver is present -- but to specific care tasks.

• 6

  Make sure the agency has an alert system in place if a caregiver does not clock in as scheduled or if the caregiver does not complete a task as specified. If you hire an individual caregiver, consider using a point-of-care system so you receive alerts and can keep track of care. Point-of-care works either via telephone (the caregiver reports clock in/clock out and the care given, by telephone from the senior's home) or via a mobile tablet that is kept in the senior's home. Periodic alerts can be delivered by e-mail for your peace of mind. These systems are easy to install by an agency and can be put in specifically for your loved one in only 15 minutes.