An in-home caregiver can be a crucial service for seniors and their loved ones. It helps the senior remain safe at home for longer while providing peace of mind to family members. Even family caregivers can benefit from having a bit more time for themselves, as the paid caregiver offers much-needed respite and helps reduce the workload of family members. However, it isn’t a matter of simply hiring anyone. You’ll need a reliable, trained, and dedicated caregiver who can adjust to your loved one’s unique needs and personality. This article walks readers through the steps of hiring home care services, including key things to consider and look for.
Assess your loved one’s needs
The first step is to consider the senior’s specific care needs. This helps define the amount of care you’re looking for and the type of professionals who can provide it. You might start by listing any tasks the senior currently gets help with and areas where help is desired. Once you have a list of tasks, you can start estimating the required time.
Some possible tasks include:
- Meal preparation.
- Assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs), like bathing, grooming, or toileting.
- Transportation to appointments or social activities.
- Companionship.
- Medication management.
- Running errands.
- Health monitoring and reporting.
Most of the time, you’ll be looking at home care services. Home care professionals typically don’t have medical training and only offer nonmedical services, including personal care, transportation, medication reminders, and housekeeping.
There are also home health care services. Professionals providing home health care have medical training and can provide more health-specific services, such as changing wound dressings, using medical equipment, and monitoring for changes.
Home care services are generally less expensive, but you’ll often need to pay for them out of pocket. In contrast, Medicare or Medicaid may cover home health care services for a limited period of time, but only if they are medically necessary and doctor-prescribed.
Consider preferences
It is essential to consider your loved one’s preferences for the caregiver. For example, some seniors might prefer a female caregiver or seek a quiet person. Such preferences are especially important if the caregiver is likely to provide companionship.
Assess your financial situation
This is also an excellent time to think about finances. CareScout reports that the national median cost of home care is $33 to $34 per hour, but this can differ significantly by your location and the services you need. Think about the minimum and maximum amount per hour you’re willing to pay. How would this add up over the month and year? Remember that care needs will likely increase over time, so you may need more hours later.
Decide whether to hire home care independently or through an agency
There are two ways to hire an in-home caregiver: independently or through an agency. Let’s look closer at the details of this choice.
Hiring home care independently
Hiring a caregiver yourself gives you the most flexibility in duties and scheduling. Support from a caregiver can be invaluable if the senior’s needs are unpredictable or you want as much control as possible. Hiring independently also tends to cost less than going through an agency.
The catch is that you’ll need to research and vet each potential caregiver. This includes ensuring they’re legitimate, can legally work in the United States, and have the required skills.
Also, hired caregivers are often considered employees instead of independent contractors. This means you’re responsible for their taxes, ensuring you’re paying the minimum hourly wage, and following other legal guidelines as an employer.
Going through an agency
Alternatively, you can hire a caregiver through an agency. Doing so may cost more, but the agency does much of the work for you, including vetting caregivers, handling paperwork, and paying the caregivers directly as employees. They’ve also sourced the caregivers for you to choose from.
Research and compare potential agencies or caregivers
Whether you’re using an agency or not, the next step is to start researching the options in your area. Pay particular attention to how well each place or person meets your needs, plus any indicators of quality. After all, you’re trusting an in-home caregiver with your loved one’s health and safety. It’s crucial to choose the right person for the job.
You can also contact a senior advisor. These experts know the senior care services in their area and will listen to your situation, help you identify what you need, and connect you with the home care agency that best meets your needs. Depending on the company the advisor works for, their advice and guidance may cost the senior or their family nothing.
Here are some critical areas to look for with agencies:
- What are the agency’s requirements for their caregivers? What training can you expect? What references do they look for? Do they use background checks?
- What do people think of the agency itself? You should be able to find reviews online to give you a sense of their quality and whether there are any issues.
- Will you get the same caregiver each time?
- Can you easily change caregivers if the current caregiver isn’t a good fit?
- Do you decide which caregiver you get? Can you interview them first to determine who best suits your needs?
- What about billing practices and rates? Some agencies may charge extra for particular services, like transportation or overnight caregiving. Ensure you understand what services are covered and how the rates might change.
If you’re looking at hiring home care independently, talking to individual caregivers allows you to ask questions and learn more about their experience, values, and attitudes. The interview process also gives you a feel for the caregiver, and you may quickly sense which caregivers will work well with you and your loved one.
There are some additional areas to consider if you’re hiring the caregiver yourself:
- Ask specific questions about caregiving, such as how they would deal with any challenging behaviors they might encounter and how they would communicate with you.
- Ensure everyone is on the same page about expected tasks, hours, and responsibilities.
- Talk about household expectations and rules as well. People vary in their approaches, and what’s evident to you might not be obvious to someone else.
- Consider a trial period to ensure that the arrangement will work long-term for you, the senior, and the caregiver.
- Ask about availability. How flexible are they about hours if care needs change?
- Request references, conduct a background check, and verify credentials to ensure reliability.
Narrow your list and make your decision about who to hire for home care
Once you’ve made a list of possible agencies or caregivers, you can narrow it down and choose the in-home caregiver you feel suits your situation best.
There are no guarantees in this process. Every caregiver and every caregiving situation is different, and it can take time to find the right fit. Some caregivers may seem perfect on paper but don’t work out in practice. Other times, a caregiver might end up being surprisingly perfect. Be patient and thorough, but with the right approach, you can ensure that your loved one is getting the best care possible to keep them safe and healthy.
