Are you looking for qualified home health care workers to help you care for your loved one? Many people want to continue to live at home and give their loved ones the opportunity to do the same. Having live-in assistance not only enables elders to perform daily routines but grants them the help with things they may struggle with like eating, bathing, and dressing.
Learn five tips that can help you make the right choice when hiring a caregiver.
1. Understand Your Home-Care Needs
The first step should be evaluating the help you need in the areas of personal care, health care, and household care. Does your family need home health care like medication management or physical therapy? Or does your loved one needs help with non-medical personal care like toileting, bathing, dressing, and meal preparation?
Once you evaluate your needs, you’ll be able to find the right home health aide. Perhaps you need more of a companion or a sitter. Or if you’re looking for help with shopping, housecleaning, running errands, home maintenance, or with managing money, you can hone in on those potential home health aide agencies.
2. Write a Job Description and Contract
When writing a job description for home health workers, be sure to include things like the ability to the life care recipient, driving, and what level of health care training that they have. Next, develop a job contract that includes wages and how payments will be made, the number of hours expected to work, and the employee’s social security number.
Your contract should also include any unacceptable behavior, so the rules are made clear. You want to ensure that things like smoking, tardiness, abusive language, etc. are clearly stated within the contract. You should include information about termination as well, such as how much notice is given, reasons for being terminated without notice, etc.
3. Know Where to Look for a Home Health Aide
When looking for the right home health aide, identify the pool from which you can find them. You may have friends or neighbors who would be good prospective home health care workers. Family members may be a good option, but be mindful that this is a business relationship and not a personal one.
4. Ask the Right Questions During the Interview
Before interviewing live-in assistance workers, prepare a list of questions to ask them. If you aren’t sure what questions to ask a caregiver, contact home health aide agencies for help. Once you’ve screened applicants over the phone, only interview ones who sound acceptable.
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5. Get a Background Check
Anyone who is being paid by state funds typically will have to pass a criminal background check. Regardless of if someone has been convicted for a disqualifying crime or not, he or she may have convictions for offenses that would present a safety risk or concern you. Those issues could include using drugs, driving without a driver’s license or insurance, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, etc.
Before You Look for Home Health Care Workers
If you’re feeling overwhelmed about searching for independent home health care workers, reach out to an agency for more information. Have a backup plan just in case the caregiver you do choose doesn’t work out. And watch out for signs of neglect, abuse, and exploitation so you can report any suspicious activity!