When it’s time to seek personal care services, you need to find the right home care provider. To achieve this, it is important to ask the right questions. Whether you’re looking for care for yourself
initial questions
If you decide you need someone to come to your home or the home of a friend or loved one, it’s important that you know exactly what you want. You should ask yourself what you want the caregiver to provide.
- Do you want personal care services like dressing, bathing, and other forms of personal care?
- Do you think meal preparation is the main focus?
- Is the inability to maintain residency a concern? Do you want the personal care worker to do chores around the house, such as dusting, laundry, and related tasks?
- Is it simply a matter of someone visiting regularly to strike up a conversation while making sure the person is okay?
- Are there concerns about taking medication?
- What specific times are being considered? Will service be desired once a day, twice a day, once a week, or frequently during the week? Make sure you know when you want a service to come.
- How long should each visit last? Be clear on this as it will help you determine frequency, assignment of tasks and, of course, coverage for any insurance and financial costs.
Once you decide what is required, contact an agency. Talk to them and learn more about it. Make sure you know the laws and regulations that govern personal care services in your region.
Questions to ask personal care service workers
Prepare a list of questions or issues you want to know about before interviewing your provider of choice. This applies to both individual personal care providers and agencies. Be sure to ask them the following:
- Do you (as an individual or agency) have the appropriate qualifications? This should also cover any medical training such as CPR.
- Have all staff received the necessary training to perform this type of job?
- How long has the agency been in existence? Prayed
- How long have you been employed in this type of work? Both the questions and the answers speak of the experience.
- Do you have references? This is true for a business as well as an individual. You should be able to obtain them without any problems and, in certain cases, read reviews about the company online or contact employers.
- What about insurance?
- What specific services does the agency offer?
- Planning? Does your programming concept match the perceived needs? It is flexible? Is the agency and/or individual willing and prepared to discuss any schedule changes with the affected individual and/or interested family members or friends?
Once you make the decision, be sure to put everything about the service in writing. You need a copy of the contract, any special agreements, anything that relates to arranging personal care services.
However, before you actually sign pen to paper, have the worker(s) visit you. Now it becomes a question of compatibility? Will the worker or workers get along with the affected person? How do you work with him or her? Is he or she sociable, getting along without any problems with the elder?
Talk to the senior after the initial meeting. His opinion matters. If he or she agrees and everything else falls into place, go ahead. Now you can hire someone to help an older person continue to live with dignity and a sense of autonomy in their own place.