Joanne_C
02-05-2003, 11:52 AM
Does anyone have experience hiring private duty nurses or a nursing agency to care for an elderly person in their home? My father will be moving from a nursing home back to his home in the near future if we can arrange for nursing care around the clock. He has some medical issues and takes a variety of medications on a regular schedule, but is very alert mentally and active in participating in his own care. However, because of his medical situation he feels it is necessary to have a medically trained person in the home at all times. Does anyone have any advice on hiring nurses and/or CNAs privately as opposed to hiring an agency, or can you point me to a website or book that might help me with the questions that I have about this type of arrangement?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
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skylan
02-15-2003, 10:09 AM
Hi
I worked as a pricate duty case manager for many years.I found the best way for me to find good caregivers was by word of mouth. If you know someone that has had a caregiver, as them for reference, and most of the time I found that caregiver would know other good ones. A good caregiver will refuse to work with some one that is less than their standards.
I found that the healthcare agency was reliable to always have someone there,and they are bonded, but the problem was, I never knew who they would send, and some were really bad caregivers. The agencies charge almost double of what you would expect to pay, than if you find a caregiver on your own.
If you find caregivers, then you will need to set up a schedule, and always make sure you have enough relief, because someone is always calling in sick. You will need to come by often and check to see if everyone is taking good care of you father, believe me, there's a lot of bad ones out there, that's just in it for the paycheck.
I had one case that I knew, but couldn't prove it that some of the caregivers weren't doing their job, so I used a tape recorder, and I was stunned to what was really going on.
Caregivers are very expensive, 24 hour care can run into hundreds of thousands a year. The best way I found was to find some that wanted to do 3 day shifts, that way I had 2 caregivers that did 3 shifts each and one that did a 24 hour shift, and the one that did the 24 hour shift was available to fill in if one of the others was out sick.
Its a headache, but can work if you can find good personnel. You will also have to think about how you will pay them, are you going to help pay social security, and unemployment taxes, its a headache.
Good luck
Sky
I worked as a pricate duty case manager for many years.I found the best way for me to find good caregivers was by word of mouth. If you know someone that has had a caregiver, as them for reference, and most of the time I found that caregiver would know other good ones. A good caregiver will refuse to work with some one that is less than their standards.
I found that the healthcare agency was reliable to always have someone there,and they are bonded, but the problem was, I never knew who they would send, and some were really bad caregivers. The agencies charge almost double of what you would expect to pay, than if you find a caregiver on your own.
If you find caregivers, then you will need to set up a schedule, and always make sure you have enough relief, because someone is always calling in sick. You will need to come by often and check to see if everyone is taking good care of you father, believe me, there's a lot of bad ones out there, that's just in it for the paycheck.
I had one case that I knew, but couldn't prove it that some of the caregivers weren't doing their job, so I used a tape recorder, and I was stunned to what was really going on.
Caregivers are very expensive, 24 hour care can run into hundreds of thousands a year. The best way I found was to find some that wanted to do 3 day shifts, that way I had 2 caregivers that did 3 shifts each and one that did a 24 hour shift, and the one that did the 24 hour shift was available to fill in if one of the others was out sick.
Its a headache, but can work if you can find good personnel. You will also have to think about how you will pay them, are you going to help pay social security, and unemployment taxes, its a headache.
Good luck
Sky