Does anyone have a GOOD experience with 24-hour in-home care through an agency?

Update:
Completely changed my mind. Have hired private caregivers (friends of friends; reliable).

I interviewed many agencies. Not bad, seemed OK (of course you never know till you try). Changed my mind about hiring an agency, because suddenly the opportunity of private caregivers turned up.

Thanks for your advice during my crisis.

I have an agency caring for our 94 year old father for the last 2 years. It has been working just fine.

They initially send a RN to assess his needs and the home situation. It was in the beginning a real time critical situation since after 3 months all of us needed to get back to work and our own families.

Read your contract carefully. In our contract, the aids get time and a half on holidays or when they go over 40 hours a week. They work 12 hour shifts, so 2 aids per day except on weekends when the alternates fill in. Every month there is over time but it is manageable.

Initially it was necessary to put together a meal plan which helped ensure he has a more varied diet - for example - eggs and sausage breakfast only on Mondays and Thursdays - eggs in a no stick pan do not need a half cup of butter to cook the egg in. No pasta with tomato sauce for dinner - since it will keep him up all night with heart burn - but lunch is fine. One glass of wine per day, doughnuts once a week, etc.

I manage the home delivery of groceries online and the aids can stop on their way over to pick up something missing. They get a mileage allowance for driving him any place - like a doctors appointment or to a friend's party, where they accompany him. There are only 2 aids which he will go in their car with - I work with the coordinator to ensure he has his appointments on their days.

As someone said, they keep a log book at the house and every day has a page that they sign into - everything is noted - his mood, how long he slept, meds he took or refused, any falls, visitors, packages or if he went for his walk.

If the next scheduled care giver does not show up - the aid on duty will not leave - if they must go - they wait until someone from the office to come. It has only happened 3 times in 2 years - he was never alone for a single minute. Once was a hurricane the other two were a technology glitch in their new scheduling system.

If you have a contract for 24/7 care, remember you are a top customer and they will try to place their best folks for your uncle's care but that will take a bit of time to work out since they will not pull them from an existing client.

The care givers are very special people and we treat them as such, remember birthdays and holiday checks are appropriate. We have a solid team now and I consider them all to be a blessing and let them know every time I am visiting how much their work is respected and appreciated.

There is case coordinator at the office, this is the person you need to deal with regarding scheduling or personality problems. I had an issue with a chain smoker being outside on her phone too often. This coordinator comes to the house about twice a month and checks on everything, like his rollator brake pads were worn out or he could use a lift chair in his man cave.

It is a hard decision and very expensive but if your Uncle has insurance or worked hard, saved enough and wants to stay in his home - I feel this is the best solution.

I had gone thru the trouble of comparing for my sibling the cost of hiring someone direct - since they had sticker shock. Unless the aid is working as an independent (like having their own business) it would have been a nightmare, workman's comp insurance, IRS filings for their ability to work in the USA, vacation time, sick leave, the software to manage their pay and the appropriate withholding and contributions to unemployment, etc.

Taking care of the rest of the home maintenance, his health and finances is already a big part time job. Having to manage his care givers would just not be possible for me.

Stay positive and remember a company is made up of individuals. Keep us posted.

I’ve already interviewed the people. We’ll start very soon. Hopefully it all works out.

About the agency caregivers - you might luck out. When you have them, though, it's important that they be compatible with the patient. If one can't show up and they send another one, you don't have much choice over personality, ability, or whatever traits you hired the original ones for. It can be a problem.

I do know that many hired caregivers are devoted to their jobs and are the unsung heros of the healthcare community. I admire and respect them.

Good luck in finding the best caregivers!

Hi Mac :)
I’m not hiring private caregivers. I’m hiring an agency: I don’t need to think about insurance, etc. Yes, we need several people rotating. Yes, no-show would be terrible. The agency says they’ll show up. I hope they’re being honest. I’ll interview in a few weeks.

I forgot to add, will one caregiver be enough if something happens such as a fall or need to move or turn the person?

You will need more than one person,file tax info, and consider workers insurance. Also how will you cope with no show or sick calls? Will you be available on a moments notice?

Very expensive.

We have to make the decisions in a few weeks. I’ll let you know how it turned out. Might help someone else who’s suddenly in this situation.

Hired from an agency but not 24/7.

My 97 year old aunt has been privately paying for 24 hour care for years now through an agency. Yes it is very expensive. Overall it has worked out very well. They keep a record of everything that goes on. On a visit there we washed, dried, and ironed her kitchen curtains and the aide noted that in the daily record. I'm not aware of any times when no one showed. There have been times when a new person had trouble transferring her and dropped her. My aunt has had several strokes and needs help with just about everything although she can feed herself with her one good hand. She's been on hospice once and come back strong. Her goal is to make it to 100 ( at least) and I think she'll make it. Still going out to get her hair done on a regular basis, in her wheelchair on the local special bus for the disabled. I'd say her care has been pretty good over the years. These are not live-in aides; they come in daily for their shifts, every single day.

My experience with in-home care through an agency was that the owner of the agency demanded that the caregiver leave dad on the toilet to speak to him on the phone. She said she’d call him back after dad was finished. Then the owner fired her.

Because of the stipulation in my contract with the agency, I was not allowed to hire her myself. I’d have had to wait 6 months after her firing. So I hired my own independent caregivers after that.

It will cost more than placing them in an AL. And you have the problem of 3 shifts of people. And if the person doesn't show up ? What will u do.

I don’t. I only have experience with 24-hour private caregivers. I suspect maybe no one on the forum has experience with 24-hour in-home agency caregivers, because it costs more and people usually can’t afford it.