As any family with a loved one who is "aging in home" probably knows, finding home health aides who are not only qualified, but also passionate about their work is not easy. There are many, many variables that come into play - after all, this person has access to your home, your family, and your precious parent or grandparent.
To make matters more difficult, your loved one has quite possibly lost their ability to advocate for themselves. So the home health aide you choose MUST be well above board.
I faced these issues over and over again, as we chose - and UNchose - almost a dozen home health aides while caring for my father. Although we finally found a wonderful person to help us, trodding through agencies and aides not only affected our careers and schedules every day - it made it almost impossible to do the basics of life. Even going to work or getting out to buy groceries became a measure in frustration when the home health aide didn't show up or wasn't the person we'd planned on.
And that's not even touching on how confusing it is to the patient themselves. This issue filled our whole family with stress and worry - after all, this was our precious dad. the one who had been there every day of my husband's life. How could we entrust his care, at the most vulnerable time in his life, to the wrong person?
There are some important criteria to keep in mind when you're looking for a home health aide and agency. There are certifications and professional trainings that you should be aware of. For instance, will your family be assigned to one or two care providers - or will you have the "health aide du jour" showing up at your doorstep? THIS can be very disruptive not just to your home - but more importantly to your loved one, the patient.
In addition, ask the home care provider to supply you with a list of references, such as doctors, discharge planners, patients or their family members who are familiar with the provider's quality of service.
And ALWAYS remember the OTHER qualifications - the human side of someone... definitely take the time and be sure that your care provider has the qualities that are most important to you and your family. Sit with everyone in your household and ask them what those are. Remember that the extra time you put into this process at the beginning can save you countless hours of frustration and disappointment down the road.
John Mills, the founder of eCare Diary, has over 20 years experience in the health care field having focused on health care policy, technology and insurance product development. He brings a unique perspective to the issues of long term care and is using them to develop a website designed to address caregiver's needs.
John spent close to a decade working on health care policy serving as Legislative Director to Congressman Eliot Engel of New York, a member of a key health care committee in the US House of Representatives. In this capacity, John served as the chief health policy aide to Congressman Engel and in 1993 was a member of President Clinton's Task Force on Health Care Reform. John later worked on the Bi-Partisan Commission on Medicare Reform established by President Clinton in 1998.
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