6 Smart Steps To Take Before You Hire A Caregiver
Be sure to take time to properly assess your care needs so you can make the best choice for your family when hiring an at-home caregiver for yourself or someone you love.
The 6 Steps to Take Before Hiring a Caregiver
We’ve helped thousands of families find the right caregiver to meet their needs. Over the years at LeanOnWe, we’ve found the following six steps to be the best way to understand your care needs and find the right caregiver for your loved one.
- Understand your care needs
- Determine your budget
- Search for the right caregiver
- Run a background check before hiring
- Have a plan for your new caregiver
- Closely monitor care
Let’s walk through these step by step.
Understand your care needs
If you aren’t sure what your care needs are, consult a professional – either a geriatric care manager or nurse assessor – to determine the best setting for care, whether it’s temporary care in a skilled nursing facility, permanent placement in an assisted living facility, or in-home care with a professional caregiver.
Here are two key questions to start with:
What are your loved one’s wishes?
Make sure you’re honoring your loved one’s wishes as best you can. If not, they may not be cooperative once you hire someone or even refuse to let the person in their home.
What specific help do they need?
You’ll need to spend some time with your loved one to figure out what their limitations are and what kind of care would be the most useful (part time or live-in, nurse or home health aide, etc).
Determine your budget
Before you hire someone, you’ll need to know how much money you have available to spend for a caregiver. Costs will vary depending on the type of care and minimum wage requirements in your area. People often tap into personal savings, retirement funds, stocks, bonds and other liquid assets.
If you need more care than you can afford, consider having family members pitch in when appropriate or find out about government programs in your state such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Veteran benefits. Also consult your tax advisor to learn about possible deductions and consult your investment advisor to discuss whether changing the types of investments in your portfolio could help fund your changing care needs.
Learn more about how to pay for senior home care in our guide.
Start your caregiver search
Finding the right caregiver is not a simple undertaking.
It’s best to make a list of the tasks and the skills required. This will help you focus on finding a person who has experience with the type of work needed. The main difference between hiring a caregiver on your own and using a traditional home care agency is that an agency’s services are usually more expensive and are restricted by the scope of work that can be done.
Private caregivers have more autonomy because the family determines and oversees the work. A service like LeanOnWe, The Trusted Way to Hire a Caregiver On Your Own, could help you hire a highly pre-screened private caregiver on your own – and give you peace of mind about back-up service, insurance, and more.
For more information, check out our detailed steps to finding a caregiver near you.
Do a background check
Be sure that whoever you hire has had a thorough background check – even if they came recommended. A recommendation is not the same as a background check.
When hiring a caregiver, a family cannot run the top-level fingerprint background check. What is available to individuals is an Internet-based background check. For that, you’ll need the caregiver’s Social Security number, but the best way to know if someone has a record is to run a fingerprint background check that can be done by home care companies if they choose.
At LeanOnWe, every caregiver on our network has undergone a top-level, FBI, national, state, and local fingerprint background check, giving you peace of mind no matter who you hire.
Have a plan for the caregiver
Whether hiring privately or through an agency, be sure there’s a plan for the caregiver.
It should include what daily and weekly tasks need to be done, how often, and what steps to take if something happens outside of the norm for the client, i.e. new skin redness, swollen ankles, increasing shortness of breath, unusual cognitive issues. The caregiver should always know what his or her job is and what to do in an emergency.
It’s also key to set proper expectations for your caregiver, so make sure you start that process early.
Not setting clear guidelines can lead to unmet needs, increased stress, litigation, and safety concerns. You should always clearly define your standards and establish realistic expectations for your caregiver.
Closely monitor the care setup
No matter how you found your caregiver or how experienced he or she may be, it is always important to have extra eyes on the situation.
If you don’t live in the same home with the person receiving care or you don’t live nearby, ask a neighbor or a family member to stop in every once in a while when the caregiver is working – and also when they are not – to talk about how everything is going and to observe your loved one as well as his or her surroundings.
Struggling to Find the Right Care? Learn How to Find the Help You Need
Looking for care can be overwhelming and stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Taking the proper steps and asking the right questions before hiring a caregiver is crucial.
LeanOnWe is here to take away some of that stress and help you navigate the complex world of home care.
Avoid the common pitfalls by:
Downloading our free guide today: From Crisis to Caregiver: An Uncomplicated Guide to Home Care. Or schedule a convenient time to speak to us. We are looking forward to helping you.
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