Finding the Right Home Care Agency and Caregiver: 15 Questions to Ask

 It is so important to research and consider options carefully when looking into a home care agency to assist your loved one. Some agencies may not provide adequate screening or training of their caregivers. Also, finding a compatible caregiver for a client is crucial and should be a priority to the home care agencies you consider.

Here are 15 questions to ask when contacting home care agencies.

1. How do you recruit caregivers, and what are your hiring requirements?

In-home caregiver jobs have different requirements. Most highly regarded home care agencies require CNA or HHA certifications. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton, for example, hires CNAs and HHAs with experience in caregiving, and the caregivers typically have a strong employment history in caring for seniors.

2. What types of screening and background checks are performed on caregivers before you hire them?

You want to ensure that the agency has checked the caregivers’ background through legitimate records and databases, not through an unverifiable source.

3. Is your agency bonded and insured, and does your agency meet all state and local requirements?

Visiting Angels Newton/Canton is bonded and insured. It not only meets Massachusetts state requirements but is also an award-winning home care agency. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton has won the Best Home Care Provider and Best of Home Care Employer awards from Home Care Pulse, an independent satisfaction and quality assurance company, for the past six years.

4. What kind of health-related training, if any, do your in-home caregivers have?

It’s essential to ensure that the caregiver or home health aide you choose is appropriately trained for your needs. For example, Visiting Angels Newton/Canton provides an orientation class for new caregivers, Visiting Angels University, an online educational program, and a partner program with a local community college. Caregivers are taught how to assist clients with transfers through Hoyer lifts and gait belts, provide comfort to seniors with dementia, and other crucial skills to help ensure clients are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

5. Does your agency provide specialized and continuing education for caregivers?

A good agency will have caregivers trained to handle specific needs, such as dementia care, through specialized education. Some agencies may have advanced training programs available, such as Visiting Angels’ Palliative Care Training.

6. How are your training programs developed?

Reputable agencies like Visiting Angels often provide training that has been developed with nationally recognized experts, such as their Dementia Care Professionals of America (DCPA), which is an Alzheimer’s Foundation of America-sponsored formal training and qualification program for caregivers.

7. What competencies will the caregiver have (e.g., lifting and transfers, homemaking skills, personal care skills including bathing, dressing, toileting, behavioral management training, cognitive support)?

Not every situation will require a caregiver with all of these skills, but it is important to know what a caregiver can do. Be sure to share your loved one’s requirements and ask the agencies you are contacting if they have caregivers available with the skillsets needed to provide the appropriate support to them.

8. How do you assess what the caregiver is capable of doing?

Not every caregiver is a match for every client’s needs. A good agency will conduct an initial assessment to determine the client’s requirements and evaluate each caregiver’s skills, strengths, and personality to provide a good match.

9. What is your policy on providing a substitute caregiver if a regular caregiver cannot provide the contracted services?

Emergencies happen, but you need to know that your care needs will still be met. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton and other quality agencies have policies to ensure that clients are not left without a caregiver.

10. If there is dissatisfaction with a particular caregiver, can they be replaced “without cause”?

Home care is very personal, and sometimes the right match between caregiver and client doesn’t happen right away. An agency like Visiting Angels Newton/Canton will work with you to find a different caregiver to make sure your loved one is cared for, and you have peace of mind.

11. Does the agency provide a supervisor to evaluate the quality of home care regularly? How frequently? Does supervision occur over the telephone, through progress reports, or in person at the older adult’s home?

A combination of monitoring, such as telephone and in-home visits, is recommended to ensure the best level of care. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton assigns a case manager to each client and their family. The case manager supports the client and their family every step of the way. The office and on-call staff are also available to assist and support clients and their families twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

12. How long has the home care agency been in business?

A national franchise should have a high level of agencies with a long track record — at Visiting Angels, 60% of all franchises have been in business five or more years, which is more than 10% higher than the national average. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton has been in business for over seventeen years.

13. How does the agency stay abreast of new techniques and research in home care?

Franchise agencies usually have a strong network of ongoing skills training to draw on. Still, every agency should participate in local network and education opportunities to ensure they are providing the most current care modalities. The Visiting Angels Newton/Canton staff and owners participate in ongoing training and franchise conferences regularly.

14. What hours can the caregivers work? When are they available?

You need to be able to schedule help when you need it, and a good agency will work to provide care. Visiting Angels Newton/Canton offers hourly care, 24-hour home care and live-in services, temporary or long-term care, weekend and holiday care, as well as respite for family caregivers.

15. Can we meet the caregiver before the person starts work?

Meeting and approving the proposed caregiver before hiring helps to reassure you and prepare your loved one. Caregivers and clients build a special bond and feel like part of the family if there is a good match.

Starting up home care for a senior loved one can be daunting. Too often, families don’t know what questions to ask, so they choose an agency that may not be the right fit. It’s so important to ask questions and be confident that the agency you choose can stand by you when you need them. We hope these questions will help you feel more confident in your choices.

If you’re interested in more information about how in-home care can help your senior loved ones in Newton, MA, and surrounding communities, contact Visiting Angels Newton/Canton at 617–795–2727.

About Visiting Angels Newton/Canton

Visiting Angels Newton/Canton MA is an award-winning home care agency providing high-caliber home care services for seniors and people with disabilities for over seventeen years. Countless families have benefited from our home care assistance, senior companion support, respite for family caregivers, 24-hour and live-in home care, dementia, and Alzheimer’s care, transitional aid, and home health care services in Dedham, Needham, Natick, Wellesley, Stoughton, Brookline, Canton, Watertown, Jamaica Plain, Newton, Norwood, Roslindale, Upper Back Bay, Westwood, and neighboring communities. The non-medical assistance provided by Visiting Angels Newton/Canton home care can make a significant impact on your loved one’s happiness and quality of life.

If you are interested in more information about how in-home care can help your senior loved ones, contact us today at 617–795–2727 to schedule a free in-home consultation.

Caring for Senior Parents with Different Needs

Caring for Senior Parents With Different Needs

As loved ones grow older, they begin to need additional care at home. You may feel overwhelmed and sometimes discouraged about providing for them appropriately — especially if they have different care needs.

You might look to a live-in senior care facility as an option, but these facilities may separate your parents to address their individual care requirements. For a couple who has spent decades together, this sudden separation can be emotionally distressing and could lead to increased feelings of depression and social isolation.

In-Home Senior Care Can Help Both Parents

To help your senior parents age in place safely, comfortably—and together—Visiting Angels Newton/Canton offers a range of personalized programs to match each parent’s home care needs, including:

·         Companion Caregiving - Companion care assists with essential tasks your parents may have trouble completing on their own, including light housekeeping, running errands, and meal preparation. Companion caregiving can be useful for seniors who can safely care for their spouses but no longer have time or energy to devote themselves to their daily activities.

·         Personal Caregiving - A personal caregiver (also known as a private caregiver) provides all the companion caregiver services plus assistance with dressing, hygiene, bathing, toileting, and medication reminders. If your parents want to continue living together at home but need more help with bathing or using the restroom than their partner can provide, personal care can be an ideal option.

·         Specialized Home Care - Visiting Angels Newton/Canton offers a wide range of specialized home care services through our LifeCare Navigation^TM Program. Caregivers can assist one or both of your parents with:

o   Alzheimer’s or dementia care

o   Ready-Set-Go Home hospital-to-home transitional care

o   Safe and Steady Fall Prevention

o   Social care

o   Palliative care

o   End-of-life care

Whatever your parents’ care needs, Visiting Angels can find the right program or combination of personalized programs to support them.

·         Alexa Constant Companion - Constant Companion uses the Amazon Echo voice device to help seniors facilitate phone or video calls, send and receive messages, receive medication reminders, read audiobooks, and provide news reports and headlines. Constant Companion also replaces the need for wearable emergency devices and can request medical assistance through a voice-activated medical alert system.

·         Respite Care - If you regularly care for an elderly parent or one of your parents is caring for their spouse, respite care can provide a much-needed break to avoid burnout and help maintain personal and healthy relationships.

Get the Right Home Care Services for Both Parents

Helping your senior parents age together safely and comfortably at home can be challenging, especially when each spouse has different care needs. If you need help finding the right at-home living assistance for each parent without separating them, Visiting Angels Newton/Canton’s senior home care is your best solution.

Our care coordinators can provide a free home care consultation to discuss the best services and programs to help your senior parents with their personalized home care needs. If you're interested in more information about how in-home care can help your senior loved ones, contact us at 617-795-2727.

Providing Safe, High-Quality Care the Elderly Deserve

At Visiting Angels Newton/Canton, our priority remains its caregivers' health and safety and the elderly clients they serve every day. As an award-winning home care agency in Greater Boston, Visiting Angels Newton/Canton follows and adheres to the latest health and safety guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite the challenges associated with COVID-19, in-home caregivers fulfill Visiting Angels’ mission of partnering with families to provide essential at-home living assistance for older adults.

Visiting Angels’ in-home caregivers continue to be homecare heroes on the frontlines, taking necessary steps to protect elderly loved ones and themselves and doing whatever it takes to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

If you have a loved one who could benefit from elderly care services at home, call Visiting Angels Newton/Canton today to schedule a free in-home consultation. A care manager will work with you to choose the best fit for your family member and you.

About Visiting Angels Newton/Canton

Visiting Angels Newton/Canton is an award-winning local home care agency providing high-caliber in-home care services to the elderly and people with disabilities. Countless families have benefited from our in-home dementia care, Alzheimer's care, respite care, live-in and 24-hour care, companion care, transitional aid, and in-home care services in Norwood and Boston area neighborhoods, including Brookline, Canton, Dedham, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Natick, Needham, Newton, Norwood, Roslindale, Stoughton, Upper Back Bay, Watertown, Wellesley, West Roxbury, Westwood, and neighboring communities.

Three Common Senior Ailments That Make Caregiving Harder

Many seniors struggle with chronic medical conditions that must be carefully managed, not just by health professionals, but also by professional caregivers. We spoke with several professional caregivers about common ailments among seniors that can complicate caregiving and how you can help improve the quality of life for your aging loved one.

Mobility Challenges

Limited mobility poses more challenges to caregiving. Arthritis affects several adults over the age of 65, making it one of the most common chronic conditions seniors must manage. Osteoporosis, another common diagnosis in seniors, can increase the risk of fractures or falls, leading to significant disability. Falls caused by weak bones or arthritis can make it painful or difficult to complete day to day tasks and prevent your loved one from being physically active.

Seniors with mobility problems are particularly at risk for injury inside the home. Keeping the house free of clutter or other potential hazards should be the first step to keeping your loved one with mobility challenges safe.

Staying active is also essential for health and well-being for people of all ages, but this may be challenging for those with pain or difficulty moving. Consider speaking to your loved one's doctor to come up with a plan for staying physically active. This may mean a referral to a physical therapist or exercise physiologist who specializes in working around mobility difficulties.

Swallowing Difficulties

Did you know that as we age, it is more common to have difficulties with chewing or swallowing? Missing teeth or poorly fitting dentures may cause chewing problems. Swallowing difficulties, called dysphagia, can happen when the esophagus becomes weak, or other physical changes occur.

Nicole Keels-McGruder, a professional caregiver, states that caring for seniors with swallowing or chewing difficulties can cause significant challenges. She recalls a senior she cared for, “who could not drink thin fluids and all of her foods had to be pureed. A thickener had to be added to her drinks. Making sure that she was properly elevated during meals was also something that I learned the hard way. Because of her condition, I stayed in the room with her for an additional 30 minutes to make sure that all of her food was down.” Nicole added that the time it took to prepare, puree, thicken, and ensure proper positioning was much more demanding of her time and energy.

Getting help with food preparation or supervision of meals can help your loved one if they have been diagnosed with dysphagia. A home health aide can help relieve some of the pressure in caring for and supervising a loved one with dysphagia or other swallowing concerns.

Infectious Diseases

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, older adults are more susceptible to infectious diseases. Common contagious illnesses that can impact the elderly include urinary tract infections and digestive and respiratory diseases, like pneumonia and influenza. It is also more challenging to diagnose people over 65 because they don't always present with typical symptoms. Instead, they can experience more generalized symptoms like loss of appetite, a change in mental status or incontinence. A difficulty with a diagnosis can lead to prolonged discomfort and a higher risk of hospitalization. 

For family caregivers, it is essential to understand the signs and symptoms of common infections to start treatment as soon as possible. Look for sudden changes in behavior, confusion, skin infections, chills, difficulty breathing, cough, fever, digestive disturbances, or lack of appetite. These symptoms should be evaluated immediately by a medical doctor who can determine the best course of action. An annual flu shot is also recommended for all seniors.

Home Care Demands a Village

All this is to say that you should genuinely consider your role in your aging parent's in-home care. Ailments like these are so common among the elderly, the degree of care your loved one needs is sure to evolve. While you may be able to handle things initially, are you genuinely ready to juggle a parent's worsening ailment with your own family and responsibilities?

Many of these conditions that impact older adults are chronic and require regular management. Getting help from a senior home care agency can be instrumental in ensuring your loved one’s quality of life.

About Visiting Angels Newton/Canton

Choosing the right home care provider is a difficult decision, and you want the best for your loved one. Our experienced and compassionate home caregivers have served countless seniors and disabled adults in Greater Boston with dignity and respect for over 14 years. As a result of our exemplary home care service, Visiting Angels Newton/Canton has won the Best of Home Care Leader in Excellence Award; the Best of Home Care Provider of Choice Award; and the Best of Home Care Employer of Choice Award from the national client satisfaction survey firm Home Care Pulse five years in a row. We have accreditation by Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts and have been awarded Boston Globe Top Places to Work.

Visiting Angels Newton/Canton offers dementia home care, Alzheimer’s care, companion care, respite support, transitional aid, live-in care and other elder home care services in Wellesley, Natick, Newton, Needham, Brookline, Chestnut Hill, Canton, Westwood, Dedham, Water-town, Stoughton, Roslindale, Norwood, and nearby towns. The services provided by Visiting Angels Newton/Canton will be sure to make a positive impact on your loved one’s happiness and quality of life. Call us today at 617-795-2727 for more information.