We feel a good home care provider should:
Convert potentially chaotic home-situations into manageable events — lowering anxiety, stress levels and blood pressure.
Act as a neutral third party between patient and doctor, a constancy that often encourages patients to speak more openly about their symptoms and concerns.
See home care as a means — with constant monitoring and treatment — to nurture your loved ones back to health.
Monitor and assess conditions on a regular basis and make necessary adjustments.
Make sure all significant implications, events and changes are understood.
Keep doctors informed of changes and follow-up, as required.
Adapted from: http://www.qualicare.ca/holistic-home-care.aspx
January 14th, 2009
The person you hire will not be family member or guest. She will be an employee. Setting rules from he beginning will help make this relationship a success. Consider the following list of parameters:
Limit the hours: Live-in helpers can’t work 24 hours a day. Provide a reasonable schedule with time off. Generally, shifts last for eight hours but they can be distributed throughout a longer but reasonable time period.
Flexibility: If your situation requires flexibility, be sure to establish how extra hours worked or “on call” hours will be schedule and compensated. It is also a good idea to balance availability allowing the caregiver some flexibility – make sure she is given time off to be on her own or with friends.
Privacy: Your helper requires adequate privacy during non-working hours in her bedroom or the bathroom. Establish appropriate common areas of the house where she can relax. It is a good idea to provide the caregiver with a TV in her room.
Food and fridge: Decide if the helper will share food or buy her own. Will she have free range of the fridge, or have a designated shelf? The employer is responsible for the food expense so establish a list of expected food that the caregiver would enjoy. Consider allowing the caregiver to purchase certain favorite items, if a receipt is provided.
Establish a meal schedule: Give your worker the choice of having meals at established mealtimes or on her own, so long as it doesn’t interrupt her care-giving.
Phone: Installing a second phone line for your live-in helper is a good idea and can eliminate issues about phone use and paying for long-distance calls. If you will not have a separate phone, establish a clear phone policy. The caregiver will need to have access to an internet terminal for email or even web cams to communicate with her family.
Visiting rules: Allow reasonable time for guests to visit your caregiver.
Remember it is important to suggest that the relationship be two-way from the start. Your caregiver should feel good about her job so she stays and she puts as much effort into it as possible.
January 1st, 2009
