Elder law attorneys will always advise their clients to consider the possibility of the need for living assistance at some point in time because most seniors will indeed require help with their day-to-day needs eventually.
There are some good reasons to choose in-home care if you require living assistance. For one thing, you may simply enjoy the familiar surroundings. When you reach an advanced age you may have lost people close to you and this can make the connection that you have with your home all the more important.
The other motivation that you may have to seek out in-home care is the fact that residence in a nursing home or assisted living community is extremely expensive these days and these costs have been steadily rising year-by-year.
It is however important to be very discerning when you choose an in-home caregiver. A recent study revealed that many private agencies that send out home health aides are quite remiss when it comes to properly screening applicants before hire.
According to researchers out of Northwestern University who asked questions of 180 different private agencies that provide people with caregivers only 15% of them did any training before sending people out. None of them considered whether or not the applicants knew anything about routinely utilized medical terminology.
Only slightly more than half of them did criminal background checks, and none of them checked outside of the state within which they do business.
We are not suggesting that all caregivers are unqualified or that all agencies are irresponsible. However, these statistics speak for themselves.
In-home care can be a good choice, but given the above facts you must be very careful when engaging a caregiver. Ask relevant questions, seek out recommendations, and take nothing for granted.
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