Non-medical home care covers daily living assistance. Non-medical home care does not include skilled home care services such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy and nursing.
Consider the care needs of your loved one. Non-medical home care agencies may assist with: bathing, hygiene, getting dressed, toileting, medication reminders, mobility, transfers, light housekeeping, grocery shopping or other errands, simple meal preparation, transportation, and companionship. The tasks that a homecare agency has the ability to assist with may be specific to the home care agency and/or the caregiver assigned to care for your loved one.
Consider how many hours of help is needed. Think about a preferred schedule for a home care agency to be involved in the care of your loved one. What days of the week and hours of the day or night would it be helpful to have assistance?
Questions you may ask regarding home care agencies’ policies and procedures:
- What training do new caregivers hired by your agency receive? Are caregivers employees or contractors?
- Are caregivers trained in dementia care?
- Are caregivers trained in safety with transfers and mobility?
- Are caregivers trained in what to do in an emergency? Do they have first aid and CPR training?
- What background checks are done? Are references verified?
- Is drug testing required?
- Do caregivers receive ongoing training and if so, what kind of ongoing training do they receive?
General questions to consider asking:
- Are you licensed, bonded, and insured?
- How do you match caregivers with clients?
- What happens if a caregiver is ill or misses a shift?
- How do you go about a request for change in caregivers if the caregiver is not a good match with my loved one’s needs?
- How do you create and review a care plan for my loved one, and is the family involved in this process?
