A new study released several days ago revealed what many of those involved in the senior care business have long known: a large percentage of individuals that are employed as in-home caregivers do not have any sort of formal training in assisting the elderly.
Additionally, it was discovered that many caregiver that are placed by agencies are just matched up with families that have placed their name on a caregiver waiting list, and once the placement has been made, there is little or no supervision of the caregiver. This was true of both independent caregivers and those associated with a company.
This information was published in the July 13th issue of the Journal of American Geriatrics Society. Although it is a recently published study, the information is not new. Resources like Craigslist have made it possible for anyone that wishes to to put an ad out and promote their services. Many of these people are well intentioned and good at what they do, but there’s no way for you to know this at first glance. Some caregivers that fall into this category are very good and their hearts are in the right place. Others may have less honorable motives, and may even intend to do something illegal or harmful. Without any sort of supervision or training, it is hard to know who is who.
Caregiving doesn’t need to be like this. When you are looking for a caregiver, you want someone that you can trust to provide the same type of care that you would give your mom or dad if you were able to. You shouldn’t have to rely on luck when choosing a caregiver to help you out.
When caring for an elderly loved one, the quality of care that is received is not something that you want to leave to chance. If you are going to have a caregiver come into your loved one’s home, the quality of care ends up being only one part of what you should be looking for. You want someone who knows what they are doing, even in an emergency situation, but you also want someone who is trustworthy, reliable, and compassionate. Training is important, but the training is just one of the several gates that you should be ensuring that anyone helping provide care for your family has passed through.
This is why we always ensure that our caregivers have received extensive training before we send them out into the field. Training in a variety of different situations is important if high quality senior care is going to be given to the people that you love. At Paradise In-Home Care, we do much more than this to ensure that your parent or grandparent gets the best care possible, though. We also conduct thorough criminal background checks on our employees, as well as cover their actions and protect you by insuring and bonding them. These additional gates are in place to ensure that the people we help can put their minds to rest and know that they are getting a caregiver who knows what they are doing and is there to help families have a better life.
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