Advice on Selecting a Caregiver

After you make the emotional decision to employ a caregiver –  How do you go about selecting someone you can trust with your loved one?

You can get advice from many different sources. My first tip: Choose advice from an unbiased source that is not providing the actual caregiver.

One of the better series of tips I have reviewed comes from Timothy Takacs, an Elder Law attorney. His article, “Ten Tips for Choosing a Caregiver for an Elder”, covers many important criteria.

Tim’s tips include:

• Assess your home-care needs
• Write a job description
• Develop a job contract
• Know where to look for a caregiver
• Prepare for interview
• Interview applicants
• Check references
• Gat a criminal background check
• Hire thoughtfully
• Monitor

Monitoring helps confirm your selection. Home Care LINK is designed to do just that.

Granted, doing all these steps takes some effort; however, a more rigorous selection and monitoring process will reduce heartache and save money. Perhaps more importantly, it will significantly improve the Quality of Life for your loved one.