AgingCare 2

Mom enjoyed the first lady assigned but after she left, then next person made her feel that she didn't need their service. So she fired them. So, I got their services reestablished with the assistance of their Administrative Staff. But in the end, a young lady came for approximately three hours but stay on her cell phone the entire time she was there. So, that ended mom's interest in in-home assistance. I would recommend this company again even though I never got a chance to meet the lady that stayed on her cellphone during her entire visit with my mom. I would like to have heard her side of the story.

After a brief interview, we agreed Advocates to provide an aid for my wife [name removed]on mornings that I would leave before she was up. We are hopeful that the aid donate would help her get up feed her breakfast, but also provide a shower for her. All those needs were met and then some. Keychain at a unique personality participated with [name removed] in some of the Assignment she was given in therapy. [name removed]develop a good working relationship with each of the aids and they shared many experiences. My schedule was not always as consistent as I had hoped. I played golf on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings and usually at 8 o’clock, but on a few occasions, the start time was earlier or earlier. I would try to communicate with the office but always got a voicemail or a staff member I knew nothing about who assured me that my message would get passed on. None were. Too often the aid showed up way too early or way too late or on days when they weren’t scheduled. It was sometimes heartbreaking to send awa

Home Matters is a nationwide company so we had a “local office” and when I say local, I use it loosely. Scheduling was over 200 miles from our house which explain why the 1st aide quit (after showing her around & paying a premium for less than a two hour shift - most companies don’t charge for meet & greet). The 2nd aide was absolutely amazing! My mom came out of her shell & we saw her improving. That absolutely amazing human got promoted so we lost her too. Then the 3rd aide never did this type of work before so i had to be there to show her around but she was very good! Unfortunately, each new aide except #2 just made more work for me than it saved. I found out later that our favorite aide turned down the promotion but Home Matters never offered us her services!! We would still be with Home Matters today if we could get the 2nd aide back!! One thing I didn’t care for was their obsession w filling shifts. Our fav aide lost a family member but they expected her to work. Life happens.

They were wonderfully reliable, came quickly to help us. Our helpers seemed well trained and experienced. A professional company. Just that one thing happened...I wish I would have thought to lock up medications and I would advise people to do that with anyone coming into the home.

This is a great service if you are looking for someone to be a housekeeper, go grocery shopping, take someone to appointments, but for someone who is bedridden, needs a bed pan, needs help dressing and toileting, transfers to a wheelchair, this was not a good service. I had to teach them how to do most things. I think they were under the impression we needed someone to just sit and be a companion with my mom. We didn't want a babysitter we needed someone who could care for our mom. I was very disappointed in their services and some of the care givers that were sent over. One actually tried to tell my mom to stop taking her medicines and do things holistically. She was pushing oils and apothecary for her to try.

1. Ok 2. Great 3. The girl had checked off several things that she had done while she was here taking care of my husband… However, my husband had asked her to go into the dining room and please just sit… So the girl did as he asked and basically did nothing for five hours. When I came in, I signed her sheet of paper, but did not read it until after the fact. But she was no help. 4. Very good 5. Value for money? No. There was no value for the money because she did nothing and he did not want her here. I have recently hired a full-time person to come in and live here with us as my husband is getting progressively worse with his dementia.

I was steered away from a facility, and that facility is now where he is, for the same cost as my 5 days a week for 6 hours per day. He is thriving at the new facility. These people are people too. They call in sick to work, more than you would think. Be ready with a daily schedule written out with your instructions, or they won't do anything.

I was thankful that I could get in home help for my husband on short notice, however I was disappointed with the lack of professionalism. The two caretakers did not take any initiative and had to be told what to do every step of the way. I did not have the impression that they were well trained or trained at all. I used the services of Advantage for two days only.

It's difficult because every family and situation is different. It's a difficult situation to ask strangers into your home and be involved in one's life on a personal level for a short period of time which was our situation. I guess it becomes easier if the same care givers are assigned but our biggest problem was they sent too many different card givers each week. [name removed] finally asked them to not send so many new care givers each week as we would have to retrain them on what to do or not do each time. It seems their business is always short staffed which is why they had to schedule so many new people each week. Too many different caregivers required because we needed a care giver everyday for two different 3 hour shifts morning and evening. This created a staffing problem because they didn't have enough personnel to easily provide the same care givers each day.

Our experience has started out well, but over the last few months it has been a struggle to find a consistent/permanent care giver for my Father-in-law, which was requested. Multiple time we were told this is going to be your permanent care giver and then it wouldn't workout for us or the person assigned. My Father-in-law was against it from the start so that was also difficult I'm sure for him too. Overall, communication with the staff and managers has been great except for a couple of times.

Out of the 3 Caregivers assigned over a short period, only one seemed to be professional and really engaged and involved with the patient. 2 were just high paid sitters. Positive: Griswold was able to assign someone quickly Negative: Overpriced for the level of service provided

There have been multiple occasions where they would call me the morning of service and say that they didn't have a caregiver. They are on their last chance before swapping companies again. They are aware of our need for dependability and if they call again at the time a caregiver is suppose to arrive. The providers are good - we just have to have dependability.

They could increase staff and serve better quality of food. Almost every day of the week was tough pork. Short staffed, really really bad food, Had to ask to be showered. I never even had a sponge bath until i asked. I was there for a long time without getting cleaned. Night staff didn't want to change you unless it was on their scheduled stop. I didn't like using plastic gork snd knife.

Cooperative Homecate has an excellent concept. They seem skilled at what theyAre do. The only issue that interfered with my use of this business is that they appear understaffed with nurses. My plan requires my husband to have three NURSING visits per week. Though it was off to a great start, my husband’s nursing visit went down to two per week. Since that is less than the doctor ordered, I do not get funded for less than 3 visits per week. I then have to pay $[removed] per week out of my own pocket. Example, for August I only got one 3-day visit. I owe you all out of my pocket for 3 weeks of twice a week visits! can other days per week be added to make up days or do you have a shortage? His needs are not met with 2 day per week and the company WILL NOT PAY YOU! Do you have a better plan or can you get nurses to cover? I cannot afford August type of paying out of pocket for 6 nursing visits.

The caregiver came to my parent's home three times a week for approximately four hours each time. This process lasted for three weeks. After this time, my parents and I decided to go in another direction for care.

Although the home care staff is polite to my mother, information of her specific medical needs aren't communicated well to new staff. Resulting in her passing out one time while standing in line at a sandwich shop, my mother can not stand for for long periods of time. I understand that we might not get the same staff but at least view her records to familiarize with her needs. Extended personal phone call was taken while on the clock, leaving her unattended in another room. While taking her on trips staff have taken gas money from her and one time a passenger was picked up and dropped off while my mother was in the car. Overall we are having to remind staff what we need them to do and notify us of any challenges since my mother has onset dementia. Shout out to [name removed], she displayed the most care and would not leave until a family member showed up. Thank you. If using this company you need to be extra hands on with staff and management.

They have a really hard time keeping people scheduled. Especially on weekends. We started with 24/7 care and now they are only providing 60 hours per week. We have family stepping in to cover the rest.

We only hired Home Instead for overnight in home care. Home Instead was not able to cover all shifts requested. Caregivers were friendly. Although one caregiver was excellent, most were just okay and one was horrible- falling asleep herself and not waking up when my mother needed help. We only used the service for about two months, as the cost was prohibitive.

Mom was showered and her hair was washed consistently. The quality of care rating is due to my mother needing more assistance with eating. She lost 10 additional pounds from January to June. My mother's condition declined during the caregivers time with us. Adjustments were not made to increase attentiveness and assistance with meals. Physical and brain exercises were not consistent. My father lives in the home and did not emphasize the need with the caregiver. When I said something during a visit, an attempt was made. No records were shared to show exercises were being done. The lady was very friendly and tried to engage my mom in conversation. But my greatest concern was that she did not adjust her care as momma got worse. EATING is important. They need to make sure all staff are trained in how to adjust care for dementia patients.

Administrative staff was good. Care giver staff depends on the caregiver and that could change from week to week. Some were better than others.