You may have a dear one at home who is old and unable to take care of him/her self. Moreover, despite your best intentions, you are not able to provide satisfactory care to your elders due to various reasons. You may not even know or trust anyone who could help you take care of them, especially when you are not present at home. Furthermore, you would not like to send them away to old age homes. If all these scenarios apply to you, then you can think about approaching a senior home care agency. These agencies take care of the elderly at their home itself. They are variously specialized to look after people who are old, weak, and unable to do basic daily activities like taking their medicines, cleaning up etc. or those who suffer from various illnesses and need round the clock attention.
If you would like to take the services of a senior home care agency then you could check out the Internet that has sites that offer resources on senior home care and its service providers. These websites provide listings of various senior home care service providers. They can help you find out the agency which could take care of the needs of the elderly at your home. However, you should take care to do thorough background checks before you decide to take the services of a particular senior home care agency. Trusting the information provided in the listing will not be a good idea, since most listings are paid for and could contain exaggerated or false information. So first, take care to visit several websites that provide information about senior home care agencies. Go for the one that is the most reputed. Make a shortlist of the senior home care agencies that seem suitable for your needs. Then you should personally crosscheck the information by taking the following steps:
- Visit each agency personally.
- Check their accreditations, you should ensure that they are licensed to practice in your state.
- Get to know in detail, the nature of services provided. There are two kinds of services provided by senior home care agencies, healthcare services and personal care services. Not all agencies provide both. You should determine what services you require then check whether the agency provides those services.
- Ask for references, for the agency as well as the caregivers that come to your home to provide the services.
- You should also check out the qualifications of the caregivers, they should have been trained in providing care, the training should include sufficient about administering medicines and first aid.
