It’s Monday, and that means the beginning of another Griswold Blog series. We’re dedicating this week to something we know quite a bit about — five questions to ask a potential home care provider.
When bringing a caregiver into your loved one’s home, not only should you trust this person’s knowledge of and experience with home care, but you should also trust that this person will make your loved one feel comfortable and secure. Here are the first two questions to ask when hiring a caregiver through a home care agency*:
1. How thorough are your background checks and screening processes?
As we stated before, you are voluntarily inviting this person into your loved one’s home. You want to be 100% sure that they are worthy of your trust — which means a past exempt from questionable or criminal behavior — and that their level of care is worthy of your loved one.
At Griswold, we take the screening process — our CareAssure™ Screening System** — very seriously. Developed over 30 years and consisting of extensive interviews, criminal background investigations, driving record checks, audits and state-specific verifications, you can rest assured that a Griswold-referred caregiver is deserving of your trust.
Additionally, the CareAssure System is designed to select only the most qualified caregivers — because caregiving is not only a responsibility, but also a profession that demands strict credentials — so your loved one receives the exceptional level of care that he or she deserves.
2. What kind of follow up does the company provide?
Ask if the home care company follows up with the client and/or family after the referral is made. Also, if extra care or assistance is needed, how will the agency handle this? Some home care agencies 'refer and defer,' while Griswold's Family Feedback System requires each office to follow up with our clients a minimum of one time per month over the phone and one in-person visit every 3 months.
*Why coordinate care through a professional home care agency? They’ll take care of the administrative tasks — screening, referring, ongoing credential and record keeping, and continiously sourcing the best caregivers in the community — so you have fewer details to worry about and more time to spend with your loved one.
**At Griswold, we have the experience in the home care industry to know what works, what doesn’t work and, most importantly, what works best for you and your loved one. So by talking about Griswold’s services, like CareAssure Screening and any others we mention in this blog series, we are simply providing examples of things that have been successful for countless people in your position — people who care enough about their loved ones to seek exceptional home care.
If you want to hear more about what to ask a home care provider, we’ve got you covered. Check back soon — or subscribe to the blog to get each post sent directly to your inbox – to continue cracking the code on Class A caregiving.