NYT's article shows many "caregivers" from agencies are not qualified or vetted.

[stillstANNding]

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An MS woman who needed in home care for 30 years has found that agencies have not checked any medical skills, criminal backgrounds or the ability to do that which they are hired to do.

[SalpalSally]

Not suprising in this day and age, but sad and disgusting.

[Gabriella7]

"Caregivers"

I can attest to the "care" that I received after my last hospital stay and this was an agency covered by Medicare. The nurse who was assigned to my case called to tell me she was coming at 9am then called back at 11am to tell me she was coming at 2pm. Since my husband was gone I had to remain diligent in order to open the door and not take a nap which is what I wanted to do.

She finally came and after the paperwork was signed she took my bp, pulse rate, and temp and sat down on the sofa. Then told me that if she saw me out in the mall "she would remove me from her case load". Since I have not been in a mall in over 6 years since I can no longer walk further than my mailbox and buy everything over the internet I felt she was way out of line to try and bully me about something I was not able to do without any questions concerning my abilities.

The next day I called the agency and told them to remove her from my case and I could take my own bp, pulse, and temp from now on. Of course I know this is nothing compared to what all these people mentioned in the article have to put up with.

Heaven help us if we really do need "home care" in the future.....

Gabriella

[renee]

Surprise, surprise.
My case worker and some nurses wonder why I don't get help.

It is because insurance goes cheap and uses agencies who hire individuals who should not be working with fast food.
Better paying agencies have the pick of caregivers who are mature adults, respectful of the fact that she/he
is in anothers home.

My apt is somewhat chaotic and needs more frequent quick cleans.
I would appreciate help with preparation of healthy food
but never, never at the risk of theft, insult or injury.

[renee]

dupe deleted.

[agate]

I had caregivers supplied by the state I was living in--for years. There were several very good people, and some lasted for 3 or 4 years. But many were undependable and tried to take advantage of me. A couple were abusive. One pushed me hard one day in the grocery store because she was angry.

Some didn't have enough of a command of English to communicate.

The pay and benefits these people got were pathetic.

[pain95]

Given the pay scale and travel pay based on gas prices that are three years behind, it is no wonder that Home Health agencies have a difficult time attracting decent employees. Many aren't even CNA trained. I have had the same aid for the last 4 1/2 years and she is an angel. She comes three days a week to do light house work that I cant do from my wheelchair, hygiene assistance, grocery shopping and laundry. Oh, she also always documents my vitals. I see my nurse who comes in for 15 minutes, once a month. She documents that I am still alive. I am lucky to squeeze that amount of service out of Medicaid in my state. They have all but closed down the Home Bound waiver program and haven't taken in any new patients under that program for almost two years. They are anxiously awaiting us who are oldtimers and have been on it for a long time to die. Don't hold your breath.

[agate]

Given the pay scale and travel pay based on gas prices that are three years behind, it is no wonder that Home Health agencies have a difficult time attracting decent employees. Many aren't even CNA trained. I have had the same aid for the last 4 1/2 years and she is an angel. She comes three days a week to do light house work that I cant do from my wheelchair, hygiene assistance, grocery shopping and laundry. Oh, she also always documents my vitals. I see my nurse who comes in for 15 minutes, once a month. She documents that I am still alive. I am lucky to squeeze that amount of service out of Medicaid in my state. They have all but closed down the Home Bound waiver program and haven't taken in any new patients under that program for almost two years. They are anxiously awaiting us who are oldtimers and have been on it for a long time to die. Don't hold your breath.

I'm glad you've found competent people to help. Needing help is a bitter pill for most of us to swallow, and when find that many of the helpers are helping themselves instead of you, you have a bad situation.

I agree that the pay and benefits for the jobs the helpers do are much too low--and they themselves get treated shabbily, quite often. It's a rare person who is doing a caregiving job because he/she wants to but those rare people do exist.

Thanks for your comments, pain95!