AgingCare

The individual part-time care provider has built a positive rapport with my dad--SH client. However, there have been occasional staffing issues related to punctuality and reliability with substitute staffing. It seems like the SH staff pool is limited. Admin has personally provided in-person care to fill a few vacancies.

The assistant assigned to my mother is good at taking care of my mom & she’s very nice. But she has not always been there on her assigned days. And when she can’t make it, then other assistants have to fill-in & they don’t show up until 10 AM when they’re supposed to be there at 8 am & instead of staying the 4 hours that my dad asked for, they only stay for 2 hours & leave at 12:00. Which makes it very difficult for my dad to find someone to stay with our mom while my dad goes to run errands & conduct business. And the last time the assistant didn't show, she didn’t let my dad know that she wasn’t going to be there & no one from your company called to let my dad know that no one was coming that day. I realize that we all need days off, we get sick, our kids get sick, etc., but there need to be people who can fill-in when people call in sick. And they need to stay the full 4 hours that my dad needs to do the things that he needs to do and take a break for himself.

It was a short term solution, but my mother needed 24/7 care and is now in a nursing home facility. We would recommend Home Instead to other families who may need their services. Home Instead did a good job taking care of my mom after being in a physical rehabilitation facility. It was great to keep her home in her surroundings. The nurses were nice and did a good job taking care of her.

Owner, admin, especially [name removed] were very helpful. Unfortunately, they never found the right fit and many different workers came and were not as experienced as we had hoped. Also we did not need 3 days a week.

Sadly, it was not disclosed that the care provider smoked, not that she smoked while with my parents but it was on her and her clothing so it irritated them. They did not choose to continue with care from them.

The problems we had was with staffing and not charging the correct amount of money for services rendered. We would recommend Care Advantage to others, but it would not be our first choice.

Normally I am pleased with the service, especially since it's somewhere we can adjust the days and times per week that someone comes to sit with my dad. However, last week I received a call at work that said his worker[name removed] left him alone and went home. My father asked him to leave, but he has alzheimers and the company was forewarned that dad may not recognize the workers. I spoke with someone on the phone and they assured me the worker would not leave again and they have a protocol in place to prevent thus from happening. Regardless of previously good service, this was very concerning and could've potentially been very dangerous for my father who can't ever be left alone.

Some of the helpers are good and some are not. Pretty good--not at all perfect.

The care services score is lower because it often seems as if assigned caregivers are forgetting or not doing important things, as well as because of communication problems. At the moment we would not recommend Home Instead - Houston Central to other families

The services is extremely unreliable. I have reduced service to 2 days a week. From 4 days. I keep the same Care Giver, who I love for 2 days a week. everyone else wasn't good at all. There was times that my mom sat in the room in the house by herself all day because the caregiver didn't show up and I was at work. It was nothing I can do. When a caregiver is unable to make it, they don't give me advance notice. They wait till the last minute when they can't find anyone else to tell me that no one's coming very unprofessional. I only keep their services because the one Care Giver is really good with my mom and I really like her so I keep the two days a week and those the only two days that she's available.

Staffing has been an issue with a few replacements and missed appointments. Notifications are sometimes late on delayed or cancelled visits. I would still recommend their services to others looking.

We love the aides who come and help with Dad. Overall experience is mid-range as it took quite some time to get the office to let my mother know if someone was coming or not. So there was a lack of communication for a while, but it's gotten better. Since we started, the rates went up a bit, and we now pay a surcharge cause we split the required hours. All in all we're very satisfied with the service.

I would like to have more consistent in the schedule and not having different caregivers all the time. It is very confusing to [name removed].

A constant change of caregivers led to inconsistent results. And having a 4 hour Minimum wasn't cost effective for our situation. They aren't a bad company, we simply had needs they weren't able to consistently meet. My mom has since been placed in a wonderful Assisted Living facility. For the money, her fulltime care is much more cost effective.

We had in-home care. The caregivers came to our home to provide care. They would do light cleaning in the kitchen and change the garbage bags. They came at 12:30 pm and stayed until I came home from work between 5:00 and 5:30. They did work weekends. Since my wife doesn't have any special needs and her daughter was here from my departure to work until 12:30 , the care consisted of watching TV and preparing a light lunch. Sandwiches were popular. Crackers and cheese were another. Overall, the value for the money was satisfactory.

For quality of care depended on who showed up. The first two visits the aid came in smelling of marijuana they switched personnel and the next two days were excellent but we're already assigned to other clients. The final Aid that we had was nice but had limited household skills and had to be directed on every little thing we needed to have done. She didn't seem to know how to make a hospital bed correctly and when she washed the kitchen floor she basically left puddles of water and not wiped and I had to wipe it up. She was very helpful in getting patient transferred and dressed. We've decided for now to use a neighbor who is volunteered to help prepare meals and and Lighthouse work.

The office staff were very friendly and helpful. The percentage the actual caregiver gets is too low compared to what the company makes. This fact only encourages lower skilled caregivers to apply. I terminated the service and hired a private caregiver that is significantly more skilled for similar or less cost.

I would tell them the care is very expensive for what you actual get for care and they're better off looking for something else.

As far as the caregivers, most were friendly but we rarely had the same person twice. For someone with dementia it is hard to have to continually adjust to a new person. The caregivers for the most part didn't seem to engage my mom in doing any activities. I would still recommend them because the administration staff was always friendly, and they did say they would try to have the same caregiver sent each time, but the reality was that it didn't happen. I just want others to be aware.

While impressed with initial contact, the help I needed was different than what this agency could provide. It was also disappointing that my helper fell on me … and was unable to come half of the time she was scheduled. I was pleased that 1/2 of my payment was returned as a result of the latter.