AgingCare 2

My mother is a difficult person and they misinterpreted her acts defiance as dementia. They were patient. I also should have mentioned my mother does not like animals. We had a caregiver who had pet dander in her car and she found this totally unacceptable. However, we would recommend their services.

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.

The staff for the service and some of the caregivers were great. [name removed] was a standout. But too often we got a call that their caregiver had either called out or had not shown up for their shift, and then my father was either left alone for the evening or my mother or me had to go spend the night with him. Paying so much for what was mostly just sitting while he slept (the nurses continued to take him to the toilet and prep him for bed) was only justifiable if we had the peace of mind that he would get the supervision he needed. I understand that it is difficult to run a business of that nature and they can't control what their employees do. It was really the only complaint we had but I do think I would use them again if we needed to do so.

They were quick to provide overnight people but they weren't the best quality people. Had a couple issues that we had to call them about in only the two weeks we used them.

Then mom passed a way. It seemed like they were just becoming organized. The first care giver was a disgrace from her torn jeans to not at all being prepared for an 8 hour stay. Afterwards there were 3 that were more compatible with mom, one with experience and came prepared. The other two were young with no public experience in caregiving but had personal experience that was valuable. They were comparable with mom, and were properly attentive. However, I was doubtful they were capable of handling dire situations dealing with hospice type care which is what mom was on. We assessed 3 by phone with 2 being interviewed at our home.

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.

My mother in law loves the services, but would like to have a consistent caregiver. The company is awesome don't get me wrong, but my mother in law feels more comfortable with a consistent caregiver.

Originally I had made arrangements for them to come check in on my mother few days a week for a short period of time on those days… Maybe as much as an hour. ( this was suggested by the coordinator) thought this is great.. Knowing my mother and how she is this would work. Within a week of this agreement I was informed that because of how things had changed with there other clients this would no longer work, and I would have to agree to a minimum of 2 4hr days. Wasn’t long when this started not to work! My mother started not answering the door! And telling the caregiver to leave! But this wasn’t communicated! After this incident more things happened! Call if you would like the details! As of this week I asked them to no longer bill me for services that are not being given! [removed]

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.

Although you are led to believe in the initial interview that caregivers receive training. The owners are very slow to process checks in a timely manner when paying invoices. The office staff is very friendly and responsive. One thing that I thought was particularly good is that they send a person out to the home to discuss your needs prior to arranging for a caregiver. She was able to personally answer questions. If you are a new to getting Caregivers services this can be very helpful. Sometimes you just don't know what to ask. If you do not require a caregiver for very many hours you are charged a higher rate. Also you do not necessarily get a regular person. It is difficult to form a relationship when you have different caregivers every time. One of the things that we need is that personal relationship. By increasing our hours we were able to get a regular caregiver. Having her on a regular basis provides a far more satisfactory experience. I am concerned that she has not had the training that she was promised.