AgingCare 2

I would have gone with them, but I didn't really click with the girl they sent out to meet us. It wasn't a good match for us.

Not adequate

We have had some issues. There have been reliability issues, as well as communication issues. We went with them because they offered a lower minimum of hours. They clock in and out on the phone so we know when they are there, that is good. The people have been pretty friendly, but reliability really is key.

Medstaffers was hired in June 2015 to provide Caregivers for my quadriplegic wife. I quickly realized that they only had one dedicated person able to care. Anytime she needed off they would scramble to find coverage. Most of time they failed and would simply call and inform me they had nobody. As time went by continued to have “all their eggs in one basket”. Countless times they failed to provide coverage even after having several weeks notice. After six months of this instability I put my foot down and was quickly given notice they were terminating service.

Mom only wanted someone for 1 day for 4 hours. The agency sent a different person too often and mom complained that she had to teach the new people where everything was. She said it exhausted her. She really liked the first caretaker but they changed her after only 1 or 2 visits. She would have stayed with them if they had sent the same lady.

I have a bedbound/wheelchair hound grandmother which I discussed with the company weeks ahead of time. Arranged for caregivers to come and shadow the livein nurse who they would be relieving for vacations etc. sent me two 18 year olds, zero experience in moving a 97 yo and changing cleaning etc. had to fly in a substitute from Florida to cover the two weeks that I needed them for. Keep in mind I started the process two months before, agreeed to have them come and train to learn my grandma’s needs. Assured they would be experienced. Needed upnpaying for their hours (rightfully so as it’s not their fault) and then paying to fly someone in. Not a good experience at all.

I have a few concerns/requests. My mother considers [name removed](the in-house assistant) more of a friend than a contractor. This is creating an awkward issue. My mother puts together a list of what needs to be done but the very next day she is going to the store and cleaning out her refrigerator on her own. I need for whomever is going to be assisting my mother to be a little more forceful and less compliant. The list is fine but this person should go through the entire home to see what's needed (refrigerator had old moldy food that needed to be purged, she needed to get groceries, there is no cleaning being done behind furniture). [name removed] needs to be asked, "Is there anywhere you want/need to go?" She's going to get groceries the day after the assistant leaves when this could have been done while she was there! I know how this visit went on Tuesday because I flew in and met [name removed]. This was discussed in the beginning.

Poor quality cc would not recommend. Could not recommend. Avoid find a better supplier worth the extra time.

We found one good caregiver, but baffled that they don’t suggest others for our approval. They seem to be set up to just send anybody from an anonymous and constantly changing pool of employees to send to cover a shift without communicating to the client. When our one approved employee tells them she can’t make it, CornerStone keeps sending an unauthorized person despite numerous corrections on our part.

This company can't seem to fine reliable workers. My sister has had so many different peoples coming into her home. The workers does not show up. I can't understand why they cannot hire good help. Not happy with this company at all and would certainly not recommend them to anyone !!

The office staff were awesome and really tried to help. The staff that came for in home care quit after only the first week. We are a difficult family to staff because of the limitted hours for our need but the staff were often on their cell phone when the attention should have been to assist with my family that was unsteady in walking. The staff didn't let us know they would not return so we waiting on quitting day and found out only shortly after the office staff found out. Otherwise the agency was pretty good at trying to accomodate us.

We needed to have my dad covered for a weekend while my sister was out of town and the person never showed up. This happened on several occasions. However the caregiver was great.

Initial conversations were directly what I needed for my mother. Repeatedly, having to ask for information I was told up front would be delivered. Caregivers have been good but in the beginning was a revolving door of resources. Other promises made have repeatedly fallen short of expectations.

[name removed] the owner of Home Matters is great when she worked with my mom. [name removed], the assigned caregiver stayed on her phone while caring for my mom. She also decided to ask personal questions that my mom told her about that offended us. Caregivers need to realize when there are work from home employees, they are there to care for their clients. They may not know about working from home and we do not have the time to have full blown conversations. Have them talk with the client you are working with, not the homeowners or responsible party.

Frustrated with care received. [name removed] with OPA Home Care was very nice and checked in with us frequently. Despite that communication there were difficulties with the care. My brother had a tracheostomy and we hired a trained RN tracheostomy nurse to come daily at a cost of $[removed] for 2 hours. ($[removed] hr for 2 hour minimum) She did that for several weeks. They ordered the tracheostomy supplies and many times they were the wrong size. That was very difficult and caused many problems. We were told there were supply issues. Also, she was hired for 2 hours and would only stay the brief time it took to change and clean the tracheostomy area and taking blood pressure etc. We were told that she was just contracted to clean and care for the tracheostomy and once she was done she could leave. She did not need to stay the 2 hours. We were thinking that we would have 2 full hours a day of nursing care to help my brother and our family. As the radiation therapy progressed he needed to be suctioned more often. It would have really helped us and him with his comfort if they stayed the 2 hours. We paid over $[removed] a week for many weeks. There should have been more transparency and clarity that the 2 hour nurse would not be staying for 2 hours. We were still dealing with the wrong size tracheostomy supplies up until the end. When my brother saw the respiratory therapist, I brought the inner cannula OPA had ordered to show him and he said it was the wrong size for the tracheostomy he had. I was so frustrated. There are agreements to sign, please be sure you understand the full financial commitment if the patient goes into the hospital or you have to end the home care early. You may still owe more money.

When we initially interviewed with the company, they stated they had a great bilingual (Spanish/English) person to come assist our 85 year old mom. When the person arrived, she was not bilingual. Although she was nice and good as to caregiving, she did not speak Spanish and was allergic to our cat. We tried a few other care givers from the company and they got gradually worse with each person. The last person had minimal assistance or care giving or conversation/ companion skills. She actually fell asleep on our couch for hours instead of caring for our mom. When we told the owner of the company, he said he would not charge us for her last day due to her lack of care and attention. However, when the bill invoice came, we not only were charged for the additional day, but that person claimed to have worked overtime and we were billed for that as well. The owner exaggerated the skills and abilities of the people he had working for him and did not keep his word to us.

Amada care is great to talk to but follow thru is bad. Communication between parties at Amada is not productive. They left us short handed more than once. The fill in aide one time was so bad, lazy …it scarred my mother for weeks.

This is OUR FAMILY'S EXPERIENCE. We were shown all the "beautiful" parts of the facility. My husband had Alzhiemers and needed the memory care unit. I was shown his room, a small activity space and the memory care unit dining room. I was told all the wonderful things they would do to help my husband interact with others. I was assured someone would check on him every two hours to see if he needed anything. My daughters and I were there with him almost every part of the time he was there. A staff member would "pop in" from time to time, but we took care of his needs. The morning of his third day there my daughters & I went very early to see him. We opened the door of his room to find him sitting completely in the dark. He was unable to dress or undress himself but he was wearing only a shirt & wet underwear. He was so cold and alone. We immediately got him dressed and took him home THAT DAY! Even the staff apologized and said they failed us. We moved all his things that day. Horrible!

We made a good connection with the owner and decided to try their services, but after trying multiple caregivers, we realized the sales pitch was more promising than what they could deliver. Ultimately, we chose a different agency and have had better experience so far.

Interview with office staff was great. Care givers were inexperienced, had trouble with scheduling, and didn’t work well. One brought her boyfriend to location and used him as a driver to transport my Mom.