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wantmylife, please note if you hire an independent caregiver (not someone from an Agency) you will need to get workman's comp policy through your insurance company. www.care.com/hp/nanny-workers-compensation-insurance and you will need to deal with payroll, payroll deductions, etc.


When my Dad needed caregivers I went though an Agency because I liked their contract, the fact they were licensed, insured, and bonded, that their employees had workman's comp in case one of them got hurt on the job, plus the caregivers were all up-to-date on their vaccines such as flu and covid. And the Agency does all the payroll stuff.


My Dad had a new caregiver each day for a week from the Agency, then he was able to decide which one would work out the best. The one he liked the best was with Dad for over a year. This woman was in her 50's and had a great sense of humor, she needed it with the Dad jokes my Dad would tell :)


Also what I liked, if the caregiver couldn't come that day, the Agency sent over another caregiver to fill-in.
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Reply to freqflyer
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In my area, the agencies charge clients about $32/ hour and want a minimum of 5 hours/day, 2 days/week. If you request fewer hours, the per-hour fee goes up a lot. I get it.

My mom does not have extensive needs at this point and wants a helper 2-3 days/ week, 1-2 hours per day. She didn’t like any of the aides from the agencies. She liked a high school girl we found who did chores for $25/hour, but the girl quit after a few weeks. (Not surprising)

I have been looking at the job ads and it seems like the agencies are actually paying the aides $18-$22/hour. That’s really low for what they sometimes have to put up with.

I got a recommendation for a person who seemed great and was willing to do 2days/2 hours but she wanted $40/hour and my mom balked.

I saw an ad on Craigslist for a full-time live in aide for a person who has early onset Alzheimer’s for $48K yearly salary plus free room and board. This included taking him to play mini golf and dance lessons and helping him work out in an in-home gym. It didn’t say whether they were expected to work 40 hours/week or what.

good luck!!
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Reply to Suzy23
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Brandee again--

I'll add we staffed with only one person from 11 - 6 M-F for about 5 years. Mom could do her ADL, dress herself and bathe and get breakfasts in the morning. The caregiver came in and made lunch. Took Mom and dog on walk. Drove around on errands with Mom and made dinner.
Mom was able to put the dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on. On Fridays caregiver made a cold dinner for Saturdays and Sundays for Mom and Dad. Dad took the two of them out lunch on Saturday and Sunday.

Six years ago after Dad passed I had to hire around the clock caregivers.

I envisioned having older caregivers but most of our caregivers were under 30. When Mom passed I had one that was 70 who had been with us over 10 years and one nice Haitian lady that was 65. I think everyone else was under 30.

Virtually all of Mom's caregivers worked other jobs and 4 were college students. Two studied to be RN's, one a social worker, and one mortuary science.
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Reply to brandee
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I tried Care.com but never had anyone respond to me.

The first one was working as a waitress that Dad just liked.
Second one was referred by our accountant.
Third one was working a CNA job at a SNF and my Dad was recovering from shoulder replacement and my brother in law really liked how the CNA worked with the male residents.
We poached the third one from the SNF.
4th and 5th were referrals from the second hire
5th hire gave us 4 referrals over the years. They were all good quality CNA's that she had worked with in the past.
One we hired from Craigs List. She was a CNA with really stellar RN reviews. She referred her
daughter who also was a CNA
Forgot to mention one we hired who was a referral from my Dad's massage therapist. She was a catch as she was a licensed beautician. She did Mom's hair in the home and also her nails and worked shifts also for us as a CNA.

During the two years of Covid I was desperate and no one had referrals. I ran an ad on
Inspire and hired one from that ad. We probably interviewed 20 people from the Inspire ad
but no one wanted to work over 20 hours and they all wanted to to work really piecemeal
shifts. We needed folks who could work 36 hours around our needs.

The referrals were far and away the best quality workers. Also this was over a 15 year period.
We staffed M-F 11:00 am - 6:00 pm for many years and Mom and Dad were on their own on the weekend. Dad wanted a good lunch and dinner on the weekdays.

The referrals were far superior to the ones we talked to from the Inspire ads. I got a feeling that the ones responding to the Inspire ad had washed out of working at all of the nursing homes in the area.
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Reply to brandee
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Care.com
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Reply to lealonnie1
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The 2 best caregivers I hired were students at the local Community College. The Community College has a CNA program and these 2 were waiting for the Nursing School program to start.
So I would contact your local Community College or most communities have "Institute" schools where students take medical program classes. (one near me has CNA classes, as well as other medical training classes)
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Reply to Grandma1954
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Get lists from hospitals, rehabs, home health services, and ask neighbors, church, salon, anyone you see who will listen. After a neighbor told me the name of a service that was cheaper than the chains, I realized a google search also found her.
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Reply to CareforMominTN
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Place ads, basically. Look for ads on NextDoor.
It isn't as easy as it once was, for certain.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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