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Does anyone have any experience with any of the elderly service providers for Galveston County in Texas? My mom is eligible for 21 hours a week for a caregiver, but it has to be one of the providers on their provider list. I would like to get one that someone has used and was happy with their care. Has anyone used any of the agencies in Galveston County?

Are you looking for a caregiving company? If Freedom Caregivers is on your list, I highly recommend them.
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Reply to TXmomof3
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We just has Accent Home Health out here in Harris County to help with my LO after surgery. I had a heck of a time getting scheduled ( but my LO was released on a weekend), but once scheduled, the nurses and therapists have been friendly and helpful. Accent is affiliated with Memorial Hermann.
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So she is on hospice? That where I’d start, like contact the hospice agency office to see if they have worked with any of the agencies on the list you got. Then work the phone to see if any of them have openings.

fwiw not unusual for counties to have waiting lists. Retaining staff is really hard.
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Reply to igloo572
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This is I’m guessing In Home Health care that is being paid by the State via a community health Medicaid program? If so, there is a statewide shortage for families to be able to find care agencies to do this. So you may not have a lot of choices. The issues are many as to why… but the big one is that if this is a State program then State minimum wage factors in for how the vendors are Paid. Texas is $7.25 hr min wage and maybe the participation agency pays $8.00 / 9.00 hr fixed rate with strict reporting requirements. You can go to Target and make double that. Maid services for all those STR, VBRO & ABnB on the island pay like $12 + hr min and on way more flexible schedule.

You may want to contact whatever they are calling “Senior social services dept” over @ UTMB. There will be a staffed department somewhere within the health science center campus that does senior / gerontology outreach. Also you could contact Galveston County Health Dept which too has senior outreach; it has offices on the island and the mainland (I think it’s in LaMarque). They both will have a tie in to the regional Area Council on Aging which has its main office in Houston and helps folks link to services. The AoA is a funded but freestanding entity of the Houston Galveston Area Council which does regional planning for abt 8 counties in transportation, health and other areas that get Federal $ that have cross county jurisdictions. HGAC is very well funded, it’s your tax dollars at work.

as an aside, if your elder is not seeing docs @ UTMB, I’d really suggest that they switch to be a patient within UTMB.
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jeepgirl0909 Aug 20, 2024
Thanks for the information. My mom is currently on Hospice and is bedbound, only able to get up to use the bed side commode. The social worker gave us 30 pages of care service providers to choose from but we have no clue as to which one would be a reliable one.
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Go onto Nextdoor.com, which will be an intranet of your actual Galveston neighbors and community (and mostly non-anonymous). Ask for opinions or recommendations there. I do this all the time on that forum for my community here in MN.

I strongly agree with holding out for an aid who is experienced with working with elders with dementia.
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Reply to Geaton777
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I hope others from your area will respond but you can try a few things.
Social Media. In this case it might be a good thing.
Look for reviews that people post.
If you have a Group like "buy nothing Galveston" you could post a "In search Of" and ask if people have suggestions or have used a particular agency.

I would also interview a few of the agencies and ask questions.
How do they handle a caregiver that calls in sick at the last minute? What would they do if the caregiver does not show up and you have to leave?
What will the caregiver do and what will they not do?
And what exactly do you need the caregiver to do for mom? Is this companion caregiving, light housework, is mom continent, is mom active or not?
**Oh, just read your profile..so many have not been giving info I sometimes forget to check.
Mom is incontinent so the caregiver will be changing her, and mom does have dementia. You want a caregiver that has experience with dementia. So ask about the experience the caregiver has with dementia.
And...if the caregiver they send does not "click" after a week or so how long will it take to get another caregiver.
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