Shirilevita

Archive for November, 2009

Navigating the maze of public and private agencies and services may seem an immense and bewildering task. But remember, despite shortages of these services, you are the customer in a highly competitive service industry. Shopping for a good agency is not unlike shopping in a supermarket. To your own experience as a consumer, add the following guidelines:
Choose an agency that evaluates your home situation before recommending a plan and assigning personnel. The agency should arrange to visit you to assess the situation, after a preliminary phone conversation. A good agency does not oversell its services. If you feel you are being given a hard sell on the phone for more service than you really need, be firm in ending the discussion. (You can always say you will get back to the agency after thinking it over.)
One way you can help the agency do a better job of evaluating your needs or those of your older relative is to fill out the Health Status and Health Services checklists in Appendix A before calling. Or, you may prefer to have someone who knows you well join with you in filling them out. This step will give you a solid basis for your contacts with agencies and make these contacts more effective.
Be sure you have a clear understanding of exactly what services are being offered. The homemaker/home health aide is not a maid. Ask for a specific list of the tasks that will be performed. If something important to you is omitted, ask about it. Even if the agency cannot fill that particular need, they may recommend someone who can.
As we mentioned earlier, some agencies supervise and train the worker placed in your home and take responsibility for the worker’s performance. (For example, if a worker fails to show up one day, the agency will replace him/her with another person.) Some people would rather rely on an agency supervisor to apply professional standards and to deal fairly with any complaints that may arise. Other people prefer to deal directly with the employee in their own homes. If you have strong preferences in either direction, be sure to discuss with the agency who is responsible for training and monitoring the homemaker/home health aide, so you end up with the kind of supervision you want.
Before you hire an aide, make certain that you have at least two references from prior employers. As with anyone you bring in to work in your home, you will want to have assurances of the person’s character and integrity. Although the agency may have conducted its own reference check, it is important to double check in this important area.
Whether the agency is run for profit or not is not necessarily related to the quality of its work. Accreditation is the best assurance of quality for a home-care agency. Don’t confuse accreditation with licensing or certification. Being licensed and/or certified by the state may be necessary for the agency to operate but does not reliably assure quality.
The best sign that you are dealing with a competent and honest agency is accreditation by either the National Flomecaring Council or the National League of Nursing. Ask the person whom you first contact at the agency if they are accredited by either of these two organizations. If you have doubts about an agency you are dealing with, your local Better Business Bureau may also be of help
One of your most valuable aids will be an excellent booklet—short and packed with useful information—titled “All About Home Care:
A Consumer’s Guide.” This excellent, up-to-date booklet is produced by the National HomeCaring Council, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to developing services, monitoring standards, and educating consumers. The booklet is published cooperatively with the Council of Better Business Bureaus and is available at cost. (See address at the end of this chapter.)
Besides providing basic facts and elaborating on important details about home care, the Council’s booklet includes a checklist of questions to ask when contacting and dealing with home-care agencies. For each question or situation, appropriate follow-up action is suggested, to confirm that the agency is as represented and will fulfill its obligations to you. The booklet also offers practical advice on negotiating financial arrangements, dealing with home-care personnel, and avoiding many common problems before they have a chance to develop. A down-to-earth discussion of how to handle problems that do sometimes arise in home care effectively is most helpful.