Tips for Hiring an In-home Caregiver

For most Canadians, aging in place — or staying at home as they age — is a much-cherished goal. But as we get older, chronic illnesses and disability often mean we need someone to assist us.

However, only about 20 percent of long-term care in Canada goes to in-home care, while institutional care gets about 80 percent. As a result, family members often bear the sole responsibility of caring for older loved ones, which often leads to burnout, and negatively impacts family and work relationships.

Hiring an in-home caregiver can help alleviate the burden and the burnout, especially if you’re the sole family carer.

When to Know You Need Hire an In-home Caregiver

1. Your Stress Level – Family caregivers often neglect their own health, which actually makes them less effective in their role.

2. Decline In Your Loved One’s Condition – Chronic illnesses often get worse over time. You might find you’re not able to help your loved one with their advanced care or medical needs.

3. Inability to Do Basic Daily Care – Perhaps you’ve noticed your loved one can no longer comb their own hair, take out the garbage, make their bed or even a cup of tea for themselves. These are telltale signs to watch for.

4. Danger to Self – Your loved one is increasingly having problems with memory loss (which can also affect their ability to stick to a medication schedule), balance, or spatial orientation.

5. Loneliness – While aging in place can be beneficial, the reality is that some seniors are more likely to feel lonely if you or other family members don’t visit often. They might also have lost much of their social network. Loneliness is a leading factor in depression and suicide for seniors.

How Can Hiring an In-home Caregiver Help?

An in-home caregiver is trained to care for your loved one and help improve their day-to-day quality of life. Here are some of the duties they can take over for you:

Essential Steps When Hiring an In-home Caregiver

Whether you’re hiring an individual caregiver or using an agency, you want to ensure the person you hire can meet your loved one’s specific needs and be a good fit for you and your family. A few steps to follow:

1. Do not make your decision in a hurry. You’ll be less likely to do the necessary due diligence and even exacerbate your current situation.
2. Make a list of your loved one’s needs, including physical, emotional and lifestyle.
3. Make a list of your own needs as a caregiver, for example, your schedule and the tasks you would most like to delegate.
4. Consider your personnel management abilities. If you choose to hire an individual, you will be responsible for advertising the position, background checks, interviews, hiring and firing. If you choose an agency, they take care of most of these tasks for you.
5. Consider your budget. This can be a deciding factor in the level of care support the caregiver is trained to provide and how many hours you expect them to work.
6. Ask for referrals from your social network — for instance, friends, families, colleagues and fellow church members. Through personal referrals you get unbiased recommendations and learn about the first-hand experience with a caregiver or agency from people you know and trust.
7. Make a list of questions you want to ask about their training, experience, people skills and challenging situations they have resolved. Write down their responses so there is no confusion when narrowing down the best candidate. 
8. Think safety first. Always do a background check on an agency you want to use or an individual you plan to hire. For individuals, make sure you do criminal background checks and ask agencies about their protocol on criminal history screenings. For an agency, contact the Better Business Bureau to find out if there are any complaints against them. You can also enter the name of an agency you’re considering into Google and read the reviews. Also verify that any caregiver you hire is legally entitled to work in the country. If you choose to hire a foreign caregiver, make sure you’re familiar with Canadian laws and requirements. Visit the Government of Canada website to learn more.
9. Confirm training. As part of the background check, determine the training the caregiver has, what duties or functions they can perform, and how many years they have been practicing. Ask for certificates or degrees and any letters of recommendation. An agency should also provide this information to you about any caregiver they want to assign to you.
10. Check their schedule and make sure it’s compatible with your loved one’s and yours. Flexibility can be an issue if you’re hiring an individual as opposed to going with an agency, which can assign multiple caregivers who can work various hours. If the ability to work flexible hours is essential for you, one option to consider is hiring a live-in caregiver. The advantage of this — besides being able to be on-call at odd hours — is that you provide your loved one with better continuity of care than is possible with multiple caregivers.