Today’s Wall Street Journal featured an article on the “home health” care industry. Without regulation, families have sadly learned the hard way, how difficult it is to find quality, and qualified help. Criminal records, physical abuse, financial fraud – the unimaginable has occurred to our nation’s seniors.
While we support the idea of care at home, we recommend the following before hiring anyone to provide care:
1. Get full name and social security – and a copy of their driver’s license
2. Use personal information to run criminal back ground check
3. Ask for, and call references
4. Check license information with state department of health
5. have other family stop by, unannounced
6. If problems, do not hope they will resolve – act fast
We are so sorry for those individuals who have been abused by their home health care workers – please do what you can to protect your family!