The reviews I see here are for employees. I cannot comment on employment with Home Instead of Lafayette Hills. However, my mother received care from the agency from 2019-2022 (when she moved into Assisted Living). The care she received was extremely helpful for a difficult part of her life (my life and the entire chaos of COVID). Initially, my mother needed about four hours a week care (just shopping and help with housekeeping). The care was excellent.
Then, my mother had a stroke and needed a lot of care. With COVID raging, there was no place to move my mother that didn't expose her to COVID. At this point, the office at Home Instead scheduled 24 hour care in one weekend. It was unbelievable. Without that, my mother would have been exposed to COVID and isolated with a tough recovery from a stroke. She instead was home and my family could still visit (which really aided her recovery).
When my mother needed 24 hour care and then later 12 hour care, there were good shifts and bad shifts. Some employees are caring and love their work. Some employees hung out at my Mom's and watched TV and talked on the phone. This is just the reality of when you hire someone to hang out with an elderly person for a long shift. The caregiver is bored and sometimes does nothing. It is very frustrating.
If you need short shift, I would recommend the agency. The office staff was extremely helpful and understood my Mom's complicated health needs and did their best to accommodate her. Care for older people is complicated. If you end up using Home Instead, communicate (a lot). Tell them exactly what is working and not working. If you keep the flow of communication going, they are listening. It is just not going to be perfect (that is just a reality of care for an elderly person). read more
