On the advice of the social worker of the hospice company that oversees my mother's healthcare, I called Mini when I had to leave town to assist my dying sister. I guessed I'd be gone 7 to 10 days, but it stretched to 2 weeks. I needed an in-home care service to take care of my bedridden mom at home. Mini came right over to meet my mom and assess her needs. Mini said her "girls" would do cleaning, cooking, litter box maintenance, etc. in addition to caring for my mom. All I wanted was someone to change my mom's diapers really, but Mini bills $30/hr at a 4-HOUR minimum visit ($240) per shift.
If I could have been able to just get someone to check-in a couple times a day to do diaper changes, I'd have happily paid for an hour for each time, and had my husband make Mom's meals and my friends refill her water cups. But since Mini's has the 4-hour minimum, I had to book two caregivers to fill two shifts for morning and evening ($1,680+/week). So, I met with those women to introduce them to my mom, show them how to care for her, and how to make her meals. Showed them where things were, and told them if Mom ran out of anything to let my husband know.
Since Mini said the caregivers would clean, and I would be charged $30/hour regardless of what they did, I didn't give anyone else in the house chore assignments in my absence. (Other than pet care.) I only asked my husband to make sure the caregivers could get in the house when they arrived for their shifts and to grocery shopping. Well, apparently that did NOT happen consistently. And I apologize to anyone left sitting outside, waiting to get in.
My housemates reported that they never saw the caregivers do any house cleaning, other than to occasionally rinse a dish and set it by the sink for someone else to wash. Three different people saw one of the caregivers LEAVE AN HOUR EARLY and not return. So who knows how many empty hours I was billed for? The first night, a miscommunication resulted in NO ONE taking care of my mom! She didn't get dinner, a diaper change, or water and had to sleep with the light on!
One caregiver had a language barrier that made things more difficult. She would seem to understand initially, but her actions showed otherwise. I didn't have enough time to train them, which is not their fault. If you hire someone like this make time to fully instruct them on what is needed and have them come in while you're there for the first day or two. But letting the client be billed for time not worked is not okay in any situation.
When I returned home my mom was listless and depressed. My younger sister, who only spoke to her over the phone, was also worried. Mom didn't have an appetite, which is unusual and hardly wanted to talk. It took me about week to get her back to her cheery self. I found out from my housemates that the caregivers kept my mom's bedroom door closed and her blinds down. They'd stay in the room with her, but Mom said they wouldn't talk to her. My mom is one of the most positive-minded people, who had endured these years of being confined to a bed, and she loves her "pretty room", surrounded by family photos and art work. She loves looking out her one window a the trees and flowers of the garden. She loves company and is a chatterbox. So to be isolated from the family (closed door), deprived of visitors and conversation, and no view of the outside world was a type of torture.
Background: Hospice would have paid for respite care, in which my mother could go into a nursing facility for 5 days, but then she'd have to be returned home and the possibility of Covid exposure or injury in-transit, plus they couldn't find an open bed at a local facility. Since I didn't know how long I'd be gone out of state, I opted to hiring an in-home care service. My mother is bed-ridden and needs regular diaper changes, meals brought to her, tooth brushing assistance, and minimal housekeeping (laundry, dishes, vacuuming). In my home are my husband, a single mother and her two teen daughters. I could not ask my husband or friend or her kids to do diapering and personal care for my mom. Mini's in-home care service charges $30 per hour, minimum of 4 hours per day. A few days I needed them to each work 5-hour shifts. So about 8-10 hours at $30/hour = $240 - $300/day; $1,680 - $2,100/week. If I'd had an alternative, I would have taken it. read more
