I have had a very mixed experience with this company. I traveled to Austin to arrange care for my elderly, frail mother, as the local family member has become ill and is not in a position to provide ongoing care. I contacted Visiting Angels, and a salesman promptly came to the house. He was friendly, and assured me about all my concerns. For instance, he said that they make a major effort to maximize having a single long term caregiver, so that the caregiver and client can form a comfortable relationship. After agreeing on a schedule of five days a week to come, I asked him if they had adequate resources to supply this much manpower. His response was that there was no problem, they have some 90 caregivers in the area. I also pointed out that my mother is frail and has history of catching infections easily, and asked for assurance that the caregivers are aware of not bringing any infections into the house. Having been given satisfactory responses, we hired them.
My experience has been somewhat different. On the second or third day of work, my mother noticed that the caregiver was carrying cough syrup with her, and when she was asked about this, apparently told my mother that she has had a cough for the last few days. She went home to get better, leaving us without help for the rest of her shift. Our next problem is that we have had 4 caregivers in less than two weeks time, which does not translate well into trying to have a single caregiver to form a supporting relationship. Finally, upon arriving back in California, my first phone call was from the Visiting Angels calling about 6:00 PM to say that they were unable to supply a caregiver for the following assigned day, and that my 93 year old mother would just have to do the best she can. I told them that this was not acceptable, and that we were expecting them to keep their commitment for the next day. After some 4 phone calls, including to the national headquarters, and my insistence that they honor their commitment, they ultimately found someone.
Because of the difficulty of finding someone new from 2000 miles away, and the difficult situation of the local family caregiver, we will continue with Visiting Angels for the present time, and I am prepared to see a happier ending of this saga in the future. But my summary response at this time is that if it is important to you that the caregivers show up as promised, healthy and as a single person forming a relationship with the client, you may wish to consider my experience. read more