I can only speak for my local area, other areas may be better. We have been with this company for…read moreabout 2 years. We went through about 5 other area agencies that provide Home Healthcare. Caregivers America continuously sent in people that were not trained and had no experience! I had to train them! Some of them slept 1 1/2 to 2 hours (I took pictures), one left to go to McDonald's for a coffee...since I was making my Gram her breakfast! One went outside to smoke every 15 min., One wouldn't fill my Gram's glass more than 1/2 full of water.."in case it was too heavy for her to lift." ??; the same one sprayed down my whole bathroom with Clorox "to make sure that it stayed clean while she was off for a week..the bathroom was remolded and was 3 DAYS old! One bleached my Gram's towels, jeans, sweater's and shirts, which we have not been reimbursed to this day! Two of them, even after me telling them, showered my Gram (who can not feel hot and cold because of medication) in pure hot water, 180 degrees; because "she said that the water was cold, so I turned it up all of the way." Her skin was beet red!! The final straw was when I happened, thank God, to be home on a Sat. The lady said that she was going to make my Gram scrambled eggs. After 5 minutes, there was no sound coming from the kitchen, so I got up to see what she was doing. As I round the corner, a strong gas smell hits me in the face and she turns and says, "Is this going to light up?" YA THINK?!!! It's about to light up the whole neighborhood!!! Her answer when I flipped out was, "Well, I didn't know, I've never used gas before." : O I just told her to leave! Oh, let's not forget the one that sat beside my Grandmother for 3 1/2 hours in poop! She has to go "potty" every hour to pee, because she is incontinent; and when I came in the door, the girl was putting on her coat and says, "She must have had an accident before you left and I didn't know it, she has some on her." I said, "what, now?" She said, "Well, I just saw it." I said, "she is supposed to go to the bathroom every hour!?" Seeing that I was upset, she wanted to take her coat off and help her. I said, "Just go, I'll get it." Weeeellll... There was poop inside the depends, outside the depends, inside the pants, outside the pants and all up her back and down her legs!!!!! ....for 3 1/2 hours!!!
So, I solved the problem. I took a job with Caregivers America. It was the only way to guarantee that my Gram was safe and taken care of! I wish that I had known at the time that we could do it without an Agency, but I know now an have the necessary paperwork if I need to.... I have had several rounds with the management at the local office, and of course I am made to look like I am the problem and I am unreasonable. They fall to realize that they are the ones that would, at the last minute, try to change my Gram's hours, "because they needed coverage with another or new customer". We were expected to understand. Her hours were pushed from 8am to 9, to 9:30, to 10, to 11 and then we were asked to push it to 11:30. I kept saying that I can not let my Grandmother lay in bed until NOON! Yet again, I was unreasonable and we'd have to wait because they didn't have coverage. Well, stop taking new people that you can't care for, when you can't take care of what you have.!!! I told them when 'hiring' me, I am ONLY taking care of my Gram and no one else! You can imagine how many calls I received to cover some hours! I said, um, who do you think is going to stay with my 98 year old Grandmother?
It has been better in the last several months, they hired two or three more people to work in the office. The shame of it is that the other agencies, while there are some better ones....are far and few! It is sad, especially when there wasn't any response after I complained to the Area Supervisor, probably because it was blamed on a "problem customer". I have worked in Management and Customer Service Industries for 35 years. I'm pretty sure that I know what I am talking about.