Scenario II: Best Guidelines for Caregivers About Hiring In-Home Care Help

Situation: For the past 3 years, Linda, age 58, has been assisting her 83 year-old widowed mother, Margaret who lives 30 minutes away each week, with occasional help from her younger sister and brother, as their work schedules permit. Margaret has chronic health conditions, and is ambulatory. She has been able to perform some Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living independently but now needs more help. She has also begun to display the signs of early stage Alzheimer's disease. More recently, because of increasing work and other family responsibilities, and their own health issues, her adult children cannot assist her on a regular basis and are arguing. Linda thinks they now need to hire someone to help their mother and has contacted a care manager for advice.

FCA and Other Resources:

1. FCA Fact Sheet: Making Choices About Everyday Care (for families)


2. How to Assess Your Loved One's Situation: Review Physical, Mental, and Environmental Well-being


3. Assessing the Situation (video)


4. Assessment Checklist


5. FCA Fact Sheet: Holding a Family Meeting


6. FCA Fact Sheet: Hiring In-Home Help


7. FCA Blog: 10 Tips for Hiring In-Home Help


8. Hiring Someone to Help with Home Care: Finding an Agency, Costs and Questions to Ask


9. Hiring a Home Care Worker (video)


10. Paying for Home Care Help