Choosing Home Health-Care? Watch Out for Braggers, Says Blogger

Looking for a home-health aide for your elderly parent? Want advice from someone who’s been there, done that? Don’t miss a recent post from the dementia-care blog My Father Doesn’t Know Me Anymore.

The author, Lucy Parker Watkins, says she’s been through her share of bad caregivers. Her father has three forms of dementia—none of them Alzheimer’s. She offers some surprising advice about dementia-care aides:

The more they toot their professional horns, the more closely you might want to watch them.

This one tip comes from time after time of listening to “professionals” at various levels of management in home health care agencies talk about how wonderful they were and how highly trained/skill/perfect they were with “Alzheimer’s” patients. …

Nearly across the board, the folks who tooted professional horns had little to show in terms of insight into my father’s diagnosis. Over time, I learned to see that behavior as a bright, Garrison-sized red flag and would nearly immediately write off that person as a potential caregiver for my father, and call the respective agency to find a more suitable match.

Watkins’s post, “The Paid Caregiver Dilemma,”covers what to look for in a home-health agency and what to do once you hire one.

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Leigh Ann Otte is a freelance writer who covers finding and paying for senior care for OurParents.