Private or Professional Agency? In-Home Care Decisions for Families

Collingwood Senior Home Care  |  July 2, 2019

Home Care: If you or an aging loved one could benefit from some in-home care to assist with daily tasks and activities, then you may be in the midst of sorting through possible options.

Home Care Decisions: Private or Professional Agency? | For seniors that want to remain in their own home instead of moving to an assisted living community, there are two main options to consider:

• Private Caregiver
• Professional Home Care Agency

Private Caregiver

A private caregiver is someone that you would hire yourself to provide home care services. This means advertising, interviewing, and looking into potential caregivers to find a good match for you. This can be a challenging and time-consuming endeavor. It may also be difficult to find the level of quality you are looking for.

Professional Home Care Agency

A professional home care agency will take all the leg work and stress out of finding a compatible caregiver. A good home care agency will have a staff of experienced and qualified caregivers that can be matched with your loved one based on specific care needs and personal preferences.

Arguments for a Professional Home Care Agency vs. A Private Caregiver

There are many factors to examine that can help you make a more informed decision about whether to go the private or agency route. Some important elements to consider might include:

• Types of care
• Quality of care
• Need for additional care
• Legal issues
• Types of Care

One of the most important things to think about is the type of care that will be available to you in both scenarios. Going the private route means that you must rely on one person to provide all the different types of care you may need.

Home Care Agency

A home care agency can offer every type of home care you could possibly think of. You can request caregivers for anything from companion care to medical care with a registered nurse. Home care agencies will have a roster of caregivers at their disposal that specialize in specific types of home care, depending on the services you require. Home care agencies are often very flexible, allowing you to dictate the schedule and type of home care service.

Quality of Care

The level of the quality of care you will be receiving is another aspect to acknowledge.

Private Caregiver

The quality of care you will be getting, basically all comes down to the caregiver providing it. You may get lucky with a private caregiver and find someone that is effective on the first try.

Home Care Agency

A home care agency will have a host of caregivers to choose from. If you are not satisfied with the first caregiver placed in your home, it is very simple to make the switch to another one. A reputable home care agency will undergo a rigorous hiring process to find the most experienced, qualified, and compassionate caregivers.

Additional Care

The nature of a home care situation means things can change in an instant. A sudden illness or injury can alter your care needs drastically; it is highly recommended to be prepared for such events.

Private Caregiver

If you find yourself in a situation where additional care is required urgently, it will be at the mercy of your private caregiver’s schedule to determine if it is possible. What happens if your private caregiver is sick? Will you have a back up in place?

Home Care Agency

A professional home care agency will have lengthy call lists and a large staff, so they can be ready handle additional care requests immediately. You will never have to worry about filling in for a caregiver on sick leave.

Legal Issues

There are also a few legal matters to contemplate before making a decision about your home care situation.

Private Caregiver

To hire a private caregiver, that person must be hired as a legal employee. This means taking care of things, like:

• CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) remittances
• Calculating income tax and making payments accordingly
• submitting payroll records
• CPP (Canada Pension Plan) deductions
• Insurance for Workers comp
• EI (Employment Insurance)
• Stat holidays
• Vacation pay
• Overtime pay

Then there are also legal concerns surrounding wrongful dismissal and severance pay if the caregiver doesn’t work out. As you can see, there are a lot of legal headaches that come with the private route.

Home Care Agency

You have no legal issues or tax concerns to worry about with a home care agency, they will handle all of that for you. They will also deal with the replacement of unsuitable caregivers, should the situation arise.

Comfort Keepers® Georgian Triangle Can Help the Decision; Private or Professional Agency?

If you are concerned about the health and wellbeing of your aging loved ones we can help. Comfort Keepers®’ trained caregivers help provide senior clients with the highest quality of life possible to keep them happy and healthy at home. Our Interactive Caregiving™ provides a system of care that addresses safety, nutrition, mind, body, and activities of daily living (ADLs).

What’s more, our trained caregivers are selected with one specific quality in mind: empathy. Care that is empathetic is care that starts in the heart, and it allows us to meet our clients’ exact needs. Learn more about our unique service offering by contacting the Comfort Keepers Georgian Triangle office.

If you live in the Collingwood, Midland, Owen Sound area, contact Comfort Keepers at (705) 293-5553, or email us at georgiantriangle@comfortkeepers.ca

Comfort Keepers Georgian Triangle is here to help you and your loved ones get the best care possible.

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