They snoop through every closet, drawer, storage. They eat and steal whatever they want. We used three different agency's in the Minneapolis area Legacy, Senior Home Care, and Carters Care .HHA's from all three thought our home was a free for all, snooping and stealing from closets, drawers,and storage areas all through the house, Eating our groceries and generally being disrespectful by refusing to take off shoes and eating in the living room leaving food messes on the coffee table and floor. M__va from Legacy even watched Pay Per View movies and blamed my dying family member. She was completely incapable of providing safe transfers for my loved one because of her recent knee surgery, she kept dropping him down on the toilet. She emptied the urinal in the bathroom sink, spilled urine on the floor while emptying the cath bag and just dried it up she wouldn't even clean it up properly my family member even had to tell her to wash her hands afterward. She would fall asleep on the job and when my family member would make noises to wake her she would tell him that he didn't have to be smart about it. Even though we complained to the agency they sent her back because they were apparently short staffed. There was no follow up call to see if things were better in fact things got worse as she seemed to be vindictively getting even for the complaint by scratching my dinning room table. Some of the scratches were deep and through the veneer. There was one room in the house that was locked and the woodwork 2 inches above and below the striker plate is completely gouged away. L___beth from Senior Health Care also had trouble emptying the cath bag without spilling on the floor and also refused to clean it up properly she also left the locking closure on the cath bag open several times causing the urine to pool on the bedroom carpet and dribble on the hardwood floors before I realized it was open. I had another hha from Senior Health Care J__et that was sound asleep when I got home. It took her several minutes to wake up even though the security system beeps twice when the door opens and the dogs bark. My loved one has recently passed away. He fought against having strangers coming into our home now I understand why. My experience has convinced me to never have in home health care again. The thefts so far as I can see so far were petty thefts which is why they think they can get away with it. Besides the groceries that they all ate, canned goods were stolen, pie pans, vegetable spray, Tupperware serving tray, lead glass salt & pepper shakers, Tylenol, cough drops, hardcover books, paperback books, a variety of other items that were stored in the bookcase, miniature decorative plate. two baskets were taken from a wall arrangement on my dinning room wall as well as a wall plaque from an arrangement on an upper level bedroom wall.
The one person I will never forgive is E. Carter for not telling me what she already knew which was that my loved one would not make it through the day. I told her for two days I wanted to be with him when he passed. She asked me for his razor before I left for work on valentines day he passed away about two hours later. She told me later that day as we waited for his body to body to be picked up that she likes to shave her clients, comb their hair and clean their nails before they go to the morgue. She always came to the house with two large bags but when she left on valentines day she was having a hard time getting herself and the two bags out the door at the same time. I have suspicions as to why. I don't believe that there is any justifiable excuse for my not being able to have that last moment with my loved one.
One thing I did do was ask my Dad if I could take over the financials to make sure all his bills were being paid on time... he was glad of that as he said his memory isn't that good anymore and he might forget to pay a bill.... thus I took all his financial 3-ring binders, etc. to my home. Now I need to start changing addresses so that financials come to my house. Dad has a habit of leaving his stock statements lying around... oops. I know it is human nature to take a glace at such paperwork.
In all these companies and agencies there's a clear pecking order of personell. Most are for profit companies with well paid administrators and medical staff at the top level. But the folks who bathe, potty, feed, lift, clothe, and are sometimes abused by our elders and their families are at the very bottom. They may or may not have any training and are at the lowest pay scale of almost any workers in society. With some amazing exceptions that I read about on this site, most of us would not put up with this type of work and pay for one day, much less 8 or 10 hours a day for years.
So is it any wonder that people, usually women, from the lowest socioeconomic level of our society are doing this work. This is not a job that people choose. They didn't stand up in class in the third grade and say, "I want to work with old demented people and empty bed pans".
These jobs are filled by people who in many cases, have no choice. Our society puts very little value on this work. And this is work that's vital to us all. Did you ever notice that during the depths of a recession, when the want adds for jobs are practically non existent, that there's always adds for caregiving? Always. Huge turnover because it's one of the toughest jobs there is.
Now I will get off my soapbox and recognize the real problems people have written about. It's all true, the stealing, sleeping, elder abuse. I mean no disrespect to anyone in this discussion. I used to do tech work for a contractor that serviced several large care facilities and spent lots of time in these places. I saw some of the things described in this thread. People fired for substance abuse, sleeping, stealing, the whole nine yards, and lots of employee turnover. Faces changed everyday. But I was also amazed at how caring and compassionate lots of the caregivers were with their patients and residents. Especially given the job they were doing for the pay they were getting.
Theft, abuse, and all the rest should be reported to the bosses and the police. Hard work at low pay is no excuse for such actions. I truly sympathize with those that have had horrible experiences with paid caregivers. I have no solution to offer. As long as health and eldercare in America is "Profits First", not much is likely to change.
Last fall I bought her a boom box with big buttons (70 bucks) but she couldn`t manage it. Behind her bed there`s a pile of blankets and comforters and I imagined it had been boxed and put there but it`s likely been lifted. One day this week I`m going down to tear her room apart, find out what`s been stolen and nail the guy who runs the place to the wall!.
Wicked caregiving agencies understand that as family caregivers we also are vulnerable and will take advantage of us as well as our loved ones.
They will reap what they have sown but in the meantime REPORT THEM!
I had the same thought last night. It will only get worse when the numbers increase of patients and Medicaid/Medicare goes officially bankrupt.
Why do we make this so unnecessarily difficult on ourselves as a society?
Why is HH work not considered a legitimate profession enough to make sure the people in it are honest, qualified, competent, and paid well enough that it's not a job of last resort.
It seems like this is the same onerous task that finding the right daycare for my babies was. I probably went through 6 or more in-home daycare people before I found some place that didn't give me a bad feeling. And even then, it's a non-stop checking process, showing up randomly, looking for unexplainable signs of trouble, smells, sights, & sounds. Exhausting.
I worry about the paid caregivers to very difficult elders. You can't tell me that having somebody hit, kick, spit, punch, and fight you with dirty names and threats all day doesn't eventually start to affect the quality of care given.
mother had received a call from Melissa's boss saying "I'm cutting Melissa's hours down from 3 hours to 1 & a half hours." However Melissa never worked 3 hours so when I showed up I got her a boss there and told her Melissa with cheating my mother and she was sadly shocked. Mom didn' care that was being cheated, but I did because no one was going to take advantage of my mother!
People who prey on the weak and helpless, give substandard, unsafe care, steal, and are neglectful, as these people did/were, should be held accountable.
Yes, you must grieve and eventually forgive, but you also should hold these people responsible for their actions with your family member. If you don't, they will be assigned to another vulnerable older person, who may not have a family member to protect them.