This article from caring.com does a good job of listing some of the traits that we look for when hiring our caregivers.  Sure, we focus on clean background checks, a good work history, trustworthiness, and many other traits that you most often associate with people providing In-Home Care (or Elder Care), but it’s not that simple.

I especially like Numbers six and seven:

 6. They Look at the Whole Picture.

Sometimes things just don’t add up, and it takes a good caregiver supersleuth to look past the obvious and find out what’s really going on. Many factors must be considered when it comes to elder care: Medications and their interactions, dietary needs, underlying “silent” issues that haven’t been diagnosed, and emotional and cognitive concerns can all be at play. Good caregivers step back and look at the whole in order to better understand their clients’ needs.


7. They Complement Family Care.

Stepping into a family during the time when care is needed for a loved one can be tricky. It’s important to complement the family and become part of the elder’s circle of care. Sometimes that means slipping in quietly and finding out what needs to be addressed without adding stress to already strained family dynamics. It’s important to be diplomatic and to quell family disagreements whenever possible. At other times, an exceptional caregiver knows intuitively when to step up and do the right thing even when it’s not easy.

It’s hard to step into a home (especially one that is dealing with diseases like Alzheimers or Dementia) and to able to assess the situation without overstepping your boundaries.  Finding a caregiver who can do these two seemingly contrary things well is a very hard thing to find.  To accomplish this task we spend a lot of time and energy finding caregivers and trying to match the right caregiver to the right client.  In the end, I think the fact that we have years of experience hiring and training caregivers is one of the biggest reason that people should use an agency like McCortney Family In-home Care instead of trying to do this on their own.