Here are some steps and resources you can utilize when hiring a care assistant to minimize your potential adverse risk:
. Use a separate email address to conduct your care assistant screening and hiring. You can get a free web based email account at Gmail.com, Yahoo.com, etc. Do not include your full real name. You can also get a free separate phone number with voice mail at Google Voice to assist with your screenings instead of using your home phone number. . Screen applicants by phone to reiterate the employment terms (wage, days, hours, requirements) and duties and determine if they are still interested and whether you want to interview them. If you do call an applicant, you can dial *67 prior to dialing their phone number to block your information from displaying on their caller id. I only provide my first name to applicants during the screening process. . Interview applicants at a neutral location. I meet them at the food court in the local mall, setting up multiple interviews 15-20 minutes apart. . Have your interview questions prepared in advance and record your thoughts/reactions and assign a score of 1-10 after each interview for later reference. Ask for and verify at least 3 references. . Utilize a background check service for applicants you consider hiring. There are quite a few online. Most charge a flat fee for one search and higher fees for multiple searches over specified time spans. This is definitely worth the money. It may not catch every past offender, but it has helped prevent me from hiring applicants with in some cases multiple criminal offenses. A free search is available at: http://criminalsearches.com/ . Do not disclose your home address until you hire someone. You can give a general area when discussing possible commuting distances. FYI, I live in a fairly small town and the last time I hired a care assistant I had over 75 inquiries, spoke to at least 50 of them, and set up 20 interviews over a 2 day period. Only 12 of the 20 scheduled interviewees actually showed up (very typical). I would have considered offering the job to 5 of them. My first choice accepted the job and worked for me for a year. My second choice accepted afterword (I retained her info) and still works for me more than a year later. Once you offer the job and the applicant accepts, I suggest the following: . Establish a trial work period of 1-2 weeks and assess how things are going at the end of the trial for both of you. Terminate employment if concerns exist. . This may seem harsh or paranoid, but assume that they may steal from you. Hide or lock up your meds, valuables, and any information that could be used to steal your identity. Tell them you have and use nanny cams even if you do not have them. . Have a check list of required duties and review/revise the checklist quarterly or at least annually to ensure both you and your care assistant know and understand what is expected. If care assistants are hard to find in your area, you may need to try a combination of Craigslist and newspaper ads, seeking applicants at your local college's nursing program, and word of mouth. It can take a lot of work to hire a reliable care assistant, but doing your due diligence can significantly reduce the potential for theft or worse. Steve - C4, 23 years From: Berres, Susan J *HS [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 11:27 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [QUAD-L] Caregivers Hello, I'm an occupational therapist at a pediatric rehab facility. I've been mostly lurking on this list for years, picking up great tips and ideas for many of the SCI patients I treat - many thanks for all the wealth of knowledge you all share so freely. I write/edit a newsletter that is sent out to all of our former SCI patients. We're a children's hospital, but after all these years most of our former patients have become adults, so we gear the newsletter to that demographic. We had a request to do a newsletter on the topic of caregivers - how to get them, how to keep them, how to treat them, etc. We have articles from places like Paralyzed Veterans of America about the basics of hiring aides, etc, but we like to go a little deeper in our newsletters. I figure that our readership has been dealing with this stuff for years and probably knows more about it than we do in many respects. I am wondering if anyone in this group would be willing to share thoughts/resources/tips, etc that go beyond the basics. Many thanks for any help you can offer! Sue Berres, OTR/L
