question regarding 24 hour caregivers

[Guest guest]

The hospice place that is kind of taking care of my mom said we could

hire a 24-hour caregiver to help us with stuff we are uncomfortable

with and to stay with my mom when we can't. Is there any way to

check on these places to see how they are? Will they take good care

of her or will they steal stuff? I just don't know what to do but I

definitely need the help. The hospice place said these are usually

people from other countries who were trained in other countries and

aren't licensed here yet. Anybody know about this and how I could

check for sure? Also, is a power of attorney someone who can sign

checks for my mom for her bills? My mom is really in bad shape and

seems to keep getting worse.

Thanks for all of your help once again.

Diane

[Guest guest]

Diane,

There are 2 different kinds of 'Power of Attorney'.

One is for financial stuff (this needs to be notorized

and should be done through an attorney), the other is

for health care & end of life decisions (can be

designated through a living will or separately,states

have different forms & rules).

On the caregiver/hospice question I know that hospice

services vary from one to the next BUT I've not heard

of them requiring you to HIRE another caregiver to

provide services. I don't know where you live but if

you have access to any other hospice units or public

health nurses I advise calling them to ask about their

policies, for comparison if nothing else. You could

also call your mom's health insurance company or

medicare(if she is on that)and ask them. Medicare and

most private insurances cover 100% of all costs when

the patient enters hospice care (they do have time

limits, 6 mo to 1 yr are pretty standard). If you were

going to hire someone to give care why would you need

to hire someone,not licensed in the USA??? I'd be very

worried about a scam to hire illegal immigrants. Doing

such a thing could also invalidate your insurance or

medicare as they surely would not pay for this.

Make some phone calls and gather some info before

proceeding. Let me know how it goes.

Hugs & Prayers

H

--- dianebrnr boerner@...> wrote:

> The hospice place that is kind of taking care of my

> mom said we could

> hire a 24-hour caregiver to help us with stuff we

> are uncomfortable

> with and to stay with my mom when we can't. Is

> there any way to

> check on these places to see how they are? Will they

> take good care

> of her or will they steal stuff? I just don't know

> what to do but I

> definitely need the help. The hospice place said

> these are usually

> people from other countries who were trained in

> other countries and

> aren't licensed here yet. Anybody know about this

> and how I could

> check for sure? Also, is a power of attorney

> someone who can sign

> checks for my mom for her bills? My mom is really

> in bad shape and

> seems to keep getting worse.

> Thanks for all of your help once again.

> Diane

>

>

>

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