What happens when you know you need to hire a caregiver for your loved one, but you don’t know when to start looking? How do you figure out? There’s no universal perfect time to hire a caregiver, but hopefully this can give you some insight into when to hire a caregiver for you and your family. This is a personal process, so feel free to ignore this advice completely if you don’t think it is applicable.
Hire a Caregiver Early
You may want to hire a caregiver, or at least begin the process, as soon as you know you may need one. This could allow the older adult and anyone else who lives with them more time to get used to the idea of having a caregiver. This may be a good way to slowly start using a caregiver only once a week until the older adult needs more assistance. Clients who live alone can have an especially difficult time adjusting to a caregiver cleaning their house, cooking for them, helping them go to the bathroom, etc. The whole purpose of homecare is to keep older adults at home for as long as possible, so you don’t want to wait until that’s impossible to contact a caregiver or care agency.
Wait to Hire a Caregiver
For some people, hiring a caregiver early may not work. For some, it can be helpful to acclimate them to a caregiver early. This also helps avoid some problems that may occur as a client is less able to take care of the house. However, the change brought about by diagnoses that typically precede an older adult needing a caregiver can change their lives drastically. This can be a lot of change and can be overwhelming. While it’s good to do your research on your options early, it may be better for your family, if you can, to wait on hiring a caregiver. You can still hire someone to come here and there, like I advised for people who want to hire a caregiver as soon as possible.
Hopefully this has given you something to think about in regard to when to hire a caregiver.
