Understand Your Home Care Needs. It’s one thing to say that your loved one needs a caregiver; it is another to know exactly why. Do they need help with daily functions? Someone to make sure they aren’t falling? Someone to take them to various appointments and activities? Someone to cook, clean, handle medicinal regimes? There are various levels of care needed, and you should start from there

Everyone would love to have a team of PhD caregivers working round the clock. For most people, however, that isn’t a reality. That’s why you need to fully understand how much you and anyone else in the family can realistically afford before you start the search. Taking care of an older loved one can be stressful enough; you don’t want to add to that stress by being suddenly overwhelmed by costs.

Do you have brothers and sisters, cousins, other relatives, anyone who is going to help? Make sure they are part of the decision, have inputted what they can contribute (time, money, food, etc), and use that as part of your planning. If there is one person who can’t afford much but can come by once a week and prepare several healthy casseroles that means no one has to cook during the week, take that into account. That’s part of your overall needs assessment.

Most older adults will need help to some extent or the other. That’s a normal part of life, and it is one that should be embraced: it allows older adults to age at home, and be able to continue living the life they desire to the extent that they can. It is freeing.

When and if the time for hiring a caretaker comes, don’t be paralyzed by indecision. Don’t not make a choice because it seems overwhelming. Be smart, be prepared, and be honest with everyone. If you do that, you have a much better chance of finding the right fit.

And if it isn’t right? Start over. There are thousands of wonderful caregivers in the area, the kind of decent, strong, and hardworking people who know that they are helping someone live their best possible life. You’ll find them