Whether it’s for yourself or a loved one, a personal care assistant can be crucial to maintaining a safe, comfortable, and happy lifestyle.  They can end up helping you with any number of things, from reminding you to take your prescription regularly to general housekeeping.  They can stay with you as often or as little as you require.  However, for this reason, it is vital that you hire someone that you know you can trust.  You need to feel comfortable with this person having access to your home, and most importantly, with them caring for either yourself or your loved one.  Home Care by Benchmark is providing the following points for you to consider when choosing a personal care assistant in Fontana.  These can help ensure that you or your loved one ends up with the best possible in-home care.

• Is This Person Experienced?

The most important factor to consider when choosing a personal care assistant is their level of expertise.  How long have they provided in-home care for?  Have any of their other clients required what you require?  The most important thing here is that you hire someone who is always prepared.  The last thing you want is to have someone freeze in the middle of an emergency situation because they’ve either never dealt with it before or they don’t know what the proper steps to take are.  You need someone with experience under their belt, who you know you can depend on.  

Of course, in-home care experience isn’t the only thing that counts here.  Perhaps they used to work as an RN.  Or maybe they worked in a hospital, but exclusively with seniors.  Any type of experience is better than none.  Once again, the point here is that you want someone that you know you can trust and rely on.  In fact, maybe you even want a family member to act as a personal care assistant.  What they lack in experience, they compensate for in personal connection.  This means that the probably already know most of your habits, but most importantly, that they have a vested interest in providing you with the best care possible.  

• Do You Like Their Personality?

This is to be considered along with the last point of being able to trust who you hire as a personal care assistant.  It’s important that you and they are able to connect on some personal level, or at least be somewhat compatible.  Unresolved tension between client and caretaker can cause stress, which can eventually lead to worsened health conditions such as high blood pressure.  That’s why it’s extremely important to have a friendly relationship with your personal care assistant; because you don’t want the service which you pay for to improve the quality of life to end up making things worse.  

These first two points really fall under one umbrella question: Can you trust this person?  You should put some extra thought into this question if you are looking into in-home care for a loved one.  It’s a very uneasy situation for one to be in the care of someone who they do not trust or like.  That’s why we encourage family members who aren’t experienced nurses to act as personal care assistants in situations which aren’t too extreme.  Trust and love can go much farther than experience.  However, in some situations, it’s just necessary to have someone who knows how to act and which precautions to take.  Here’s a video providing a checklist for a good personal care assistant.

• Are They Available When You Need Them?

This might seem like a trivial question, but it is important to consider that not everyone has a completely open schedule.  In most cases, you don’t want to compromise your needs around someone else’s schedule.  Therefore, when you are looking for a personal care assistant, you should have a general idea of what care schedule you require.  Do you just need someone for a few mornings every week?  Do you need someone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?  Knowing this before you choose a personal care assistant can help narrow down your options easily.  Once again, you want to find someone who can work around your schedule, not the other way around.  

• Do You Already Have or Do You Think You Can Develop a Relationship With Them?

As state before, a personal relationship goes a long way when it comes to in-home care, and not only because of trust.  Personal care assistance should be exactly that… personal.  Most likely, if you like your caretaker’s personality, if you trust them, and if they are good at their job, some sort of relationship will develop.  This means that in-home care should be more than just remembering which prescriptions you take and when.  Instead, a personal care assistant should know your preferences, so that they can ensure your comfort.  You should also be able to be very open and honest with them.  Do they make you feel embarrassed or like you can’t speak your mind?  If so, then they aren’t right for you.  

Home Care by Benchmark is dedicated to providing the best personal care assistance in Fontana and the rest of the Inland Empire.  Our staff is qualified, experienced, friendly, and hardworking.  We do our best to pair you with a personal care assistant who we think you can connect with and who can provide you with the best, personalized, service.  Visit our website or give us a call at (909) 527-3511 to schedule your free in-home assessment today!