My Senior Connection

  In-home custodial care is provided in the comfort of  the client’s own home and is often an attractive alternative to nursing home care.   Clients receive one-on-one care unlike in a nursing home where the nurse to patient ratio can be as high as one to fifteen. In-home care is often referred to as sitter-care, but the caregiver does not sit.  The professional may provide many services for the client including housekeeping and personal care like bathing, grooming, and incontinent care.  Other services include laundry, shopping, appointments, and correspondence.  Besides being utilitarian, the caregiver also provides the client with conversation and companionship.  In-home care can range from several hours per day to twenty-four hour live-in care. 
Before the client is assigned a caregiver, the agency performs an evaluation, asking the client to answer pertinent questions about medical, physical, and personal needs.  Agencies in the state of Texas who offer in-home care will provide the client with a caregiver who is well-trained to provide the level of care necessary.  The agency monitors the care agreed upon at the beginning of service with occasional in-home visits to evaluate caregivers and solicit opinions from the client.  The caregiver must keep daily progress reports explaining what job duties were performed and the temperament and spirits of the client.  These records provide the agency with an on-going timeline of care in each client’s household. Because the agency employs many caregivers who request different schedules, there will always be an employee available should the regular caregiver face an unexpected emergency or illness.