Understanding Your Options: A Guide for Clients, Families, and Caregivers

Hello! My name is Anna. I am the Founder and CEO of Ignis Rose Care, LLC.

I’ve created this page to provide much-needed information to three groups of people involved in caregiving: clients, their loved ones, and caregivers themselves. In my experience, there are a lot of questions about the process of looking for and hiring caregivers, just as there are many questions about what to do when one decides to become a caregiver. I will attempt to create a bridge of sorts between these three groups of people.

What Should You Do When You Realize You Need Support?

The first topic, which I believe may be of use to you, if you or your loved one are looking for care and support:

What should you do when you realize that you need support with your daily routine?

Understanding ADLs and IADLs

First, let’s define the terms. In caregiving, some daily activities that you may need help with are called Activities of Daily Living (or ADLs); they are things like getting up from bed, using the bathroom, taking a shower, and making breakfast (or ordering breakfast from the cafeteria, if you live in an assisted living facility or a nursing facility); things like getting dressed, bathing, showering, eating, walking from one room to another, walking up and down the stairs, continence care, and more. In short, your basic physical needs.

In addition to this, activities like doing the dishes, remembering to take your medications, running errands, shopping, doing housework, cleaning up after breakfast, doing laundry, having someone drive you, managing phone calls, and more are called Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (or IADLs). All of these activities are also very important for independent adults.

Freelance Caregiver or Agency? Weighing Your Options

So what do you do when you need help with any of those activities (or others) and you have no way of getting help from people you know? You have two choices: you can search online for freelance caregivers who are not affiliated with any caregiving agency, or you can search for an agency that matches you with a qualified caregiver based on your needs and preferences and makes sure that you get the caregiver help HOW and WHEN you prefer.

Why a Reputable Agency Does Its Due Diligence

A reputable caregiving agency may not dispatch a caregiver to your residence without first conducting a series of steps. We (a caregiving agency) are required to run a background check on all our employees, conduct a fingerprinting step (and make sure that employees who show unfavorable results do not work with our clients), and check references (for the same purpose and more). Our employees also need to complete Home Care Aide training and successfully complete the exams to become certified HCAs. Our comprehensive Policies and Procedures Manual, available to our employees and clients, outlines every aspect of our practice.

A reputable agency will never dispatch a caregiver to a client’s residence if that caregiver may potentially endanger the lives of their clients and the surrounding people. That’s one. An agency is bound to follow federal and state laws and regulations in everything it does. A potential caregiving agency will not become licensed without following the Department of Health laws and regulations, or continue being licensed without a continuing record of lawful practice.

Oversight You Can Rely On

Caregiving agencies also have an overseer—and that is the Washington State Department of Health (a department that issues a practicing license). A representative from DOH conducts regular visits and provides oversight of the agency’s activities, the procedures for keeping clients’ and employees’ files confidential and under lock and key, and more. If working with an agency, a client may rest assured that if they are not happy with the services and if the agency they hired does not remedy the problem, they can reach out to DOH with a complaint.

Your Rights and Protections as a Client

A reputable caregiving agency should act as a mandated reporter. This means caregivers and all staff are required to report any abuse or exploitation (if suspected) to DSHS. You (if you are a client) remain protected while we are present, while we are with you. As a client, you will be given a Clients’ Rights document called “A Bill of Clients’ Rights” that by itself serves as a resource to answer your potential questions and address your worries. But the conversation about your changing needs and questions should always be opened between you and the agency you’ve chosen.

What You’re Really Buying When Hiring an Agency

When you are hiring a caregiving agency, you are buying (at the company level) closely monitored work. Your caregiver has a supervisor who evaluates their work, collects clients’ feedback, and corrects the work if needed. You are buying THE WAY the agency is training its caregivers, this agency’s VALUES, POLICIES, and VIEWS on how care and support should be conducted. It will not be one caregiver at your disposal, but different people with different personalities, but with one common agenda—following the agency’s values and mission. So read their website closely, always ask questions, get to know them as an entity you will decide to partner with, or won’t. All of your questions are welcomed by the caregiving agencies, as it is the foundation of their relationship with you and the people in your life.

Your Feedback!

If you are an Ignis Rose Care client, a potential client, a professional caregiver, a person who aspires to become a caregiver, a client’s loved one, the owner or administrator of a caregiving agency, or just a person learning about caregiving industry, please tell us your opinion, comment, questions, or concerns about this post! You can utilize this website by going to “Contact” – “Contact Us”, then complete a form located on the right side of the page, under “Send Us a Message”, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

We want to hear from you!