EILEEN ADLER

Visiting China in 2013, we saw this image in the parking lot after we finished our tour of the Great Wall. It’s a Bactrian Camel with two humps that look like the letter B, not a Dromedary with one hump that looks like a D. It made me think of BD – Best Days - for hiring an activity partner or a home care health aide. 

Hiring a home health care aide may be tangled up in what the criteria for this level of care might include. As you read through these questions, make a note of the ones whose answer is “no.” 

1. Does your care receiver know the home address or phone number?  
2. In an emergency, does your care receiver understand how to exit the house safely?
3. If they do leave the house, do they know how to return and reenter safely?
4. If home alone, can they identify dangerous situations, for example smoke coming from a fire?
5. Are they capable of dialing 911 for help? This implies that they understand how to use a phone.
6. Are they able to monitor their own medications and take them at the right times?
7. Someone knocks at the front door – do they know what to do? If it is emergency personnel, will they allow them access to the house?
8. Are they able to prepare a light meal for themselves? Can they use the stove and remember to turn it off?
9. Are they able to use the bathroom and toilet on their own?
10. Are they afraid to be left alone?

My advice: if any one of these questions resulted in “No,” it’s time to consider hiring someone to stay with your care receiver when you must be away from home. As a care partner, my level of stress was so impacted when I left my care receiver at home alone, not knowing what I was going to come home to, that the need for help was categorically for me. Both of us are less agitated and much more peaceful knowing someone will be with him.