When the decision has been made that extra care is needed for you or a loved one, the next decision is should you hire an agency or hire privately?  At Morning Glory Home Care, Inc., our expert caregivers provide the residents of Shiloh home care to allow them to remain safely in the home.  Why do our clients choose to hire an agency over a private caregiver, and what are some things you should consider when making this decision?

Here are some of the advantages and agency offers:

  1. Taxes/Worker’s Compensation: A caregiver agency pays competitive wages and bears the responsibility for all taxes and worker’s compensation. When a person hires an independent caregiver, the client or their family is responsible for withholding taxes, including knowing how much and reporting them. The family must also either pay for worker’s compensation insurance or pay to cover an injured employee’s loss of work.
  2. Free Assessment: Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. provides a free, in-home assessment when meeting with potential new clients. This also includes the development of a home care plan tailored to the specific needs of each client and their families. An private caregiver is unlikely to have these types of tools and expertise at their disposal.
  3. Flexibility: An agency’s caregivers are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If a caregiver goes on vacation, is sick, or has a personal emergency, the agency can supply a knowledgeable and skilled replacement. An agency comes with the promise that a back-up is on hand; a private caregiver does not.
  4. Background Checks: Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. screens all applicants through extensive background checks and by checking references. In the case where a caregiver is not with an agency, the client or their family can perform and pay for the background and reference checks.
  5. Bonded & Insured: Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. bonds and insures each caregiver, meaning the client bears no responsibility for injuries, losses or damages to themselves or the caregiver related to the services we provide. When hiring privately, the client bears that responsibility and liability.
  6. Caregiver Matching: Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. has a great reputation for excelled client and caregiver matches, making sure personalities work well and the client feels comfortable and safe. The matching also ensures that the caregiver has the right set of skills to cover an individual client’s needs. In the case of hiring a private caregiver, the client must weigh each new relationship and make sure no need is left unaddressed due to a lack of knowledge. If it doesn’t work out, the client and their family must hunt for someone new on their own. Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. has other caregivers waiting as alternate options when the match is not right the first time.
  7. Quality Assurance: Both on a routine basis and upon request, Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. supervisors visit clients’ homes to ensure everything is to their satisfaction and to meet the specific needs of each client. For a private caregiver, the client and their family can find a third-party, objective source to perform these sorts of quality assurance visits or forego this form of oversight. This can be another financial burden and difficult to track down.
  8. Training: Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. utilizes a professionally-developed training platform that is available to all employees. New caregivers are provided with 8 hours of initial training, and an additional 8 hours of training in their first year.  All caregivers are provided a minimum of 8-hours of ongoing training per year, and testing validates the excellence and preparation of each caregiver.  Training is provided in many formats, including:  in-services, written tests, videos, 1-1 on the job training, and seminars.  For a private caregiver, the client is often tasked with finding courses for caregivers to take, paying for and evaluating how much they learned, or go without the comfort of having a caregiver with access to ongoing training.
  9. Client Service Plan: To provide tailored and need-specific care, Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. creates customized and person-centered service plans that address physical, emotional and social needs. These plans also adapt and can be updated as needed while collaborating with other care providers. A client who hires a private caregiver must implement their own protocol and process to achieve similar results.
  10. Larger Scope of Services & Partnerships: Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. offers access to caregivers with a wide range of skill sets and long-standing partnerships throughout the health and long-term care communities. These enable us to provide easy and evaluated caregiving options for busy and out-of-town families. It is unlikely a private caregiver will be able to offer as wide of a variety of services and have vetted relationships with care partners on the local and national level.
  11. Experience: Backed by more than 15 years of experience in the industry, Morning Glory Home Care, Inc. already knows what it takes to deliver high-quality home care. For a private caregiver, the experience is variable and based on the individual.