Great caregivers are hard to find.
Do you need senior caregiver for 1,2, or 3-hour visits? Finding a great caregiver is often a balance of cost vs benefit. That makes it difficult to find a caregiver for visits less than 4 hours.
Those who need senior caregiver visits less than 4 hours will have a hard time.
Clients will often contact our offices seeking an in-home caregiver for a short visit. Often those who call seeking private care don’t believe they need senior caregiver assistance for more than a few hours or require assistance only with bathing or other short tasks.
Balancing the cost of a senior caregiver and the benefit of a senior caregiver can be difficult. This AARP article titled “Can you afford a home-care worker?”
Abby Services has always strived to meet the needs of all the clients we serve. At one point this included working hard to make these short visits happen, here is why we stopped:
- Short visits cost more: At Abby Services, we pride ourselves on being one of the most cost-efficient options for private caregivers in Fort Myers. Unfortunately, short visits cost more. When offered, a 1-hour visit would cost $50 or more. We found that patients would be insulted that a 1-hour visit would cost that much. To be honest we don’t blame them.
- Senior caregivers don’t like short visits: We found that even when charging more, private senior caregivers still did not want to assist clients with short visit requests. When we would find a caregiver to assist with a short visit, inevitably they would ask to be replaced when other opportunities presented themselves. This led to high caregiver turnover and customer dissatisfaction. The private caregivers we work with weren’t happy, the clients we worked with weren’t happy, and that made Abby Services unhappy.
- Often more help is needed: We found that many clients who need senior caregiver assistance who were requesting these short visits truly required more in-home assistance. A client asking only for bathing assistance would often need senior caregiver assistance with meal preparation, light housekeeping, dressing, laundry, or other general tasks required to remain independent.
How can Abby Services help those who need senior caregiver for just a short time?
Abby Services has been in business for over 21 years in the greater Fort Myers/ Cape Coral area. Through our years of experience, we have found that 4 hours of senior caregiver service is the magic number. At this level, we are able to find professional private in-home caregivers who can consistently and reliably provide care.
We encourage clients to consider what other caregiver activities they could take advantage of to justify the time. Often assistance with laundry and bed linens are an easy way to justify the additional time.
For clients who still insist on receiving less than 4 hours of care, we encourage them to consider this a per visit service vs a per hour service. For example, at $25/hour, a 4-hour visit would be $100/ visit. Therefore a client could consider the cost to be $100 for up to 4 hours of a senior caregivers service.
Whatever your private caregiver needs we are happy to help discuss your options. It is absolutely free to request an in-home consultation with our RN. Call today! 239-590-0861