Home Instead Senior Care - Arnold

I needed someone to help my father after his hospital/rehab discharge while I was at work. He had Alzheimer?s, and couldn?t remember that he needed help standing and walking. Home Instead quickly arranged an initial meeting, followed by a nurse?s visit. Due to weather-related power outages, we had to delay the actual start of home care. In the beginning, we had 3 caregivers that only lasted 1 or 2 days. Apparently, the position was hard to fill, not just because I needed someone to start at 6:30 AM and work 10 hours, but also because my father had 4 dogs, ranging from 20 to 70 pounds. My father had been withdrawing from the world, but his dogs still kept him engaged and gave him comfort, so it was important for him to have them around. We ended up with a single caregiver who initially helped my father help himself with standing, walking, eating, and using the toilet. When his in-home physical and occupational therapy visits began, she learned how to help him with his exercises. The caregiver filled out daily Home Instead forms detailing for me his activities, his behavior, and his food intake. The written reports helped me figure out where I needed to pick up in the evening. As my father?s conditioned worsened, and he became less mobile, the caregiver helped him move periodically to prevent bed sores. Once my father entered hospice, the caregiver assisted the visiting hospice nurses in moving him around his hospital bed and monitoring his condition. By this time, my father needed more drugs, which the caregiver was not allowed to help with, so another family member and I were driving home periodically to administer these. With so many different people involved, the caregiver provided much-needed continuity of care. Overall, I was very pleased with Home Instead. They provided someone who was immensely helpful during a very difficult time. They also provided a competent replacement the one time that the regular caregiver was out sick.

A provider referred by this company turned out to be a thief, indicating that Home Instead does not adequately investigate or vet their employees. An individual was assigned to my mother, a dementia/Alzheimer's patient. This individual wasrepresented to us as a nurse, qualified to provide in home care in such circumstances. Subsequent investigation indicated that the individual had no medical licenses or credentials whatsoever. Additionally, this individual stole credit cards from my mother's purse and proceeded to incur over $10,000.00 on personal, fraudulent expenditures. We immediately severed our relationship with Home Instead. I did not pay any further invoices from Home instead, who proceeded to sue me for unpaid services. Home Instead has yet to express any remorse for putting my mother and my family through what was an agonizing and traumatic experience, nor have they offered any apology. Bottom line: DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY FOR ANY SERVICES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. This is an untrustworthy company who will not hesitate to hire untrustworthy personnel.

Good: Home Instead was responsive to my last minute need for someone to stay with Mother (another individual was lined up but could not do it at the last minute). The person that was sent was very good with Mother. Bad: When I phoned and asked about rates, I was only told the hourly rate. It was not until the day before services were to begin and I met with the "interviewer" that I found out there were other fees: (1) $115 flat fee for using less than 100 hours of service and (2) $350 "deposit". I was told that the 100 hours did not have to happen all at once, but could be scheduled over a period of months and I would not have to pay the $115 if I left the account open. As for the deposit, I understood that Home Instead would hold my check and return it to me or cash it after the arranged-for services were completed and apply it to the amount due. The first thing I discovered was that the deposit check was cashed immediately. I then received a bill showing that the $350 had been paid but not showing how it had been applied, so I paid the balance on the bill less $350. The bill also reflected the $115 charge that I was told would not need to be paid as long as the account remained open, which it was, so I didn't pay this amount. I then received a further bill reflecting that there remained an outstanding balance of $350 + $115 + $15 late fee. I sent an email to inquire about the charges and received only a partial response (I had asked for a phone call). When I then called, I was told that the $115 should not have been on my bill b/c I had left the account open but I did still owe $350! I was told that as soon as I paid the $350, my original deposit of $350 would be refunded to me, that it was being held in a "special" account. Huh??? I told them to apply the deposit to the balance, I would send them the $115 since I used only 32 hours of service, and I will find another company to provide services to my mother who can tell me upfront and accurately what the fees will be.

Home Instead used to provide a great service for me in regards to my aunt. However ownership changed hands a couple of years ago and things gradually went downhill at the central office. Unfortunately this coincided with dynamic changes in the level of care required for my aunt and the poor communication resulted in lots of difficulties.

We contacted Home Instead in January and asked them to provide a companion in about one week's time. They sent a representative--Ingrid--to our home and spoke to us at length about my Mother-in-Law's needs, personality, etc. They try to match the correct caregiver to the customer, Ingrid said. There was a snowstorm and we lost power, so the commencement of service was delayed by one week. After the snowstorm, the caregiver Ingrid had selected was unavailable, but Home Instead sent two different people to cover that week and my Mother-in-Law said she enjoyed both of them although I wasn't too impressed with the two fill-in caregivers. After the first week, the 'preferred' caregiver, Donna, was back. She was, as promised, very professional and bright. She wrote detailed notes about their activities, food choices, etc. every day for us to review. We had complete confidence that nothing would go home while we were at work. Donna responded to my Mother-in-law's interests.