Arranging a home-care-ish service for my mother

Post date: 2020-01-15 14:49:56

My mother was released from the hospital last month and is doing OK, sort of... she was released from the hospital with a referral for home-care, but the home-care nurses/service managers that my mother doesn't need home care. She's open to hiring a cleaning service, but I'm wondering if I should be looking more at a service that does this type of stuff for seniors versus a regular cleaning company. What are my options?

The home-care nurses/managers decided that my mom *doesn't* need homecare because once she got her medication in blister packs, she was able to take her medications properly. Well, okay, I get their argument. I also understand that in my province (Alberta) healthcare is stretched really thin, at the moment, so if she's not in a severe enough situation... it's a waste of resources?

However, I think I have to hire *someone* to check in on her! My mom hates cleaning and has never done a very good job of it, so hiring someone to come in and keep the main areas of the house clean (kitchen, bathrooms, sweeping the living room, dusting) would be a good idea. My mom is also really open to this because, again, she just doesn't do a good job of cleaning.

I think I need to go beyond just a regular housecleaning company, because of her situation. Can I hire someone to come in and clean... who'd also be ok with chit-chatting with her (so she can get some social activity) and just generally checking up on her (making sure she's still alive)? One of her neighbours has figured out the situation and has been checking on my mom now and then (thankfully), but I think it's time to arrange more support.

She won't hear of going into an assisted living facility, and the hospital decided not to do a capacity assessment to her (probably my fault, because I was an annoying, stressed-out daughter for those 3 weeks). I think a good next step would be hiring a "cleaner" who will also check up on her, is this something that private homecare services do? She was really uncomfortable with the idea of having homecare come in anyway, but I'm pretty certain she'd let a cleaner come in to her house! Especially if she could chat their ears off without driving them away (my fear).

Also, given that my mom lives alone and I live 4-ish hours away, is it... safe to hire someone to check in on her like this? I would hate for them to take advantage of her, which is something that could happen with any service! How do I find the right service? What questions should I be asking? I'm feeling a bit anxious about this, but I think it's a good next step.

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