help...i need advice?

Question

hi, im gloria, and im looking for a person to take care of my grandma. she is handicaped, and lives with my aunt and her family. my aunt has had took care of her for a long time, ex: fed her, changed her, bathed her, etc... the thing is, now my aunt has enflammed arms...she has to take shots every month, because shes been doing a lot of lifteing with her mom.....my family is looking for someone to take care of her. we dont want to put her in a nursing home, but are looking for someone to do the tasks my aunt used to do. they already put in hiring information in the local newspaper.
we live in los angeles, california.

oh yah, none of our family members could do the big task....busy......please give advice or information.....i would appreciate it.

Answer 1

I would start with doing a general search (Yellow Pages) for Visiting Nurse companies in your area. Try this list to start:
http://local.yahoo.com/results?fr=dd-local-more&stx=visiting+nurse+services&csz=Los+Angeles%2C+CA

My brother is handicapped and my parents have had a lot of trouble finding good help. I wouldn't advise putting an ad in the paper, as you will prob get some untrustworthy or weird offers and people. At least the Visiting Nurse place will do a background check for you; including criminal history and credentials.

My brother is still young, but we've had luck just asking around.. asking people who work at his school (which is a school for physically and mentally disabled kids). Someone has always known someone. If you attend a church or other religious establishment, you can ask around there. You can also look in the local paper or in the Yellow Pages for independant caretakers. Someone good and reliable may be looking for a job to work with someone like your grandma.

If you do stick with running ads in the paper, I would just be prepared to conduct your own background investigation; i.e. you may have to hire someone or a company to investigate the person's credibility (workwise and personal).

Good luck to you! Keep me posted.. I'm interested to see how you make out. Maybe I can take a tip from you the next time we are in search of a caretaker for my brother!