We love our CAREGiversSM​. These devoted folks share a deep passion for delivering top-notch home care to your family. However, when you bring a stranger into your home you want more than someone who’s kindhearted. You are trusting this individual with your loved one’s safety and well-being, and we understand that. Here’s how we make sure each of our CAREGivers exemplifies our values of compassion, trust and expertise.

Employees not Contractors

Home Instead Senior Care is a home care agency. That means that every CAREGiver is our employee. We do not contract out any of our work. We personally recruit, hire, train and support our entire team of CAREGivers right here in Southwest Florida. While this model does cost us more, it allows us to stand behind every employee to ensure great performance. We know that a well-supported, well trained, engaged, and happy employee will outperform an independent contractor. This model also gives us the ability to stand with our clients’ families, guarantee great matches, carry the liability and reduce overall worry for the clients we serve.

If you would like to learn more about the difference between Home Instead’s agency model versus a registry/independent contractor model, please visit www.hcaoa.org

Compatibility Matching

The seniors we serve aren’t just clients to us. They’re family. So are the CAREGivers we employ. And because personalities interact differently, we take great care to create compatible matches between each client and CAREGiver. We guarantee a great match for every client and CAREGiver because there is nothing that makes life greater than spending the day with someone you like to be with.

Finding Great CAREGivers

We take time to vet every applicant and only a small percentage of applicants have what it takes to be a Home Instead CAREGiver. We specifically look for individuals with kindness, compassion and a HEART TO HELP. While our extensive training can teach almost anyone the skills it takes to take care of someone, it absolutely takes someone who truly cares and has the heart to help to be a Home Instead CAREGiver. Our screening and interview process is in-depth to ensure we hire the best of the best.

Ongoing, World-Class Training

Each of our CAREGivers completes a comprehensive, multi-phased training program before they ever meet or serve a client. Backed by over 20 years of experience and partnerships with the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s “Home Instead Center for Successful Aging” and panel of physicians and industry experts, we believe we have the most prepared, highest skilled CAREGivers in the area. We take great pride in preparing our team for success in all situations. Our mandatory paid training includes:

The Aging Process
The Aging Process focuses on what happens to the body during natural aging, as well as some chronic conditions, and how to support clients. CAREGivers participate in hands-on activities that simulate some of the challenges of aging. CAREGivers can better serve the emotional needs of the client and find ways to work around their limitations to lead to a full and rewarding life.

Safe Client, Safe CAREGiver
Safe Client, Safe CAREGiver teaches CAREGivers how to help keep their client and themselves safe. CAREGivers gain an understanding of safety risks and potential dangers in and around a senior’s home, care facility, or community.  They will learn how to help prevent accidents and what to do if they occur.

Building Relationships
Quality of life increases significantly through social interaction, human engagement, and meaningful relationships. Home Instead Senior Care’s “Building Relationships” training, focuses on how to build trust, ask open-ended questions, connect with the client and demonstrate respect.  Home Instead CAREGivers work with clients to support their independence and help improve their quality of life. In some cases, this means they will interact with clients in very personal situations. Building and maintaining strong relationships with clients based on trust and respect is essential to providing quality care of a personal nature.  Effective relationship building skills are paramount to being a successful Home Instead CAREGiver.

Personal Care
Personal Care Skills Training offers step-by-step instructions on many different skills CAREGivers will need to provide quality care to clients. Our training room provides the tools for CAREGivers to practice real-life scenarios and gain hands on experience; from a medical bed, Hoyer lift, transferring skills, wheel chairs, incontinence care, to proper hand washing and proper use of gloves, this hand-ons practical class allows CAREGivers to use their knowledge and experience and apply them to real-life situations they may be called upon to assist our client with. All of our CAREGivers are Home Health Aide (HHA) Certified.

Assisting the Client with Self Administration of Medication
Medications are widely used in the care of the elderly and sometimes necessary for maintaining health and for improving quality of life. Yet, if medications are improperly administered they can cause side-effects, increase falls and cause other adverse outcomes. CAREGivers are educated on how to:

  • apply basic principles for assisting clients who manage their own medications
  • observe clients self-medication properly
  • teach safe medication handling; watch for complications or problems
  • alert our office staff to anything out of the ordinary so we can keep families in the loop.

CPR
CPR must be give in 4-6 minutes for it to be effective in saving a person’s life. ALL CAREGivers are certified in CPR in the event of an emergency. They are taught to act fast without hesitation to save a client’s life. Our CAREGivers also receive hands on practice and a performance skills test, with our on-staff American Red Cross CPR Instructor.

Alzheimer’s Disease & Other Related Dementias 2nd Edition CARE Training 
Home Instead Senior Care’s Alzheimer training is approved by the Alzheimer’s Association to teach CAREGivers how to assist their clients with dementia in the best possible way. CAREGivers learn the different types of dementias, the symptoms and stages of Alzheimer’s and the behavioral symptoms that may accompany the disease. Our Home Instead Franchisor requires that at least 10% of the staff for each franchise receive this training, but to us, that wasn’t good enough. We are happy to say 100% of our staff receive this 8 hour training, gaining the increased knowledge and skill set to provide quality care for our clients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. CAREGivers will be able to help a client with common issues such as prevent wandering, healthy meal choices to prepare, how to keep the client engaged, how to defer and redirect confusing and concerning conversation into something engaging and delightful for our client.

Monthly Training

Our goal for continuous training is to provide our CAREGivers with solutions to real-life situations that they may experience with our clients everyday. Examples of some of the various continued training topics include:

  • What it is like to be in love when you have Alzheimer’s disease, from the Home Instead Senior Care movie, Lovely Still
  • Hands Only CPR skills
  • Proper Body Positioning for Performing Client Transfers skill training by Dr. Glen Schaffer D.C. 
  • Practical Scenarios: How to handle tough situations

Bonded and Insured

We conduct thorough background checks on all prospective CAREGivers. Each person who enters your home is bonded to protect you against loss and we insure all of our CAREGivers to protect them too.

Drug Screening

Home Instead Senior Care® requires drug screening of all CAREGivers. We will not send anyone into your home that we wouldn’t invite into our own. It’s that simple.

Contact Us

Give us a call to learn more about our local area CAREGivers and how they can serve your family.

Contact Us Today!

Call (239) 433-4025
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