Caregiver Matchmaking - The Joy of Having A Choice

September 02, 2011

Offering care for clients throughout Sacramento and Yolo counties, Right at Home's (RAH) process of providing care begins at the inital call and meeting, then the development of a customized care plan, and next and most importantly - their caregiving matching process.

All qualified caregivers of RAH are bonded and insured, and are employees of Right at Home. Before being hired, the caregivers go through multiple interviews, testing, background clearance, and an orientation process. Once oriented to RAH, the RAH caregiving team is offered additional training and support through Right at Home University, as well as other training courses, including classes in supportive hospice care, memory care, and first aid/CPR.

Each caregiver upon hire completes a thorough biography profile sheet, and their biography is on file with the supervisory team. These biographies are offered to families and clients in the matching, or "matchmaking" process for selection of each qualified caregiver. The caregiver “Bio” includes a photograph of each caregiver, as well as their background, training, personality, and work experience.

Caregiver matchmaking is what truly separates Right at Home from other agencies. Once a client has approved a Custom Care Plan, Right at Home begins their search for the most qualified caregiver to implement that care. RAH’s system of matching caregivers to clients takes numerous factors into consideration: services needed, such as personal care, memory care, or supportive hospice care; client interests and personalities of both the client and the caregiver.

By looking at the whole situation, Right at Home (RAH) is better able to provide their client with the most appropriate and qualified caregiver.

By providing an option to the client or their family of a caregiver “bio”, or biography of each recommended caregiver, RAH is able to personalize the “matchmaking” process.

“It makes a huge difference,” explained Lifetime Solutions’ Dan Bartlett, who refers many of his clients to Right at Home for their in home care and assistance needs, “The bio’s are very beneficial to family members, as well as the client, since they know who is coming to their home , and what to expect.”

Bartlett was especially satisfied with the bio’s himself, “It takes the ‘guesswork’ out of the process, “ he explained, “with the bio and option to select a particular caregiver of their liking, it brings a comfort level to the family. It is almost like bringing the whole Right at Home care team with you before they actually show up for their first day of service.”

The developer of the “Bio” concept was Right at Home’s Steven Lowrey, who wanted to make the caregiving selection less intimidating for the client, and more specific to “matchmaking” a caregivers’ background and acumen to the RAH clients’ particular care need.

“We want to help support our caregiving team by providing them exact detail with what to expect in terms of levels of care in our customized care plan,” replied Lowrey, “each caregiver should know precisely what is expected of them, as we spend time with each caregiver going over the care plan specifically.”

“For our clients, we should be able to afford them the opportunity to select a caregiver from our quality RAH team,” he said, “many families are stymied by the concept of having a stranger come into the home and care for a parent. What our matchmaking process does is break down walls and allow them to see and read about a caregiver and ultimately decide on their choice of a caregiver. This gives a client ownership and personal choice in the selection process of who will be providing care for them.”

For Deborah Hunter, having the RAH matchmaking process in place helped make her decision in deciding on an agency to provide care for her 99 year old Mother.

“It was a nice touch,” she replied, “I really liked reading the bio’s of the caregivers, as I was able to see the bio’s ahead of time (when her Mother returned home), and able to speak with the agency directly about each selection.”

Hunter added, “I think it makes you feel like you have control of the process. It is something that you can actively participate in, and in the end, make my Mother pleased with the selections”.

Hunter applauded the “bio process” and added that she also appreciated the “consistency of supervision” that each caregiver received, “Right at Home’s care supervisor introduced each caregiver and went over the care plan – from even showing each caregiver around the home -  showing them how to turn on the stove for my Mother. It was just great.”

For Lowrey, who writes each biography for each member of the RAH care team, what started out as a strategy for helping families and clients select a caregiver, has evolved into a very fun and rewarding process.

“I think many families appreciate the fact that we can email our caregiver candidates to them for selection, and they can take their time making that selection. Many families, even with siblings out of state, can confer over the selection of each caregiver  - since I can email other family members the bio’s. Families often discuss the selection as a group – including the client – and then contact our office for the final result and decision.”

Another great concept was created when a case manager at a skilled nursing facility recently asked Lowrey  if he could email and send caregiver candidate “bio’s” to her, since she had a  patient who was to be discharged from the facility and in need of in home care.

The patient was entirely resistant to the concept of having someone care for her once discharged from the facility, and the hopes were that the case manager could print out the “bio’s” and bring a few candidate “bio’s” to the patient directly.

Amazingly, the patient received the RAH bio’s and selected and approved a caregiver to provide care for her when she was discharged from the facility. Once entirely resistant, she now made her decision solely based on the fact that the caregiver’s “bio” listed her from the same home town as she.

The patient was happy that she would be cared for by someone from her hometown in rural Mississippi , and the case manager was pleased to know that the patient would be well cared for upon discharge.

“We’ve had some amazing ‘matchmaking’ stories,” smiled Lowrey, “some clients may pick a particular caregiver because the caregiver may have a smile that may remind them of someone, or perhaps where they grew up, or even because of a similar hobby or interest that they may share with a caregiver.”

Lowrey added, “ I once had a client select a caregiver from a “bio” because the caregiver stated that her favorite meal to prepare for her client was “meat loaf”. The delighted client told us that he hadn’t had meat loaf in nearly 20 years, and he was looking forward to having it once again!”

"Our caregiving matchmaking program is really about the  joy of having a choice for each of our valued clients," Lowrey replied.

For more information regarding the Right at Home Caregiver Matchmaking program – or to schedule a free in home care consultation – contact Right at Home Sacramento/Yolo at 888-222-1544.