$1450 lesson

Whyzit

A lady who requires 24 hour care lives 3 units away from us in our condo complex. She has many aids and sometimes they take her out. Somehow her unit became infected with bedbugs. She sits in the lobby on a padded bench while waiting for the aid to bring the car around.

DH likes to sit on the same bench while waiting for me to bring our car around. Apparently a few bedbugs got on my DH while sitting there. Unfortunately he crawled into bed to take a nap without changing into his pjs and they crawled right into bed with him.

The prep required by the exterminator before he could do his job was tremendous. Wash & bag all clothing hot water 30 minutes & 60 minute dry on high heat, empty all closets and drawers, remove drapes and clean & bag them, take all switch plates off, move furniture 18” from walls, etc. Then the exterminator will treat our unit 4 times two weeks apart. Everything must be kept sealed in the interim——yep two months time, $1450. All because DH wore his jeans to bed.

ronald71111

I had a similar experience with a caregiver i had coming for two hours a day where i could take care of business. This one unfortunately was one that stole from us, so she was in every room of the house.

Cost me 2600 dollars and they had to treat several times. I spent two days washing. What was really upsetting was she knew she had them and didn't say a word about it.

Ron

GiGi1963

Unbelievable! Sounds like you are doing most of the work. Sorry you need to add this to your already full caregiver role.

Ed1937

That sounds like a terrible job! Sorry you had to do that.

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Jo C.

Many people are unaware that not all aides are employees of the agency they come through; many if not most are not . Many agencies have NO aide employees; the agency gets request referrals of people looking for an aide, and then passes those contacts on to the aides that are looking for work; they are independents. My understanding is that the agencies are supposed to do background checks and work history checks; however, in the very small "Mom and Pop" type agencies that is most often not done and I would question all agencies and would prefer to see things in writing.

I have never run into a homeless person living on the streets being an aide, but I have indeed encountered aides who do not have their own home; they stay at different "friends" apartments or houses and pay small amounts of rent or no rent at all. I ran into this most often with the 24 hour aides.

It is always important to check details with the agency to be used AND to also check out the agency itself. I had indeed used a small agency trying to save money; but it was a nightmare and was lied to regarding aide experience and qualifications. At one point, the aide left mid-day and I was at work; talk about panic. Anything can happen from any agency or private experience. We eventually found an amazing aide who was independent; she was a blessing and was with us for years. I did look at our homeowner's insurance and found we needed special coverage for a paid aide, it was about $120 per year.

J.