We have Visting Angels for my Mom here in northern NJ. My father is the primary
caregiver, at 87 years old, for my 80 year old Mom who's in the late stages of
Alzheimer's. My father refuses to consider moving her to a facility and insists
that he can care for her at home. Thankfully, I was able to convince him that he
was unable to do so alone, but I'm still working on convincing him that 24 hour
care is needed. At this point we have someone 4 hours per day Monday through
Friday and 6 hours on Saturday. He wants one day without someone there for now.
He had surgery 2 years ago and we had 24 hour care during his stay in the
hospital and then for about 4 weeks following, scaling back the hours
progressively over the next several weeks.
The aides are fairly reliable and very pleasant. The office staff that I deal
with are excellent. The only problem we've had is that when an aide can't come,
they aren't generally able to provide a cover person, but that's because we are
at the edge of their covered area. If we were closer to where the aides they
employ are located, that wouldn't be a problem, but we are limited by those who
are willing to travel for a 4 hour stint.
The aides are not nurses - they are simply home care aides - they wash, dress,
and feed Mom and can do light housekeeping tasks.
-steve