More steps to hire urgently needed in-home care

3. Plan an in-home care schedule

Once you know how much money is available for in-home care, and you have a sense of their needs, you can draft a caregiver's schedule. This is basically an outline of how many hours per day you want (or can afford) to hire someone to work, and what times and days work best for everyone involved. Then it's a matter of finding a caregiver to fit this schedule.

Helpful hints: When planning a caregiver's schedule, consider which needs can be reliably covered by you, family, or friends. This is an especially useful consideration if you're on a tight budget.

Then cluster caregiver tasks within a limited time slot, such as a morning shift for personal care -- bathing, dressing, grooming, and helping with breakfast or lunch.

4. Start your in-home care search.

Once you know how much money you have and the hours you hope to fill, you can start looking for a caregiver. The main ways to find in-home caregivers include word of mouth (asking for referrals from everyone you know, including medical staff, senior organizations, and religious communities), checking with online or newspaper classified ads, and using an employment agency that specializes in in-home caregivers.

The main difference between hiring independently and going through an agency is that agencies are usually more expensive but handle most of the paperwork, such as tax and social security forms. Agencies also screen employees. You can find agencies through the Internet (use search terms home health care or in-home senior care) or the telephone book.

Helpful hint: A great way to find in-home care and learn how much caregivers in your community are paid per hour is to go to your local Area Agency on Aging, which can link you to local senior agencies that provide a range of assistance, including finding in-home care.