Senior Helpers of Ocean County Brick, NJ

Cheryl

I liked Senior Helpers a lot. It was very good. We had a couple of certified caregivers and then we also just had companions. At that point, my dad wasn't quite as bad. We were kind of trying both of them, but then his level of care changed, so now, he needs to have someone 24/7, which has been challenging to find. The scheduling was challenging, but that's really because of the climate that we're in right now. Everybody's having a hard time finding people. It's just the way it is right now. They did the best they could, so I was happy with that. There were times when we didn't have coverage. There were times when someone called out last minute, we didn't have somebody else to replace them or anything. We understand the situation. It's just hard to find workers right now. Most of the caregivers were good. My dad liked the caregivers. There was just one that he had that he was not happy with, and she just wasn't very communicative. She just pretty much stayed in the kitchen the whole time and didn't do a whole lot unless he would ask her, and he didn't like to ask her to do things. Even though my sister had a chart on the refrigerator of things that we were hoping to get done every day, she pretty much just stayed in the kitchen. She made the meal for him, but that was pretty much all she did and cleaned it up. He wasn't thrilled with her, but at the same time, it was what we had and what was available, and it was OK. It served the purpose. Everything was pretty well addressed. It's interesting because my opinion is a little different than my sister's. She wasn't so thrilled with their communication. I thought it was OK, just because I understand the climate that we're in right now. I just feel like we need to give everybody a little extra grace because it's just a crazy time, but my sister is a lot more straightlaced and she wants every T crossed and I dotted. Overall, I think they were very good, very understanding, and very helpful as much as they could be.