Home health aides.

Post on NextDoor with your write up detailing what care is required. I would insist on getting people who are CNAs, they are trained and licensed by the state. Also look into people who live locally so they can get to work in bad weather.

Interview on your own and then have them meet your parent to see how that goes. Check references.

I would suggest assembling a team of three people so you have seven day coverage and backup in case someone can't come. We had two shifts a day -- 8 am-noon and 4-8 pm. They didn't need anyone in the early afternoon because they just napped and watched tv and they didn't want anyone in the house when they went to bed.

The caregivers we hired were taking care of both parents, five years ago we paid them $25/hour.

We did this for around two years. Unfortunately eventually this arrangement was not sustainable because they plowed through their money and their health began to steadily decline, and we had to apply for Medicaid and they both needed to be in a nursing home.

I wish you good luck as you start this journey.

I was a homecare CNA and APCNA for 25 years before going into the business of it. I will tell you straight. Homecare is not more expensive than a nursing home or AL facility if you know how to hire.

The first step is having a professional assessment of your mother's needs done. This can be done by first having her doctor do a physical and some cognitive testing. Then a nurse or physical therapist should go to her house and make a written report for what her home needs to make it safe. There may not be a lot that will have to be done.

After all of this gets done you start looking at profiles on care.com or other caregiver websites. You can even put up your own advertisement for hiring a privately-paid caregiver (not paid by insurance). Be one-hundred percent honest about exactly what your mother's care needs are. Do not minimize what her needs are. For example, do not say she has "accidents" once in a while if the reality is she is totally incontinent. Or that she can be a "handful" or a "little forgetful" If in fact she is aggressive, violent, and out of it with dementia. If she is basically an invalid, don't say she only needs a little help. Tell the whole truth of it.

Now, if you're hiring privately and want a live-in caregiver/companion for her, they are not paid by the hour. These workers are paid a weekly or usually bi-weekly salary that can be negotiated with the caregiver. Room and board can be considered PART of the caregiver's wages, but it does not replace actual paid wages. Your best bet if you're hiring live-in help is to hire two people. One works weekdays the other weekends. Or they split the week. I find it doesn't work well to just have one caregiver because they need time off and time away from the client. You negotiate the pay with the caregivers. You can save a lot of money doing it this way. Make sure it's known in your advertisement that it is not an hourly wage if it's live-in help you're looking for.

If you're only looking for someone to come in a few hours a week to keep her company, help with housework, take her out shopping, and maybe help her shower, a homecare agency can be a good idea because some hours can be covered by Medicare if her doctor orders it.

First step is getting her needs assessed then write down exactly what she needs and what your expectations for a caregiver are and be honest about it. You'll find someone good on a caregiver website. Of course it will be up to you to ask for police backround checks from the town they've lived in for the last five years, a clean drug test, whether or not they have kids. If you're hiring privately, you don't have to hire someone with kids because often childcare can be a problem. When I took private work, I always showed up with my own police report, a clean and current drug test, proof of vehicle registration and insurance, and several professional work references. You can advertise that a potential hire get these things themselves and bring them to the interview.

If you're hiring privately and hourly, a good starting point in the state of CT is $20 an hour for a homemaker/companion. It is going to be more if you need someone to toilet and shower a person.

This is by far the most expensive way you can go about things, and you’ll be paying in a very expensive state like ct.

Take my mil’s aide, for example. A household billionaire name pays an agency 70 an hour for aide to make 35/hr “driving miss Daisy” as mil puts it plus eating with Daisy at restaurants at daisy’s expense and rubbing daisy’s feet sometimes. She then comes to mil’s with her informal adoption kid as a care.com reference to do the cat boxes and sleep there. Shes paid about 140k a year all in.

My experience is not extensive but I have called a bunch of agencies near me (northeast US) and they tend to charge about $45 per hour and require a minimum of 3-4 hours at least once a week. They prefer set days and hours, understandably. With an agency, if one person is out sick or if you have a problem with one aide, they can send someone else.

Then there is care.com where you pay to advertise exactly what you need and how much you are willing or able to pay and then see who responds.

Or you can try Nextdoor.

good luck.