5 Tips for Receiving Excellent Care from Your Caregiver

Use these 5 tips and I promise your level of care and overall caregiving experience will go to the next level.

P.S. The first one is the BIG ONE. If you do nothing else, do tip #1!

Tip #1 - Treat Your Caregiver Amazingly!

This is common sense and very simple, but it is a HUGE factor into the type of care they will provide. You treat them fantastic, they treat you fantastic. Be kind to them! Thank them. Encourage them. Tell them how much they mean to you and how much what they do means to you.

Trust me, you would be surprised by how much the simplest kindness or thankful words means to your caregiver. Just a little bit of appreciation for them can make them want to move the moon for you.

Why? They are CAREgivers. It is who they are. They love to care for your loved one.

Have you ever heard the saying “Happy wife, happy life?” Well, at The Grandson, our philosophy is “Happy caregiver, happy client.” We love both our caregivers and clients. Both deserve to be treated exceptionally!

Tip #2 - Communicate Your Expectations

Caregivers actually do love clear, detailed communication on what you expect and how you want things done. Caregivers are not mind readers, nor are they offended if you let them know how you like things to be done.

Quite the opposite! Feel free to go over in detail their tasks and your expected results. They want to know, and hearing that will make their job easier and your satisfaction even greater!

Tip #3 - Get to Know Them

Everybody loves to be asked questions about themselves, their family, people they love, and things they love to do. The same is true with caregivers! Ask them questions about themselves that show you are interested and care about them. That will draw them closer to you.

Caregiving is a relational job, so only assigning orders and tasks is shortchanging your maximum caregiver’s potential. Instead, turn a worker into a friend! Let them know you care about them.

Tip #4 - Don’t Surprise Them!

“Oh, by the way, my cousin’s children will be coming over today too so you will need to make them all a bowl of soup, too.”

“There’s a huge mess in the fridge that I didn’t get to clean last night. I need you to do that after the laundry.”

“We’re out of briefs for Robert so you’ll have to make his current ones last a little longer.”

No one likes these kinds of surprises, especially when they have a full plate of tasks already. Sure, sometimes on a rare occasion it might be unavoidable, and that’s okay. However, taking advantage of their kindness and willingness to serve by springing extra surprise work on them will not breed phenomenal care in the long-run.

Tip #5 - Surprise Them!

Everyone likes a good surprise. Maybe an unexpected ice cream treat awaits them later in the evening. Maybe you let them leave early one day, but insist to their manager that they are paid for the full time. Maybe you order their favorite food for lunch one day.

The little things we do for people can go a really long ways in life. This is true not just for caregivers, but for all people. Apply those same goodwill principles to your caregiver, and watch what they will do for you and your loved one!

Use these tips to help take your caregiving experience to the next level! For finding amazing caregivers that these tips work well with, any other questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (254) 242-0772 or Contact Us.