Caregiver Services

In-Home Care In San Diego County for Seniors

Seniors and others needing help from caregivers in San Diego County can enjoy “Assisted Living In Their Own Home” and “Live-In Home Health Care” provided by compassionate, experienced in-home caregivers from A Servant’s Heart Care Solutions.  With help from our professional in-home caregivers and personal attendants, Seniors and other adults receive attentive, consistent and reliable home care assistance with:

  • Activities of daily living (also called “ADLs”):
    • Bathing
    • Dressing
    • Grooming
    • Feeding
    • Toileting
    • Incontinence care
    • Mobility: ambulation and transfers
  • Meal preparation
  • Light housekeeping
  • Incidental transportation to doctors, etc.
  • Errands and grocery shopping
  • Medication remiders
  • Companionship and supervision
  • Virtually anything that a family member could do if one were available

What Are These Caregiver Services Called?

The caregiver services that we provide are known under a number of different names, all of which mean the same thing, including these names:

  • Home care
  • Senior care
  • In-home care
  • Private duty care
  • Companion care
  • Caregiver services
  • Personal attendant services
  • Home care aide services
  • Non-medical caregiving services
  • Practical nursing services
  • Home help services
  • Companion aide services
  • Sitter services

When Selecting Caregivers In San Diego County This Is What You Should Look For

  • Professional – We only hire caregivers with significant prior experience and excellent references.
  • Trustworthy – We do extremely thorough criminal background checks using the “LiveScan” system with fingerprint checks through the California Department of Justice.
  • Safe Transportation – We do complete caregiver driving record checks.
  • Knowledgeable – We provide our caregivers with ongoing training.
  • Insured and Bonded – We insure and bond all our employees.
  • Caregivers Employed by Agency –Our caregivers are our employees, and we pay all required taxes, benefits, workers compensation, and insurance.
  • Guaranteed Service – You must be satisfied or there is no charge.
  • Family Involvement – We work with family members to coordinate care and communicate health information. Just tell us how to communicate with you, and we will set it up.

A Note About so-called “Independent Contractors”, “Employment Agencies”, “Registries”, and Private Hires

The caregivers that our company provides to your older loved ones are employees of our company.

  • This means that we pay for all benefits, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, and workers compensation insurance for them.
  • We also pay for complete criminal background checks and driving record checks on them and we pay for their insurance and fidelity bonding.

Many of the other caregiving agencies in San Diego County take the position that their companies are not the employer of the caregivers that they send to clients.  We call that sort of agency non-employer agencies, or domestic referral agencies (“DRAs”).

By law, DRAs must tell you in writing that (1) they are referral agencies, and (2) that they are not the employer of the caregivers.

Furthermore, by law DRA’s may not tell you that the caregivers they send you are definitely independent contractors.  Rather, they must tell you that the caregivers that they send may be independent contractors or may be your employees, and that the correct classification depends upon the the degree of direction and supervision that you have over the caregivers’ work.  

Under the provisions of the laws that are used for determining whether or not a worker is an independent contractor, it is difficult for in-home caregivers to legally qualify for treatment as “Independent Contractors”.

In most cases, the caregivers have little or no say in their work hours, little or no say in how they do their work, do not provide their own supplies without reimbursement, and have little or no chance of incurring a net loss.  Under those circumstances, the caregiver is most properly classified as as an employee of either the caregiver company or the client, so when they are coming from a DRA for you or your loved one’s care, you or your loved on is the employer.

This is not inherently evil or wrong.  However, it is a significant obligation, one that you or your loved one must be aware of and take care of.  When will it really matter?

You will find that the duties of being the employer of the caregiver become costly if one or more of these things happens:

  • The caregiver becomes injured on the job (or fakes an on-the-job injury), leading to large medical expenses and possible lifetime disability income payments.
    • This can lead to large liabilities unless you have previously arranged to have special workers compensation insurance to protect you against such claims.
  • The caregiver steals or causes damage or harm through negligence.
    • You will have no recourse to file claims against the DRA that sent the caregiver, because they are not responsible for the acts of caregivers who are not their employees.
  • The caregiver files for unemployment or the caregiver files a tax return listing you or your loved one as the employer who paid them their wages.
    • The government will ask them who their employer was (it was you or your loved one) and then will audit you for failure to file and pay payroll tax returns and failure to withhold and pay the caregiver’s income, social security and medicare taxes).

 

 

Tim Colling
Tim Colling

Tim Colling is the founder and President of A Servant's Heart In-Home Care, which provided in-home caregiving services in San Diego County, and also of A Servant's Heart Geriatric Care Management, which provided
professional geriatric care management services and long term care placement services in San Diego County. Tim has more than 30 years of experience in management in a variety of industries. He held a Certified Care Manager credential from the National Academy of Certified Care Managers. Tim is also a Certified Public Accountant (retired), and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from California State University at San Diego. In addition to writing blog posts here for the Servant’s Heart blog, Tim also is a regular contributor to HealthLine.com and to FamilyAffaires.com as well as blogs of other eldercare services provider companies. Finally, Tim is also the president of A Servant's Heart Web Design and Marketing, which provides home care marketing as well as website design and online marketing for those who serve the elderly and their families.

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