This company has been around for many years and is franchised throughout the country. We hired one of their care-givers for 24 hour care from Monday - Thursday. We were told that she had experience working with alzheimers patients and for that reason we felt confident leaving my father with her. Thank goodness we have cameras set up around the house! I know that you need to give a person time to get comfortable with the routine and therefore we have to give some slack if they don't follow all the daily tasks right away but this caregiver, what she did was outrageous.
Her second week with us we see (from cameras) that at my fathers bed time she stood in the hallway, said goodnight and went upstairs to bed while leaving him in the kitchen. She didn't make sure that he was in his pajamas, had brushed his teeth, and that he was in bed - she left him standing in the kitchen fully clothed not knowing what to do. He was walking around confused for at least 5 minutes before he went into his room. We called her and yelled at her to get back downstairs and put him to bed. So then she goes into his room and asks what he's doing, why he's not in bed "you told me you were going straight to bed" that's what she says to a man with alzheimer's. He said "I had things I had to do" which she replied "that's not normal. When you say you're going to bed - you go to bed". She continues to tell him that what he's doing isn't normal - does she know what alzheimer's is??? Uh - it's a given that he's going to do things that aren't normal, that's why we hire caregivers to look after him.
We let her go. We couldn't believe what she did - how she put him in danger by not watching him. What's even more upsetting is that Brightstar did nothing. They still haven't returned our phone calls or helped us find someone new. When we called the owner of this franchise - Steve - to tell him what happened and that his company never called us he was dismissive and said "what do you want from me?". He wants to see the video of what happened before talking to me further. It's not a problem because I saved the tape but I don't see why I should have to prove myself to him. An apology and "what can I do to help you" would have been the right thing for him to do.