finding end-of-life caregivers with medical experience

[caedmyn]

My aunt is in the hospital with serious breathing problems (some combination of complications from pneumonia and COPD I think) and doesn't have much time to live.  She wants to go home to die and hospice is set up but my uncle has lots of health problems himself and does not feel comfortable bringing her home without someone with medical experience there.  She has been bedridden with serious health problems for quite a while and normally has caregivers there during the day from M-F but they don't have medical experience and he wants more than that.  It sounds like the doctors are basically trying to keep her alive long enough to make it home to die so it seems likely that medical care wouldn't be needed for long.  I'd really like to try to make this happen for her but I'm not sure how to go about finding caregivers with medical experience.  Any suggestions?  I don't know if their insurance would cover it (Medicare or Medicaid, not sure which) but if not I would try to talk DH into paying for it for a few days.  They live in the Everett, WA area.

[prairiewindmomma]

Ask the hospice agency. Ours have all had lists of caregivers and their hourly rates.

If she is bedridden, she should also be set up with a hospital bed, Hoyer lift, oxygen, and all of the equipment she will need to be able to come home through her hospice agency.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I agree with asking hospice. We had caregivers through a local (king county) agency that had RNs on staff. RNs were definitely more expensive.  We used Capability Home Care but I don’t know if they operate that far north. We heard about them through the hospital social worker.