micro,
You have my sympathies. My siblings and I have hired caregivers for my father since 2013. Thankfully, since December, we've had a really good one with a loving personality and a history of staying with terminal patients until the end. (Most of the others were flakes, leaving for a variety of reasons including "having taken a trip to San Francisco and not having a car with which to get back," and "My brother was just shot so I'm going to care for him instead," or obnoxious enough that we took the opportunity to release her when my father was re-hospitalized last year.) While my father isn't terminal, he IS seriously injured and 95 years old, so the distinction is largely a matter of semantics.
In Sacramento, the Fijian community seems to have a lot of women who specialize in this career. Is there such a community where your father is? Look to see if there's a Fijian church, then stop by to see if they might have any parishioners who do this kind of work. Why Fijians? They're large women and extremely family oriented. That's the only answer I've come up with.
If he's able to stand on his own, then you have it much easier than we do. We ruled out a lot of otherwise good caregivers due to their being small. Back problems are common among caregivers, and especially with the small ones. My Dad has always been thin, but we still worry about him being dropped. A bigger issue is that if he's manhandled, the skin on his arms tears like tissue, so it's important to find someone who uses proper lifting techniques.
Ask anyone you interview about their health and whether they have any back issues. Also ask whether they can drive. Many of the foreign caregivers cannot, but driving is important if you want her to take your father to appointments.
If size and lifting skills aren't a problem you'll need to deal with, then your biggest challenge is to find a caregiver who actually cares. Many don't, and if they don't truly care about your father, he isn't likely to care for them either.
If at all possible, try to find a CNA (certified nursing assistant.) CNAs are better than nurses for these jobs. Not only are CNAs less expensive, but nurses aren't usually 'hands on' with their patients. It's the CNAs who get patients out of bed, dressed, bathed, fed, medicated, toileted, etc, and those are probably the skills you want in a caregiver.
I recommend figuring out what the most is that you want to pay your caregiver, then dropping the offer by a bit so that you can give them a generous tip at Christmas bonus if she is doing a good job. The tip will help with her morale, and it will keep her from being complacent about the work she's doing, knowing that her Christmas tip is likely to be significant if you're happy with her.
Good luck. It's hard to finding and keeping someone good.
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