Ask Mike - Looking for a personal support worker while on holiday

Dear Canadian Travelers

Thanks for contacting me. You wrote that you will be vacationing in Orlando, FL during the upcoming winter months. Your husband is a "quad" and you are looking for several hours per week of assistance for him while you are on vacation.

You are in luck! You should be able to easily find the help that you need by taking a couple of easy steps. The first step is to search on-line for providers. The second step is to check out the providers that interest you as best you can. I found a wealth of different provider options by typing: "home care Orlando Florida" into my computer's search engine. One example I found is: www.carepathways.com which provides national information and contacts including providers of different types of long term services, support groups, feedback information about providers and so on. Please note that I am not recommending Carepathways' services (or any other agency or company), nor have I checked its validity or accuracy – rather it is an example of what you might find during a search.

Before making your selection final and making a firm agreement with a provider, it is always a good idea to check any references to try to look into such things as quality, promptness, reliability, training and so on. Our website may provide a way to assist with this. Go to Agencies Related to PAS and select your state. There are several resources that may be of assistance with referrals to providers including information about relative quality of providers. "State Unit on Aging", "Home Health Agencies", "Centers for Independent Living" and "Aging and Disability Resource Centers" may be able to provide useful information and/or referrals.

I hope you enjoy your vacation!

Mike