I'm using Visiting Angels - South Elgin IL Home Care for my mom. I had met someone who worked for Visiting Angels when my mom was in rehab after a broken hip, and I was impressed with her. So Visiting Angels called me right back and came to the house the next couple of days to sit down and assess my mom, and I was impressed with them, and I decided that if I used their person strategically, it would free up some of my time so I wouldn't feel like, I couldn't get my work done, and I would have some time to have an afternoon with my husband every week, so that's how we ended up making that decision. I've been happy. I have one person who's here half a day on Tuesday and all day on Friday. The same person and it's a guy, and mom actually kind of like guys. So it works out well because I'm here in the afternoon when he's here, but I'm in my office and I'm here on Friday morning and in my office working. And then my husband and I go out Friday afternoon to the movies, so that works out well. There was one day that he was not able to be here and they sent out a substitute, a young woman who also did a great job with mom. She mainly just needs a companion when I can't be in the room because with her dementia, if I'm not around and she can't visibly see me, she gets confused and a little and just needs to be calmed down. So they can sit with her, watch TV with her, talk to her, do puzzles with her, tell stories back and forth with each other, and just comfort her when she's having a bad day. So it's working out well.

I was not happy with Visiting Angels. I was not happy with the caregiver. First, she was nice, but Mom wanted to cut the hours back because she thought it was too expensive, and then the caregiver got pouty faced. She was pouting and said, "I'm just trying to figure out how am I going to get a birthday present for my niece," and I said, "I'll be more than happy to give you $40, that should be enough to buy her a gift." But she said, "Oh no, Ma'am. I need a lot more money than that, I need to buy her a new iPhone," and then I went ballistic. She is living in section eight and she wants to buy her niece a new cell phone? That's the main thing that bothered me. The bottom line is, when you come in, you leave your problems at the door. Also, every piece of meat she cooked for my mother was dry and burnt. I just wanted somebody to come in for a couple of hours and cook her dinner, but she didn't even know how to cook, so I rather do it myself. Also, for 15 minutes, they sent me a bill for $18. Mom was in the hospital and I had fallen and broken my ankle, and I didn't get the mail. So when I opened the mail, they wanted $18. I emailed them, "I don't think 15 minutes is worth $18 if she gets $25 an hour." The Visiting Angels turned around and sent me a bill for $165. I emailed her back and I said, "I am not paying the money, I'll you send the $18.10 you requested." She said these were for late fees. If they're late fees, they would have been sending me more bills. She was just being mean.