It seems that the caller had driven down from Bakersfield to visit her dad, who had been released just the week before from a local skilled nursing and rehabilitation center. The caller, his daughter, had arranged for 24-hour coverage through an in-home care agency recommended to her by the rehab center.
She had initially become suspicious when the social worker at the rehab center told her that her dad had to stay an extra week, so that the home care agency could "line up" its caregivers. Now that he was finally home, she had travelled down from Bakersfield to visit, and was greeted at the door by an unkempt, barefoot caregiver. The house was an absolute mess, and her mom, who was previously communicative and able to care for herself with a bit of assistance, had gone silent from the shell-shock of the agency's constant caregiver changes.
When she met with the owner of the home care agency (I'll call him Chad) the next day, he still had not presented her with a contract or pricing for his services, but he told her "not to worry."
Upon further discussion with Chad, she discovered that the main reason the rehab center social worker had made the referral to him was the social worker's strong personal friendship with Chad.
Fortunately, I was able to help her quickly extricate the agency and its caregivers, and our team set to work on cleaning up the house immediately. Within a few days, my new client's parents were comfortable once again in their own home, and she had enough peace of mind to return to her job in Bakersfield.
The vast majority of social service and healthcare professionals do a conscientious job of making referrals to other providers. They realize a bad referral will reflect badly upon them. But for some, referrals are more about looking out for their friends. Moral of the story is that when you get a referral from someone, you still need to do some homework to make sure that recommendation is really a good one.
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