About Wanda

Wanda was hired to be a caregiver and companion for my mother, some housekeeping and a backup for my dad, who only needed her to prep lunch for them and check that he had him taken his morning pills. Wanda was not hired through care.com but interviewed based on our other caregiver’s recommendation. That caregiver was found through Care.com and gives excellent care, is an understanding and empathetic companion to my mom and works very well with the other caregivers. Wanda was presented as being similar and she herself represented herself as an empathetic Christian woman who enjoys helping the needy elderly. My experience with Wanda was quite the opposite. It was very disappointing. Wanda met mom’s physical needs but not without struggle and it took her about 4 weeks to get fully on board with the care routine. Mostly it was because she ignored the very detailed written care hints provided for her. She ignored requests that she to do less, and ignored requests to let my mom do as much on her own as she still could. She would call me for help then question or argue with my suggestions, or just out right ignore them. She would also regularly tell me, the person who was the primary caregiver for the last 4.5 years, of the hardships of caring for my mother AND the best practices for dealing with my mother. And finally, she often commented on how hard it was to take care of my mom, who is a typical dementia patient …ending with “pray for me”. Wanda did not make a good caregiving team member. She was not flexible, nor did she show concern for how her actions during the day set up my father and the evening or next day caregivers for an extra agitated situation. She was unbending and arrogant when it came to attending to suggestions from the caregivers who had more experience with my mother. She is also manipulative and untrustworthy. She will instigate conflict to get the situation to work in her favor. Wanda was diligent when it came to housekeeping, meal prep and giving medicine. If you need a housekeeper and companion, Wanda is qualified and will earn her keep. If you ignore the manipulation and the instigation between us, she was even a decent companion for my father. But beware. She doesn’t have a caregiver’s heart. She is more paycheck driven than anything else.