The
Registry is constantly recruiting new qualified individual providers. Providers
can expand their opportunities for finding work by being listed on the Registry.
Click here for Graphics Version of website
The
Registry is constantly recruiting new qualified individual providers. Providers
can expand their opportunities for finding work by being listed on the Registry.
If you are a Provider and are interested in being placed on the Registry, please call (866) 351-7722 and sign-up for our Registry Application Workshop/Provider Orientation.
Below you will find information on:
Individual Provider Job Description
The application process to get on the Provider Registry
Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal background checks
DOJ Frequently Asked Questions
Provider Rights and Responsibilities
Tips for Being a successful provider
Caregiver Support Groups and Classes
Job Title:
Individual Provider.
Hourly Wage:
$8.50/hour.
Reports to:
IHSS Consumer.
Summary:
Individual Providers (IPs) assist elderly, blind, and disabled Consumers (clients) of the County of San Diego In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program to remain in their own homes by providing personal care services and/or domestic services, as authorized by IHSS. In addition, some IPs may be required to provide basic medical services, as ordered by the Consumer’s physician and authorized by IHSS. Individual Providers are employed and supervised by the IHSS Consumers.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Each IHSS Consumer is assigned a County Social Worker, who determines the type and frequency of services the Consumer can receive from his/her IP. Authorized services (IP job duties) may consist of the following tasks:
• Domestic Services:
Includes sweeping and vacuuming floors, picking up and dusting, washing floors,
washing kitchen counters and sinks, cleaning oven and stove, cleaning and
defrosting refrigerator, storing food and supplies, taking out the garbage,
cleaning the bathroom, changing bed linens, wheelchair upkeep, etc.
• Preparation of meals
• Meal clean-up
• Routine laundry (in the home, or at a Laundromat if the Consumer does
not have facilities on the premises)
• Shopping for basic care needs / groceries
• Respiration: Includes cleaning tubes and machines, assisting Consumer
with treatment
• Bowel and bladder care
• Feeding
• Routine bed baths
• Dressing, including Ted hose and braces
• Menstrual care
• Ambulation (walking inside or pushing wheelchair)
• Moving in / out of bed
• Bathing, oral hygiene and grooming
• Rubbing skin, repositioning, range of motion
• Care and assistance with prosthesis, reminding Consumer to take medications,
meds set up
• Accompaniment to medical appointments
• Protective supervision
• Paramedical services: Includes administering medications, insulin shots,
enemas, glucose screenings as instructed by trained medical personnel
Education and Experience:
Prior experience and training is helpful, but not required to be an Individual Provider. However, because Consumers of IHSS hire and supervise their IPs, some Consumers may prefer to employ IPs with a particular level of experience and training, such as CPR certifications, Certified Nursing Assistance or Home Health Aide training.
All Individual Providers must be able to show original and valid documentation at the time of hire that proves their eligibility to work in the United States.
Provider Application:
If you are a Provider and are interested in being placed
on the Registry call (866) 351-7722 and sign-up for our
Registry Application Workshop/Provider Orientation. Applicants
who live in the North Inland, North Coastal, North Central
and Central regions of San Diego will be given priority enrollment
due to the high demand of Providers in these areas.
Once you have been signed-up
for the Application Workshop/Provider Orientation, you will begin the Registry
screening process which is described in the next section.
Provider Screening:
The safety and security of IHSS consumers is of the highest priority of the IHSS Public Authority. To take reasonable measures to protect consumers from harm, the Registry has taken steps to pre-screen potential providers before placing them into the computerized listing. Home care providers on this listing must provide or complete:
All providers are required to disclose any history of criminal convictions on their Registry application.
Potential providers will be rejected from being listed on the Registry for the following reasons:
When an applicant passes the screening process, he/she will be accepted onto the Registry. He/she will receive a welcome packet of information. The provider will then be made available for job opportunities from the Registry through matching with available and appropriate consumers.
Effective October 1, 2004, all applicants and current Individual Providers (IPs) on the IHSS Public Authority Provider Registry are required by local ordinance to pass a Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal background check in order to become active or maintain active status on the Provider Registry. The Public Authority is now required to exclude, and/or remove from the Registry, anyone who has been convicted of a felony or a qualifying misdemeanor. If you are excluded or removed from the Registry, keep in mind that you may continue to work for an IHSS Consumer if you are already employed as an IP or if you find work on your own with an IHSS Consumer.
If you are currently an IP on the Provider Registry or if you are in the process of applying to the Registry, you will receive a letter from the Registry with instructions on how to proceed with the DOJ part of your application. Your background will be checked, at NO COST to you, via fingerprint scanning by Live Scan San Diego. Please note that no prior background check or fingerprint clearance will be accepted. Also note that you will not receive any stipend or payment for your time spent obtaining the fingerprint scan. You cannot claim hours for this time on the IHSS timesheet. Once scanned and on the Registry, if you are arrested for criminal activity, DOJ will notify the Registry of the arrest, at which point your status at the Registry will be reviewed.
1. What is DOJ? What does this mean?
3. Do I have to pay for my criminal background check?
4. What if I already did a background check?
5. What if I was convicted of a crime in the past but served the time, or paid restitution?
6. If I am working for someone and I do not pass, and they want to keep me as a provider, can they?
7. I am working and I cannot go get my fingerprints scanned during the day--what do I do?
9. How do I get to Live Scan San Diego?
10. How often will I be required to submit my fingerprints to remain on the Provider Registry?
This is a government agency that has a database of criminal records.
Live Scan is the name of the technology that is used to scan fingerprints, which are then sent to the Department of Justice.
No, it is free.
You will still have to complete the Live Scan upon our request.
If the conviction shows up in DOJ records then you cannot be on the Registry. If you want more information about your record, contact Record Review at DOJ, at: 1 916-227-3832
They can keep you as an IP; you just won’t be able to remain on the Provider Registry.
Live Scan is open evenings and weekends. You can call Live Scan for their hours: 619-631-7535
If the Consumer wants you to still work for them you can, however you will not be able to remain on the Provider Registry.
Take 8 EAST; Take the JOHNSON AVE exit; Turn LEFT onto N JOHNSON AVE; Turn RIGHT onto FLETCHER PKWY; End at 450 Fletcher Pkwy in El Cajon.
As long as you remain active on the Provider Registry, you will not have to submit your fingerprints again.
Please take the time to review these rights and responsibilities to assist you in your work:
In case of an emergency, you may be contacted by a County Emergency Service Worker, or other emergency personnel. Therefore, it is important that you inform the IHSS social worker assigned to the consumer you work for when your telephone number or address changes as soon the change occurs.
You have the right to understand the IHSS work assignment.
You have the right to report incidents of abusive behavior without fear of retaliation.
You have the right to refuse to return to work if you have reasonable fear of physical danger. Please call the IHSS social worker and the Public Authority immediately if you do not feel comfortable returning to the employer’s home.
You have the right to work only for the person authorized for IHSS, and have the right to work only the hours authorized by the IHSS social worker. You are responsible for keeping track of hours worked.
You are responsible for immediately reporting to the IHSS social worker any injury you receive on the job.
You are responsible for turning in completed time sheets to the Public Authority payroll department twice a month. Time sheets are to be signed by both you and the employer.
You should give your employer at least two weeks notice before you quit. This will give your employer time to find another provider.
Return all telephone calls when registry staff or consumers leave you a message, even if you are not available to take the job. Not returning a call may show that you have no interest in working anymore.
If you have an answering machine, make sure your message is spoken slowly and clearly, so that people calling you can understand your message. Some callers may be looking to hire you as a provider, so messages should be courteous and polite.
Show up on time for interview appointments and work assignments. If you must be late or cancel, call the consumer as soon as possible so that substitute care can be arranged.
Never bring your children, family members, friends, or other persons to interview appointments or work assignments.* This is extremely unprofessional, and you could lose your job as a result! (*Unless you have made special arrangements with the consumer.)
Some consumers may be hard to work for. If you feel you must give up a job, try to give the consumer at least two weeks’ notice so they can find another provider.
You may be working for a person whose memory is not as good as yours. Be patient with them.
Remember that you are there to assist the consumer, not to “baby-sit” and/or make any decisions for him or her.
If a consumer asks you not to move their things when cleaning, try to work around them, or lift them up and set them back in the same spot. It can be confusing for them if their things have been moved.
The IHSS Public Authority will not pay you if you work more hours than the IHSS Social Worker has approved, even if the consumer asks you to work additional hours.
Be certain that all forms are signed and turned in to the IHSS Social Worker to make sure you will be paid.
The consumer is your employer, and they have the right to hire, train, supervise, and terminate your employment. If you are terminated, you may call the Public Authority Provider Registry at 1-866-351-7722 to report your availability for other consumers.
The consumer must be present for you to work in their home because payment cannot be made when the consumer is not present.
If the consumer is in the hospital, you are not allowed to work for them at the hospital. Medi-Cal funding pays for the hospital care instead of in-home care while the consumer is hospitalized.
If you work for a portion of a pay period, but the consumer is no longer available to sign your timesheet at the end of that pay period, you must contact the IHSS Social Worker for assistance.
Any changes of address of phone number should be reported to the IHSS Social Worker and the Public Authority Payroll Department so that your check will be mailed to the correct address.
* A list of other resources can be found at: www.eldercare.uniontrib.com
Caregiver
Support Group
Fourth Thursday of the month
10:00 am to 11:30 am
Fallbrook Healthcare Foundation
“ Pittenger House”
135 So. Mission
Fallbrook, CA 92028
(858) 268-4432 ext.124 or (800) 827-1008
Family Caregiver
Support Group
Fourth Wednesday of the month
6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
(Upper level lost, adjacent to Sanctuary)
Foothills United Methodist Church
4031 Avocado Blvd.
La Mesa, CA 91941
(858)268-4432 ext. 113
Parkinson’s
Disease Caregiver Support Group
Second Wednesday of each month
10:00 am to 11:30 am
Sharp Cabrillo Hospital
3475 Kenyon St.
San Diego, CA 92110
(800) 827-1008 ext. 113
Caregiver Support
Group for Men
Second Thursday of the month
11:00 am to 12:30 pm
Southern Caregiver Resource Center
3675 Ruffin Road Suite 230
San Diego, CA 92123
(858)665-4422 or (800) 827-1008
Alzheimer’s
Caregiver Support Group
-Free respite care provided
Second Saturday of the month
10:00 am to 11:00 am
ActivCare La Mesa
4960 Mills St.
La Mesa, CA 91941
(800) 272-3900
Spanish Language - Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Group
Every Tuesday of the month
10:00 am to 11:30 am
Casa Familiar Recreation Center
212 E. Park Ave
San Ysidro, CA 92173
(800) 272-3900
Caregiver Support/Walking
Group
-Meet at the picnic table
Swami’s Beach
Second & Fourth Tuesday of the month
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Encinitas, CA 92024
(858)268-4432
Please call for directions, if needed.
Online Support
Group for Children of Aging Parents
SanDiegoElderCare.com is starting a free online Support Group for Adult
Children. If you don’t have the time to drive, but would like advice
from other
San Diego caregivers, please visit and register at the following website:
www.sandiegoeldercare.com/support_group.cfm
Redwood Elderlink offers multiple Caregiver Support Groups (in both English and Spanish) in Escondido, Oceanside, and Rancho Bernardo. For more information, please call (760) 480-1030.
Southern Caregiver Resource Center offers different Caregiver Support Groups throughout the county including specific groups for Men, Family, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and Adult-Child as Caregivers. For specific times and locations please call (858) 268-4432.
Click here for printer friendly versions of:
Quote: I don't think there's anything as wonderful in life as being able to help someone else.
- Betty Ford