Albuquerque, NM -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2011 -- Home Care Assistance New Mexico, the leading provider of live-in and hourly home care, and Collective Intelligence, a national leader in background screening services, announced today an exclusive partnership that will ensure all Home Care Assistance employees are thoroughly vetted and screened on an ongoing basis to maintain the quality of staff members. This process will guarantee the highest caliber of home care. Home Care Assistance New Mexico has committed to screening its employees’ criminal backgrounds and driving history on a quarterly basis. Random routine drug screenings will continue to be conducted periodically.

Using Collective Intelligence background screenings, Home Care Assistance will ensure their employees do not have a prior criminal record, which further demonstrates their commitment to providing the highest quality home care for your parent or loved one.

“The standard background screenings that home care and home health care companies perform on caregiver applicants have proven to be inconclusive due to the various reporting methods and slow database reporting of different states, ”said Susan Bruketta, Owner of Home Care Assistance New Mexico. Seniors need protection from predatory caregivers self-promoting themselves and ingratiating themselves into the life of a trusting senior.”

“Families and clients who ask for our services expect their in-home workers to have years of experience and a clean history of professional conduct. We have seen caregivers receive clearance through the Criminal Online Registry in the state of New Mexico only to learn later that the person actually has a history of misconduct such as fraud, narcotics use or driving under the influence. We cannot take risks and assume the state has cleared the individual using the same high standards we expect from our employees,” said Damian Chavez, Operations Manager of Home Care Assistance New Mexico.

“Home Care Assistance is dedicated to providing thorough screenings on its’ employees. Many homecare and healthcare organizations around the country want to do the bare minimum, if that. Not Susan Bruketta. She wants to insure the safety of all of her clients and employees. She’s an extremely responsible business owner,” said Erika Worth, President of the Collective Intelligence. “We do background screenings to keep people safe. . Often I speak with business owners that would rather save a few dollars and do the absolute bare minimum. It’s frustrating from our standpoint because it goes against the entire reason we do background checks.”

“We want to review an applicant’s entire adult work history, nationwide” said Susan Bruketta, President of Home Care Assistance New Mexico. For years, the national home care agency industry has used state Criminal Online Registry and other private database search publishers to prescreen caregivers (e.g. nurses, certified nursing aids, home health aides, medical technicians, EMT’s, etc.). The shortcoming of these systems is that they rely upon state reported convictions and do not release all the charges against individuals. Often national background searches omit states or counties where individuals have lived since no unique identifiers have linked the individual to a county within the state. The only conclusive way to investigate the entire history of someone is by conducting criminal record searches for all aliases someone has used in all counties of residence, employment and education.

It’s very important that individuals have the option to stay in their own home and feel safely cared for. Nine in ten seniors surveyed say they want to age in place, in their own homes. Home Care Assistance helps them to achieve this goal. Applicants are screened every day and only one in 30 pass the Collective Intelligence background investigation and caregiver competency exam.

Just last month, a home care worker in Tennessee was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of aggravated sodomy against his 82-year-old male patient. Also last month, a home care worker in Reno, NV pawned her hospice patient’s wedding ring and replaced the ring with fake jewelry. In November, a home care worker in Brooklyn was convicted of brutalizing her 86-year-old client after a horrific video surfaced of the home care worker dragging her client across the floor by her ankles, leaving her on the floor for over an hour. There are countless other stories similar to these.

“Home health care workers have some of the most critical and sensitive jobs in the country. They have access to loved ones in their most vulnerable state, in addition to financial information, personal belongings and medication. These vulnerable adults rely on home care workers for their health and welfare. A person with a history of violence, sexual abuse, drug abuse or theft could cause irreparable harm to these adults. Every effort should be made to protect their safety, dignity and possessions. In many states, legislation that has been put into effect to protect vulnerable adults from felonious home care workers is neither mandatory nor enforced.

For more information about Home Care Assistance or our background check process, please call Susan Bruketta at (505)798-0800.

ABOUT HOME CARE ASSISTANCE NEW MEXICO
Home Care Assistance New Mexico is a leading home care provider which serves the greater Albuquerque area. The company provides hourly personal care and live-in service for seniors and others in the community. Geriatric Care Managers, estate conservators and other senior advocates frequently refer families to Home Care Assistance New Mexico. People looking for a comprehensive alternative to any type of facility, or for those who prefer the comfort and safety of round-the-clock monitoring and care, use Home Care Assistance 24/7 live-in care.

ABOUT COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
Collective Intelligence has been an industry leader in background screening services for almost ten years. The company performs a variety of services, ranging from criminal background checks to drug screenings to internet background research. Its corporate headquarters are in Vancouver, Washington, with satellite offices in Los Angeles and Doylestown, Pennsylvania. For more information visit: http://www.cibackgrounds.com