PORTLAND, Maine — Many of us hire help for ourselves or our parents when we cannot be there to help.
How can we tell who is trustworthy to enter our homes to help us?
The question surfaced after police arrested 37-year-old Sarah Richards for murdering the 83-year-old woman whose driveway she was hired to shovel.
The Southern Maine Agency on Aging reports that elderly people are often targets of scammers, preying on vulnerable people in need of help.
"There are people out there that prey upon these vulnerable people and we hear about this all the time," said Laurence Gross, the executive director of the SMAA. "When you're alone and you don't have a support surrounding you and you need things, you can be very vulnerable and sometimes desperate."
Gross recommends people look up resources through the U.S. Government's Eldercare Locator. It compiles agencies and organizations dedicated to helping seniors, and each one is required to check the backgrounds of the people they hire. These organizations are also required to have insurance for the people they hire.
Gross said these resources are necessary for seniors, more than half of whom live alone.
He suggested people ask a series of questions before hiring, including: how long has the person/company been in business? What kinds of training is in place for employees?
He also said people can request a background check from the State Police. To submit a request, a person normally needs to the full name and date of birth of the person whose background they want checked.