The decision that keeps you up is usually a simple one: is this person safe in my mother's house, and will she tell me when something changes? The fastest way to answer that is to put two candidates on the same paper and ask both the same questions.
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Put the same questions to each candidate
Ask what she has done with someone who forgets things, repeats questions, or gets upset at the end of the day, and ask for specific examples rather than reassurance. Ask how she reports a change: a skipped meal, a new bruise, a fall she did not see, a stranger at the door. Ask what she writes down, who she calls, and how quickly. Ask what she does when a task is not on the list. A good answer is that she calls you before she does it. Ask whether she has worked alongside a care team or a doctor's office and how she shares notes. Finally, ask about insurance and bonding, and whether background checks are run through the company or by you. Ask for the paper, not just a yes.
Medicine is the line to test
A hired non-medical helper may remind her of a dose time and pick up a prescription as an errand. A helper does not hand out, give, sort, or manage medicine. Medicine stays with you, her doctor, and her pharmacist. Ask each candidate to say that back in their own words. If one says they will fill a pill box, or that they will make sure she takes everything, that is a limit to name now, not after the first shift.
Compare the paper, not the impression
Put the candidates' written terms side by side: duties, hours, what is excluded, how changes are billed, and what notice is required to end the arrangement. A candidate who is warm but vague is harder to hold to account than one who is plain and specific. Also note whether the candidate will meet her in the house before the first shift, and how she treats the things she is asked to leave alone.
Make the decision one you can revisit
Choose one, then write a short two-week check: what she was asked to do, what she actually did, what you noticed, and what needs to change. Keep that note. It will guide the next change far better than any reference.