Does the company provide the services your client or loved one needs?
Is the company specialized in dealing with Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care, or the particular care in question?
Can it assist clients in long term care facilities and retirment homes?
Are the caregivers insured and bonded?
If you don’t like a caregiver, can you request a different one?
Does the company know when to bring in other specialists?
Is the company community oriented and actively involved in the community?
Does the company have a track record and testimonials from other clients using the service?
Is there regular communication between the company, caregiver, the recipient and the family?
Are the family and caregivers included when the company develops or changes the care plan?
Is the same caregiver assigned for the duration of the care plan?
Are the caregivers employees of the company and how are they screened?
What is the caregiver becomes sick? Or is on holidays?
Is 24-hour or Live-In care available? Is someone available to assist you and your loved one to answer questions after hours or in an emergency?
Does the company carry a pager or cell phone for emergencies and are available even if the office is closed for the day?
Can assessments be done in the hospitals before the client goes home?
Is there a care plan binder in every home for the staff to document?
Is the company Accredited with Accreditation Canada?
By: James Watson
Homecare’s goal is to maintain one’s independence, peace of mind, health and wellness by providing the appropriate in-home assistance and companionship with well-trained and compassionate caregivers. The term ‘homecare’ itself is a bit of an umbrella term too, implying the delivery of several different types of service. Homecare services are commonly distinguished between non-medical homecare and medical or nursing homecare. Non-medical homecare can encompass a broad range of services from personal support functions (transfers, assistance with bathing, incontinence care), light housekeeping (changing linens, laundry, vacuuming), errands and transportation (grocery shopping and meal preparation, handling dry cleaning), to plain and simple companionship (attending theatre and movie events, playing a game of chess, reading the newspaper aloud). Medical homecare includes services that government legislation deems medical in nature and that may only be performed by a medical professional such as a registered nurse (RN). Non-medical homecare is typically much less expensive than medical homecare.
It is very important to understand how a service provider defines its notion of homecare and therefore what type of services it can offer you. For example, the non-medical homecare offered by the
A service provider may specialize in certain care provisions too. For example, Premier Homecare Services specializes in Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care by specifically training and educating its employees, its caregivers. Other types of care provisions include Overnight, Live-In and 24 Care (monitoring for wandering, preparing breakfast in the morning), Respite Care (regularly scheduled visits to relieve the primary family caregiver), Palliative Care, and post-surgery assistance in the home. Ask about the availability of these. Your needs may not require them now, but if that changes in the future you will wish to have these options available for you.
Once you have chosen a service provider, you must then begin the process of planning the service you will receive. If the situation is an emergency and care is required immediately, you should be able to reach a provider 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and then expect to have a caregiver arrive before that day is out or by the very next day at the latest. If the situation is not so urgent, you may take some more time to ensure that you will receive the care that best matches your needs. Ask the provider if they will do an in-home assessment; somebody should be available to come see you in person. The purpose of an in-home assessment is to help you and the provider identify your needs and your wants, to structure a care plan that satisfies everyone and to gauge personalities and preferences so that the best possible caregiver may be matched to the assignment. Keep in mind that to “gauge personalities” does not mean that you are being judged, by any means! They only wish to find the best person for the job.
One very important thing to do during the assessment: Ask, ask, ASK questions! The person doing the assessment should be able to ease any reservations you might have by answering your questions professionally, knowledgeably and calmly. I have published another blog aricle this week to give you a good idea of the questions you might ask – click here. When all of your qualms are settled you can finalize the details of a Care Agreement or Terms of Service Agreement. Make sure it is clear that all the services you wish to receive are outlined and agreed upon. If everything is in order, then let the service begin.
Once you have been receiving care for awhile, reassess the whole situation and determine whether you are completely satisfied. Is the provider over-delivering on its promises? Are they maintaining open lines of communication with you and your family, updating you on any changes or challenges regarding the care being provided? Are they receptive to your changing needs and wants? Do they appear available in the event of an emergency? These are all questions you should ask during your initial assessment and then be prepared to ask them again after some time. Take charge if everything is not up to par. Demand positive change and if it does not happen, consider a change. You should NOT have to settle on the standard of care for yourself or a loved one.
Homecare should be a pleasant experience from the “get-go”, onwards. It is meant to ease your stress and deliver peace of mind. It liberates and empowers a family by ensuring that their loved ones are secure while attaining the most out of life. Approach it intelligently and you can be guaranteed to get the most out of it.
By: James Watson
��������� You have been wrestling with the issue for awhile now: you think it is about time your parents could use a little extra help. It is not that they are unhealthy. Rather, your entire life they have inspired you to lead an active lifestyle, they have taught you the love of cooking and food, and all along they have done it with laughter and love. It is really the little things that have triggered this thought. That time you saw your mother catch her step while walking up the stairs in the front foyer and your heart nearly leapt out of your chest. The day you watched your father climb up onto that �long-should-have-been-thrown-out� stepladder to get at the boxes in the rafters of the garage. �You�re not even supposed to use that top step anyways, it says so right on it!� you think to yourself. You worry that something might happen to them, the intense feelings of panic catching you off guard some days. It has become the cause of a whole new dimension of stress in your life. You are almost certain now � your parents could use some extra help.
��������� Where do you begin? It is not easy to know. I explained in my first blog � Myopic Madness (January 15, 2009) � that things can get confusing:
Anyone familiar with the aging business understands that there is an amazing deluge of decisions to be made by any individual requiring service [for care]. Anybody facing such decisions alone would easily feel overwhelmed. Even if that person has a large and motivated family to advocate for them, the overwhelming slew of providers and services would be altogether confusing.
I proceeded to detail the obligation of professional networks to help facilitate somebody’s research, to help them make sense of the system � the tools and services available � and to be able to refer them to the appropriate service provider that is best suited to what they are seeking, what they need or are wishing for. But if you are here asking yourself: �Where do I start?� chances are you are not one of these aforementioned professionals, nor do you personally know one who can advise you. So you feel like you are stuck in limbo, right? Not sure of where or who to turn to. Where do you begin?
��������� The good news is that you have already begun by reading this. You have taken the first step: research. Research within the aging business, the senior care business, can be done in a number of ways. One method is using the internet. Here, only a few clicks away, you have a wealth of information available to you. Yet this can also be the problem. How do you make any sense of the sheer volume and variety of information? How can you tell if an organization is reputable? How can you compare agencies that provide similar services or even identify them? Fortunately, a number of tools have emerged over the past few years that can help you sift through it all. These tools are mostly in the character of online service directories (some are listed for you at the end of this article).
��������� Coming back into the not-so-digital world, we find the more at-hand research resources � literally. Publications such as The Care Guide or Help�s Here are regularly produced hardcopy service directories that provide a visually pleasing and comprehensive presentation of services and products pertaining to seniors� lifestyle and care. If you wish to receive a copy of one of these magazines, contact us at Premier Homecare Services � (416) 510-8848 � and speak to myself or anyone else to request a copy.
��������� I have briefly described internet-based service directories and hard-copy ones too, but when you are serious about finding the right kind of care for a loved-one, those types of information sources may not suffice. That is when speaking to somebody directly counts and can really help to ease your doubts. You can always phone a service provider, a great strategy. You can schedule a time to meet with someone in person to go over the questions you have (Note: They should come meet you where you choose and as soon as you wish them there!). Another strategy is to go where they are. Premier Homecare Services has a dedicated �Events� webpage for each of its locations where local and regional events are posted (Use the “Find�A Location” button to navigate to your local website and then choose the ‘Events‘ tab.�If you are still having trouble, contact us and we help you figure it out). Find one close to you and plan to attend. It may be a health fair at a local community centre or an open house at a new retirement community; a presentation as part of a regular speakers� series or a charity walk on a Sunday afternoon. In any case, there will always be a number of industry professionals there for you to speak to and pick their brains. Any one of us would be more than happy to go out of our way to help you.
��������� Addressing the issues involved in finding care for a loved-one is an inherently complex and involving process, a journey that does not happen overnight. By that effect I will take the journey with you in my future blog articles where I will comment on your decision-making process, the options available to you and the best information sources. For your convenience, each article of this series will begin with the prefix, “Where do I Begin?” Please join me every second Thursday to learn more.
Online Service Directories:
Community Care Resources – http://www.communitycareresources.ca/
Senior Service Directory – http://www.seniorservicedirectory.com/
Premier Homecare Services Community Resources List – http://www.premierhomecareservices.com/seniors_resources.php
