In-Home Senior Care

In Home Caregivers

Every day, we talk to people who need help navigating the senior care landscape. “I’m new to this.” We can help.

Think of it this way—need medical help—call a doctor. Legal help—a lawyer. We are experts in senior care. Every day we provide in-home care assistance, in home assistance, and in home care givers to over 100 seniors and their families. Our team has over 50 years of health and senior care experience.

Here are the top questions we answer daily: 

Where do I start?

Our first question is “what’s the situation?” Is it acute or ongoing? Here are typical scenarios.

Mom fell and broke her hip. Before the fall, she was relatively independent. She is going to rehab and doing OK. She will be coming home next week, and rehab is recommending we have in home care givers to help her get dressed, bathe, help her to the bathroom, make her meals, etc. Can you help?

Dad has dementia. His short-term memory is very poor. We recently had to take the car keys. He is very resentful of losing driving privileges. He can perform most personal care but often forgets to shower and his medications. We have some concerns about meals (stove). But he really wants to stay home and we are concerned with the mental impact of moving him. Can he get in home dementia care?

Can my aging parent live at home safely?

Safety usually comes down to two factors: fall risk and elopement (flight) risk. Fall risks can occur anywhere but are most relevant to walking, transferring (standing up), bathing, and doing things around the house. Elopement risk is a characteristic of dementia—they want to go home or leave the house and get confused.

In-home care assistance, in home assistance, and in home care givers can minimized fall risks by supervising tasks like bathing.  Clients who are at elopement risks need a 24 hour caregivers and 24 hour care for the elderly in their own home.

Mom may have dementia-how do we know and what should we do? 

Normal aging is often the inability to access our “working” memory. We can hold 5-10 things in our very short-term working memory and it does degrade as we age.

“Not normal aging” is different. Below are examples that may indicate “not normal aging” v. normal aging.

• Total memory loss for recent or new information (went to doctor yesterday—zero recall)
• Difficulty finding words when speaking or understanding words
• Being repetitive (same question over and over)
• Apathy, loss of initiative or withdrawal from pleasurable activities
• Change in mood especially depression and anxiety
• Difficulty completing normal tasks
• Confusion
• A failing sense of direction (ie normally when driving or other more complex situations).

These symptoms and examples do NOT mean someone has dementia, but they have been associated with people with dementia (ie list from Alzheimer’s Association).  Only a qualified clinician can diagnose dementia.

Should we move Mom or Dad to a senior community or “skilled care”?

“Skilled Care” communities provide licensed skilled care, activities, socialization, security, and meals. Assisted living starts with medications and bathing. Assisted Living communities are not locked down and typically have a wide variety of care levels and residents physical and cognitive needs.

Memory care only takes dementia/memory care residents. All residents have some level of dementia, the communities are very focused on dementia care.

Care is provided by the community staff. Typically, the Assisted Living community will have 10-20 residents PER aide. Memory care may have lower staffing ratios.   Learn more about the differences between in home care and community care.

In home care assistance, in home assistance, and in home care givers are always 1:1 care.  We can provide short visits to 24 hour care.

How do my parents pay for care?

In home care assistance, in home assistance, and in home care givers are paid three ways: Private pay, Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance (if they have it), and Veterans Benefits (if they qualify). Medicare do NOT pay for supportive, in-home care.  Get a FREE estimate!

Private Pay: Most clients use private funds to pay for in-home care. Please note, most skilled care communities are private pay.

Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance: Many LTC policies cover in-home care. We help numerous clients with LTC insurance and can review your policy for free.  Learn more.

Veteran’s Benefit: The VA has an in-home care benefit called the VA Aid and Attendant Benefit. We have a flyer explaining this benefit and the eligibility qualifications.  Learn more.