FAQs

We are licensed to serve clients in Florida. Our service areas are Orange county, Seminole county, Osceola county, Brevard county, Polk county, Hardee county, Delaware, New Castle County, Kent County and Highlands county FL. We are also licensed to serve clients in Delaware. Our service areas are New Castle County and Kent County so our care managers can easily drop by our clients’ homes to supervise our caregivers.

If you aren’t sure whether or not your loved one is in our service area – give us a call at 1-888-418-2221.

Local home care agencies have the advantage of recruiting local caregivers. The home health care profession relies on its caregivers to travel to each patient’s home. The further away the home care office is from your home, the less likely that agency will have caregivers that live close to you. Typically, a home care agency cannot successfully recruit caregivers who live more than fifteen to twenty miles away, if it’s not a live-in case. Caregivers do not like to commute great distances to get to a client’s home. Sometimes a caregiver will take a job with a long commute and sadly, will quit that job when a closer job becomes available. From the client’s point of view, this means having to change caregivers and train new caregivers.

Non-medical care (also called attendant or custodial care) provides assistance with the common things that a well person does for him or herself every day (“activities of daily living”). This includes light housekeeping, laundry, meal preparation, transportation, running errands and medication reminders. Caregivers help the client move around safely as well as provide companionship and supervision as needed.

According to our licensure, our caregivers cannot do anything that would be described as skilled, clinical or invasive. They cannot administer any medications — even over the counter medications. We can remind clients to take pills already sorted in a pillbox and we can open the pillbox. If the client needs more than just reminders, then a loved one, RN or pharmacist needs to manage the sorting of the pills and the schedule. If the client requires insulin, or other injections, these would be administered by the client or another trusted member of the family. A caregiver cannot monitor vitals such as blood sugar, blood pressure, etc. , though our caregivers can remind a client to test his or her blood sugar and record the results in a log. Our caregivers cannot apply medicated cream. Caregivers can assist clients putting on the oxygen cannula but cannot adjust oxygen.

Non-medical services are primarily paid for by the client or other responsible party unless Veterans’ Benefits (Aid & Attendance) or a Long Term Care Insurance policy* is in place. Medicare will pay if your doctor prescribed clinical help administered by a nurse, physical or occupational therapist. This level of care is sometimes called “Home Health Care or Skilled Nursing.” It is usually of short-duration after a patient leaves a hospital or rehab center. Medicare does not pay if you need help with activities of daily living like non-prescribed personal care, meal preparation, medication reminders and light housekeeping.
*VA benefits must be applied for and recipients must meet certain requirements.

Yes. Many of our clients begin our services at home and we follow them into facilities. Our one-on-one care can be delivered anywhere.

Yes, someone is available to help you 24-hours a day, seven days per week. We also have staff members who are on-call during non-office hours to assist you with any urgent service issues.

Caregivers who work for our agency supply us with viable references, pass intensive psychological, cognitive, drug and criminal screenings as well as verification of their ability to work in this country. We make sure each passes a written competency test as well as observing their caregiving skills (transfers, etc.). Your family should do all these screenings before hiring even though your neighbor or cousin swears by a caregiver. Additionally, you may be responsible for protecting your assets by having insurance in place to cover liability, workers’ compensation, employment and unemployment taxes.

Working with our agency instead of hiring privately avoids these problems. We take care of hiring qualified experienced caregivers. If a client wants to change aides, we take care of it. Any questions about hours worked – we deal with because our aides all clock-in using our telephony system. If an aide needs time off, we make sure another aide is there in her place. Most importantly our care managers personally visit clients to make sure our service is satisfactory in addition to telephone calls, supervisory visits and reviewing our aides’ in-home documentation.

We have a standard service agreement that outlines the services we provide. You can cancel our services by providing notice two weeks prior to cancellation.

There is a four-hour minimum shift. Care can be provided from one to seven days per week, depending on the client’s specific needs.

For our home care services, we require a four-hour minimum in order to guarantee the best possible care and to maintain consistency and a close connection with the caregiver who is working with your loved one.

Yes. Flexibility is built into our services and we will accommodate your specific needs, as long as each shift is four hours or greater.

We know situations can change rapidly and we work with you and your loved one to meet changing care needs. Our care manger will work with you to update your care plan. You can cancel our services by providing notice two weeks prior to cancellation.

Two business days is all you need. The notice you provide allows us to re-assign your caregiver so he or she can work.

Our caregivers’ clock- in and out of each shift using our telephony system which verifies time and attendance. Each caregiver completes documentation that remains in the home for every visit.

Before we begin service, our care manager works with the client and family to determine a Care Plan. Your caregiver or caregivers sign and review the Care Plan before providing service to your loved one.

Yes, with your authorization, our caregivers can drive. We recommend that they use your car.

We will bring another caregiver who we think will be a good fit with your loved one. One of our staff will introduce new caregivers to the client.

Hiring a caregiver is not like hiring a cleaning service or handyman; your desired outcome is all about personal interaction, ongoing communication, and a continual re-examination of your loved one’s needs and wants. Families are complex and entering your home as a caregiver requires a delicate mix of personal and professional attention.
We work hard to ensure we hire professional, ethical and dependable caregivers. Our pre-employment and ongoing human resource process is based on pre-screenings, psychological assessments, applications, interviews, competency testing, reference verifications, abuse registry checks, certification checks, criminal background checks, TB testing, drug screening, orientation, ongoing training and continuous monitoring by our Care Managers.

All our caregivers are experienced and many have certification as a Nursing Assistant or Home Health Aide. Each is hired for the following characteristics:

• Gentleness and watchfulness
• Sensitivity to non-verbal needs
• Active listening
• Proactive problem solving
• Regard for personal boundaries
• Attentiveness to the recipient’s right to be treated with dignity and respect

Yes. It’s important that you like the caregiver assigned to you. We carefully evaluate our caregivers’ capabilities, strengths and personality when matching them with clients, and continue to monitor the relationship to make certain it remains a good fit.

We match caregivers to clients using 1) our Caregiver Quality Assessment which provides us information on dependability, integrity, personality and cognitive abilities, and 2) our personal observations of the caregiver and client. We know that some clients like quiet and do not want someone in their space. In this case we make sure that the caregiver is NOT a talker and will maintain a wider personal space for the client. Likewise other clients love to talk and want a caregiver who is very sociable.

Call us immediately and we will find you a new caregiver!

Yes. Our caregivers are experienced with working with older adults. Most are certified as a Nursing Assistant or Home Health Aide. Upon hiring we orient them to our policies and procedures as well as provide ongoing professional development so our caregiver and care managers remain engaged and active learners and you continue to receive the best care available. When a caregiver is assigned to a new client, they work with a care manager to understand the care needs of the client and family, ensuring that your needs are met.

We do our best to have the same caregiver available for you but sometimes it’s just not possible. Usually we introduce another caregiver as a “back-up” so your loved one will always have someone with whom they are familiar and who knows exactly what they need.

Families know it is important to have a familiar face at the bedside when an elder is hospitalized. Often families can’t be there 24/7 to help or advocate for their loved one so having a caregiver at the bedside is important. Our caregiver provides invaluable one-on-one attention to your loved one. Work with our office to create a schedule to fit your family’s needs.

No. If we determine our services are appropriate for your needs after an “intake” consultation on the telephone, we will schedule a face-to-face assessment of your loved one by one of our care managers. If your loved one is in the hospital or rehab, we will work with the discharge planner to make sure that the Care Plan created for your loved one includes necessary information from your doctors or therapists. If at home, we will consult with you and your loved one to determine the level of care your loved one needs to remain as independent as possible.

Give us a call at 1-888-418-2221 to talk with us about your needs. We are happy to do a telephone consultation with you to determine if our services fit your requirements.