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Guest Blog:The Advantages Of Hiring A Home Care Consultant For Your Business

Hiring a home care consultant for your business can make a huge impact on the credibility

of the services you provide. Home care professionals are highly sought after by people who need help with caring for their aging loved ones. As a business owner, you can build authority as a home care provider and subject matter expert by collaborating with a consultant.

Of course, not just any consultant will work for your business and its home care goals. There are different skills you want to look for in the person that you hire. But the skills that you settle on will ultimately depend on your business size, the breadth of your services, and obviously, your bottom line. That’s why you’ll want to properly vet your potential home care consultants before you bring them onto your team.

In this article, we will cover the benefits of hiring a home care consultant for your business. We’ll also make sure you’re clear on what to look for in a candidate and their background. Read on

to discover how a home care consultant can positively impact your business and the home care services it provides.

You Decide What Background You’re Looking For

There is no one-size-fits-all background to look for when hiring a home care consultant. In fact,

It’s a common misconception that home care professionals need to all have extensive medical backgrounds. This is not at all the case, although some quality home care consultants may come from a health-related background.

If you want to take a deeper dive into your candidate’s background, you can get in touch with your local licensing board that certifies home care professionals. Many of these licensing boards, what they ask for from a person looking to become certified, and their criteria to meet change, based on what state you’re in.

Whatever your candidate’s background looks like, though, there are still some key things to look for above all else. These qualities will ultimately benefit your company and your clients’ experience with your services. Good communication, empathy, patience, and dedication — these are just a few attributes in a candidate that will make a huge impact on your clients. Interview your clients – multiple times, if you’d like – to make sure that they have these essential qualities.

You Can Build Relationships with Consultants

Simply put, it’s easier to build a relationship with someone on-one-one, rather than indirectly or through a third-party like home care staffing agencies. Home care consultants bring personal-level traits like loyalty and empathy, without the bureaucratic baggage and extra steps that you deal with when hiring through an agency. Building a relationship with a consultant early-on is a great way to get a sense of their experience and quality of service.

Once you’ve gotten to know a consultant well, it’ll be much easier to introduce them to your potential and existing clients. It’ll be obvious that you have a trusted relationship with your consultant when you can introduce them naturally while still providing a lot of detail about what they can offer.

Another advantage of working with an individual consultant is meting out more manageable pay. It tends to cost a lot more to hire home care consultants through an agency or other third party. Since you’re only negotiating pay and setting rates with one person, the time from sourcing candidates to hiring them is usually much quicker. Think carefully about how much you can budget for hiring home care professionals — chances are, a consultant will make much more sense for your business’s bottom line.

You Can Easily Evaluate Performance

The last thing that you want is for your home care services to suffer without you knowing about it. When you hire a home care consultant, it’s much easier to evaluate their performance and track their growth than it is when working with an agency. With a home care consultant, you can coordinate a performance tracker with them to make sure they know how to satisfy your business needs.

You can start this process during the hiring phase when you outline with your consultant what your requirements for their performance are. After your consultant understands what your business needs are and what your clients expect from them, they can closely work with you to make sure they’re meeting your expectations. Remember, if you’re not clear with your consultant about what’s required of them early on, they’ll struggle to meet your performance standards.

A huge benefit to setting a one-on-one performance plan and schedule with a consultant is reducing your risk of time lost. It’s much more difficult to plan performance expectations through an agency, evaluate them as having met your standards, and confirm with the person being cared for that they’re satisfied. With a consultant, your business doesn’t risk wasted time, effort, and money on a home care professional that isn’t on the same page as you.

It Helps Make a Name For Your Business and its Services

Hiring a home care consultant of your own simply gives your business more credibility than hiring through an agency. When you work with a consultant, you directly coordinate the way they behave with your client, which means you’re responsible for determining what your client needs are, and making sure they’re met one-hundred percent of the time. If you go with the agency route, you’ll never be sure that you’ll have the same caregiver for any real length of time, which hurts your clients’ overall experience.

Go with a home care consultant to increase your chances of having someone reliable who can stick around for the long haul. All too often, hiring through an agency means you’ll get a rotating door of individuals with varying levels of experience and skills.

A home care consultant with whom you build up trust and a relationship will make a world of difference in the quality of care your business offers in the longer-term. Your clients will recognize your business as a reliable source of expertise, rather than an outsourcing agency that doesn’t understand what its clients really want from their home care.

By Jim|2024-01-29T11:54:26-05:00February 15th, 2024|Dr. Mauk's Boomer Blog, News Posts|Comments Off

How Can You Tell if Your Elderly Family Member Needs Home Care

Accepting the need for assistance is not easy for adults as they get older. So, how will you determine when your elderly parent needs home care? One thing is sure: your parents are not likely to be the ones who tell you.

Older adults have a desire to remain independent and be in control. Usually, a senior will hide any issues out of fear of being a burden or because they are embarrassed or ashamed. However, until a sudden decline in their overall health makes it obvious, they need assistance. Since adult children don’t come up with a care decision plan before the crisis takes place, the stress of an unexpected hospitalization complicates things even more.

One way to avoid this problematic scenario is to start regularly monitoring your aging parent’s mental and physical abilities. Make sure he knows this is not an accusation but instead a way to help him maintain his independence for as long as possible. It is not easy to see a loved one’s health decline, but you can help them avoid any medical crisis if you know the signs. To determine whether your parents need home care, keep an eye on the following essential signs:

Essential Signs that Your Elderly Family Member Needs Home Care

1. Difficulty Getting Around
As many experts agree, most people over the age of 70 need some help to go about their routine. However, your family member may not feel comfortable telling you that he needs assistance. Over time, vision and hearing loss may become severe enough to limit your loved one’s ability to move around the house without help. Your parents will also need some help if they begin having problems with balance or coordination.

2. Difficulty Taking Care of Themselves
While it is normal for older adults to deal with medical issues eventually, it is not normal for them to not take care of themselves altogether. It is one of the most obvious signs that your loved one needs help. When you notice that they are unable to take care of their hygiene or clean up after themselves, you have to intervene.

3. Physical Decline
As the years’ progress, most elderly adults will experience a gradual decrease in physical fitness and mobility. However, some older adults experience a sudden decline in health that is too rapid to be recognized by any family member. Once this happens, they can’t regain their full strength and mobility before they are forced to seek home care assistance.

4. Cluttered Home
In most cases, older adults take pride in the appearance of their homes. Over time, they will likely develop a tidy and clean appearance. However, this will start to change as they get older. In addition to the usual clutter created over time, it is essential to keep an eye out for signs that your elderly family member needs home care due to cluttered spaces.

5. Loss of Memory or Confusion
An alarming number of elderly adults suffer from some degree of memory loss or confusion. As a result, they may fail to remember important dates, events, and conversations, while some may become disoriented while trying to get ready for the day or do other routine tasks. These are warning signs that your elderly parent may have developed dementia.

6. Frequent Falls
As the year’s pass, seniors tend to have a greater chance of falling. As a result, they may need assistance getting up from a chair or moving around to get to the bathroom without damaging themselves. These falls occur gradually over time in most cases and do not require any immediate attention from you or your family. However, if you notice that your loved one is falling more frequently or becoming unstable while moving around the house, you should consider calling for a senior home care service.

7. Reduced Appetite and Sudden Weight Loss or No Gain in Weight
A sudden and unexplained loss of appetite or inability to gain weight is a possible sign that your loved one needs home care. Such problems may be linked to some form of pain or discomfort that he is unable to self-diagnose. When this happens, it is time for you to step in and intervene.

8. Feelings of Worthlessness and Hopelessness
If you notice that your elderly parent is experiencing a change in their attitude, it might signify that they feel worthless or hopeless about something. You can tell if your loved one is unhappy with their life when he starts complaining about things more often than usual and becomes more irritable than normal. It may help to write down thoughts about these feelings or speak to a counselor for some guidance.

9. Shift in Personality
It is normal for older adults to become more irritable as they age. It could be due to any number of reasons, including pain or medication side effects. However, if your elderly loved one changes significantly in personality, it may be a sign that dementia has set in. For example, most people who experience memory issues will occasionally forget to pick up their medication or lose important documents. But if your loved one forgets things regularly, you must consider consulting a physician.

Hiring Home Care for Elderly Family Member
Once you notice any signs that your loved one may need care, the best way to help them maintain their independence is to hire senior home care services. These agencies offer caregivers who are trained to assist the elderly with various activities. They can provide assistance with daily living, including bathing or getting dressed, as well as other activities depending on the needs of your loved one.

The ideal way to start your search is to ask yourself, “Are there any great senior care services near me that can address my parent’s needs?” To ensure that the agency will provide the most effective service, look for reviews and ratings online. Ask friends and relatives if they have had similar experiences with specific agencies and services. You can also ask family members and friends if they know of individuals who would be good candidates for home care.

All in all, these are some of the most common signs that you may need to hire senior home care services for your family member. If you notice any of these indicators, it is never too late to consider hiring assistance.

Author Bio
I’m Andrea Gibbs, Born, raised, and still living in New York. I’m a work-at-home mom with a background in business development, strategy, and social media marketing. I’m a blog contributor at Serenity Senior Care to motivate other parents about how they can enhance their elderly loved ones quality of life.

By Jim|2023-11-20T17:13:13-05:00November 30th, 2023|Dr. Mauk's Boomer Blog, News Posts|Comments Off

Introduction

Back in the day, the concept of the elderly needing care was majorly related to caregiving by the family or kids. Some fortunate parents got the best care from their family, while the unlucky ones had to suffer misery, depression, and prevailing sad moods, which eventually impacted their health. It is not always the family negligence, but sometimes the situation is so challenging that the elderly themselves have to let go of their families so that the next generation does not miss out on any opportunity to improve their lives.

Some compassionate people understood the need for every senior citizen to have good company, a clean environment, food, and medicine to spend the most crucial phase of their lives in harmony. The concept of senior home care was introduced, where the elderly are provided child-like care to keep them away from any adverse event or energy.

In certain places, there are purposefully constructed home care centers carrying every necessity and plan for a peaceful life for the elderly. On the other hand, we have private caregivers who care for the elderly. People often need clarification on the two types and find it challenging to decide which suits them.

What is Private Caregiver?

Private caregivers are hired and employed directly by senior citizens or their close family. Apart from providing help to senior citizens with ADLs or IADLs, some private caregivers are also trained to provide some medical care such as wound care, injections, and monitoring vital signs. However, this is rare and would cost more at a higher hourly rate.

What is Home Care?

Home care agencies are licensed businesses that hire a team of caregivers. The agency then contracts with families to send caregivers to their loved one’s homes to provide the necessary long-term care services. Some agency-based caregivers may be certified nurses or nursing assistants who can offer medical care. Some others provide legal assistance with ADLs or IADLs.

5 Differences between Home Care and Private Caregiver

Cost Difference

Private caregivers offer services at an affordable rate. They are averaging around $15 per hour—which can be between 20 and 30 percent lower than caregivers hired via an intermediary home care agency. On the other hand, While costs can vary significantly from place to place, home care agencies are more expensive than independent caregivers across the board. Nationally, the average hourly rate for home care through a home care agency is $20+ per hour—approximately 20 to 30 percent more than an independent caregiver.

Certification

The home care service centers are registered with the government, and there are regular inspection raids to ensure the quality of services. The strict check also provides that the caregivers are well-trained and certified; they even have to attend regular workshops to improve their skills.

An individual hires private caregivers, so quality assurance or checks must be made by the individual, which could be more satisfactory due to the lack of resources. The certification checking services are also not available to ordinary people, so you cannot guess whether a person has a valid, accurate degree.

Family Involvement

No matter how excellent care you get from any outsider, no one can match the happiness one brings from the love, respect, and attention received from family members. They say blood relations never fade away, which is the world’s reality.

Everyone craves love from their loved ones. In the case of in-home care service centers, family involvement is minimal as the senior citizens have to stay within some building or boundary. However, the private caregivers attend to the senior citizens in their own homes so the family can also pay attention to their elderly and keep a check on the private caregivers.

Facilities Available

In-home care services are packed with facilities necessary for the well-being of senior citizens.

The available equipment, medicines, and other necessities are provided to the elderly in need within seconds.

On the other hand, in private caregiving, the employers have to take care of the necessities themselves, meaning they have to wander in the market to get medicines and medical equipment.

Availability

Since the in-home care centers are buildings based, they have a minimum or maximum capacity, so they may get overcrowded or run out of space. In the case of private caregivers, if you hire them full-time, they can focus on an individual elderly’s care without any competition among themselves.

By Jim|2023-01-24T12:12:22-05:00January 24th, 2023|Dr. Mauk's Boomer Blog, News Posts|Comments Off

Guest Blog: Home Care vs. The Alternatives: How to Make The Right Choice

Choosing the type of care for your senior family member can be stressful and difficult. The options alone can be confusing. While nursing homes and other more popular, familiar alternatives are often the first choices of most families, many are now choosing to hire medical homecare professionals to provide home care for their elderly loved ones.

Home care is a type of in-home service for seniors and the elderly. Care and services are provided in the home, so your loved one does not have to live separately and far away from you. It has several advantages for you and your senior family members. However, nursing homes and other alternatives also offer some benefits. So, which one should you choose? Should you go for home care, or should you choose a more familiar option?

To make sure you explore your choices efficiently, it is vital to understand each care type and what it can offer to your senior loved one – and to your family, as well.

Different Types of Senior and Elderly Care Services

Aging in Place/Home Care

Aging in Place is another term for home care senior services. This option is ideal for seniors and the elderly who need assistance or personal care for their daily living activities (ADL) – such as dressing up, personal hygiene, and preparing and eating meals – and instrumental activities of daily (IADL) living such as housekeeping and shopping. It does not provide medical care.

If you are considering home care for your senior loved one, there are several things you need to consider.

Home care is ideal for seniors whose homes are in a safe and secure neighborhood. A gated village or community is ideal, although it’s not necessary.
The home should be accessible; transportation should be easy so that your senior loved one won’t have to worry about driving the car.
Seniors should have their family, loved ones, or friends nearby. They should be available to help when needed.
The home should be easy to renovate or modify to accommodate to adjust to your senior loved one’s needs.
Home care is ideal for seniors who do not require a nurse or any other medical professional. Medical needs should be simple.

Aging in place is preferred by families who want a one-on-one and more personal senior care service. It’s an environment that allows the caregiver and his senior client to establish a comfortable and trustworthy relationship. Additionally, home care is also more exclusive than the alternatives because you and your family work with only one caregiver.

Nursing Homes

Nursing homes are the more popular option among the alternatives. They offer custodial care, which refers to non-medical assistance such as bathing, eating, and dressing up. Nursing homes also provide professional medical care. Licensed physicians and nurses are usually on-call 24/7.

These places are ideal for seniors in need of a high level of personal and medical care. Many of its senior and elderly residents were brought there because of an illness or after hospitalization. Nursing homes are also ideal for seniors with Alzheimer’s or dementia as the facility is safe and security is tight.

Assisted Living Facilities

Assisted living facilities offer 24-hour access to care and supervision. These facilities provide room and boarding services to seniors and the elderly. The residents can easily and freely interact with each other.

These facilities do not offer professional medical services as there are no physicians or doctors and nurses in the community.

Assisted living facilities are ideal for seniors and the elderly. They need assistance with some of their day-to-day activities, such as going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and preparing meals.

Independent Living

Independent living housing arrangements are ideal for seniors and elderly residents aged 55 years old and up. It is specifically for those who do not need assistance or require minimal help with their day-to-day activities. There are no licensed physicians and nurses in the housing facility.

Seniors can choose from two housing types: freestanding or apartment-like homes. These houses are easy to manage and do not require yard work and heavy maintenance.

Independent living housing provides its senior residents with fun activities, amenities, and services.

Retirement Community

Also called Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), retirement communities put together assisted living, home care, and independent living in one location. This concept allows seniors to live in one community, so when their housing needs and care level changes, they can conveniently move to one that’s ideal for them.

Retirement communities can be expensive, though, as housing costs and monthly fees can change as the level of care required changes.

Things to Consider

Aside from understanding each option, it is also essential for you and your family to consider the following when deciding which senior care service to choose.

Daily physical and medical needs of your senior loved one.
How accessible and safe the community/facility location is.
Are you capable of meeting the required expenses?
Your senior loved one’s emotional and social needs.

With all the information you have, choosing the right care type for your senior family member will be easier and less stressful.

By Jim|2022-10-26T10:18:15-05:00November 9th, 2022|Dr. Mauk's Boomer Blog, News Posts|Comments Off