North Austin Senior Home Care

Hospital-to-Home Transition Care

Transition care—changing a downhill slope to a recovery triumph

You’ve probably seen it with loved ones. An elderly person checks out of a hospital or nursing home only to be readmitted within a few months. During the transition, medications weren’t taken, doctor appointments weren’t made and chronic illnesses weren’t cared for. The downward spiral seems unstoppable, the medical bills never-ending. And you’re at a loss for what to do.

At least one in five people with Medicare are readmitted to the hospital within one month of discharge.

But what if hospital care were different? Instead of sending elderly people home alone with confusing instructions and to-do lists, what if we also sent a coach—a trained expert to guide, encourage and empower? What if that transition care service were affordable?

At Preferred Care at Home, this isn’t a pipe dream. We’re making it a reality through our innovative Smooth-Transition Care program.

What Is Smooth-Transition Care^®?

A transition from a hospital or nursing home can be confusing. You get rehabilitation instructions, prescriptions to fill, follow-up appointments to make. When you get home, you don’t just have to build up your strength, but you’re supposed to remember all these other things—and have the energy to do them. For elderly people, recovery can be even more overwhelming because they’re often alone.

With our Smooth-Transition Care^® program, we’ve addressed each of these problems and developed a solution that helps put patients at ease so they can focus on getting better.

As a Smooth-Transition Care^® client, you’ll receive three tools to help you stay out of the hospital:

1.  A personal, specially trained coach

Your coach will meet you at the hospital, nursing home or other health facility and guide you through the transition process. After your discharge, your coach will meet with you regularly, through phone calls or visits, and make sure you have what you need. For example, your coach may schedule transportation to follow-up appointments, remind you about prescriptions and medication regimens, and make sure your home is safe. Your coach will also provide a listening ear and encouraging words.

2.  A Personal Health Record.

This in-depth, 15-piece tool kit stores the information you need to transition optimally, including medication instructions, appointment dates and test results. Your coach will encourage you to use this tool. The record also includes an easy-to-read symptoms chart that shows when you can wait and see your doctor and when you should call 911. You can view the Personal Health Record and even download the pages for free.

3.  An easily accessible online health record.

No need to tote the Personal Health Record with you to every doctor appointment. As a Smooth-Transition Care^® client, you’ll have exclusive access to your own online health record. Upon your request, your coach will add this information to your secure, password-protected database. You can share it with health care providers and family members who need up-to-date information.

Companion Care

Helping you enjoy life to the fullest

Too often, with age comes loneliness. The feeling that no one cares creeps in. Aging has a way of reminding you of family members and friends who have passed on. You can feel like you’re alone.

Senior women having coffee break

It’s our mission at Preferred Care at Home to alleviate that loneliness and bring joy and companionship. Our caregivers also travel with clients, providing transportation to the theater, doctor, church or coffee shop.

Companion care is available from 1 hour to 24 hours. It’s an excellent choice for seniors who live alone or don’t have a lot of family and friends nearby. It also works well for short-term respite care. The primary caregiver gets a much-needed break, and the senior loved one has fun interacting with another caring person.

Preferred Care at Home’s extensive senior companion care services include meal monitoring, transportation planning visits and trips, help with minor tasks, and of course, companionship. Here is the full list of services included:

Personal Interaction:

• Engaging in companionship and conversation
• Reminiscing about the past
• Discussing current and historical events
• Playing games and cards
• Renting and playing movies
• Maintaining a family scrapbook
• Encouraging participation with crafts
• Helping read
• Directing morning wake-up and evening tuck-in
• Helping select clothes
• Mailing letters and bills
• Monitoring eating patterns and diet
• Inspecting food expiration dates
• Maintaining a calendar
• Arranging appointments and providing reminders

Social Interaction:

• Planning visits, outings and trips
• Visiting neighbors and friends
• Encouraging interaction with loved ones
• Encouraging participation in and assisting with community activities
• Monitoring visitors
• Providing incidental transportation with caregiver to:
  – Doctor appointments
  – The pharmacy
  – Social outings
  – Lunch or dinner
  – Plays and concerts
  – Movies
  – Religious services
  – Sporting events
  – Club meetings

Homemaker Care

Helping you find joy in your house again

As we age, a big part of happiness depends on being comfortable and cared for at home. Home is where memories have been made, and are still being created.

When caring for the home becomes a burden the unwelcome thought of moving strikes.

Should you live in a home you’re unhappy with—one that’s getting cluttered and dusty because you can’t do the chores like you used to? Should you learn to cope with eating less because it’s difficult to shop and cook? Should you give up your pet because you can’t care for it? Should you put up with wrinkled or dirty clothes?

Should you move away from home?

There is another option: Preferred Care at Home’s homemaker care. We make your house into that special place again. We do the chores and provide those tender loving touches that make you comfortable. Ultimately, our homemaker care can help you or a loved one remain where you want to be—home.

Other people who enjoy our homemaker care services include:

• Family caregivers
  Let us take care of the mundane day-to-day tasks so you have more energy to focus on what’s important.
• Elderly parents resistant to other care
  If your parent would benefit from personal or companion care but is reluctant to accept it, why not introduce the concept gently through homemaker care?

Our homemaker care includes the following services.

General Homemaker Care:

• Recording and arranging recipes
• Preparing grocery lists
• Clipping coupons for shopping
• Shopping for and/or escorting to get groceries and supplies
• Preparing, serving and cleaning up after meals
• Preparing meals for future use

Light Housekeeping:

• Organizing and cleaning closets
• Dusting furniture
• Sweeping and vacuuming floors
• Taking out garbage
• Watering house plants
• Assisting with pet care

Laundering:

• Washing, folding and ironing clothes
• Changing linens and making beds
• Dropping off and picking up dry cleaning

Personal Home Care Assistance

Senior care that keeps you home

At Preferred Care at Home, Personal Home Care Assistance is among our many at-home care services for the elderly. We understand that as we mature, our needs change. The things that were once simple to perform become complicated.

Care

Preferred Care at Home understands that accepting these new challenges can be trying, and want to be there for you, by your side, every step of the way. We can provide you or your loved one caregiving service with our many personal home care services formulated to provide comfort and ease in the home. We provide assistance and direction with all your personal-care needs called “activities of daily living.” They are:

• Eating
• Hygiene care: bathing, grooming, shaving, and caring for teeth or dentures
• Dressing
• Maintaining mobility: transferring, walking and using mechanical aids
• Toileting
• Continence care
• Taking medication

When you give us a call, we’ll develop a personalized plan for you that combines any of our services you need.

Preferred Care at Home’s personal care can mean the difference between remaining at home and moving to a care facility. We want to make sure you stay home, safe and happy, for as long as possible. We also help you maintain independence. You’re in control. We’re just there to help and guide.

To learn more about our compassionate, experienced caregivers, please watch this video about our seven-step screening process.

Preferred Care at Home was founded by a husband-and-wife team who have been providing personal home care assistance and many other at home services for over 35 years. We strive to make quality caregiving service affordable to everyone. To ensure your needs are met, caregivers are available to provide personal home care services for as little as one to as many as 24 hours.

With our experience in the home care industry, we have learned what works best for our clients and we pass along these best practices to the professionals that are working directly with you or your loved one. We also understand that it’s not just about providing caring services, it’s also about being caring. We want all of our clients to feel refreshed and renewed from their experience with our professionals.

Without that caring element to go along with the services provided, the level of happiness and contentment experienced by our clients waivers and this is what we have experience in avoiding. Our professionals work alongside our clients night and day to not only provide the services needed. But also to help our clients feel at home, comfortable, and at ease.

Our Mission is to Ensure Our Clients Feel Appreciated, Loved and Unequivocally Heard

Our greatest mission is to ensure that our clients feel appreciated, loved, and unequivocally heard, on top of being very satisfied with the services we provide. We understand that most of our clients are used to being independent and self-sufficient their entire lives, and that making the decision to have personal home care assistance is challenging. We help to promote as much independence and self sufficiency as possible with the caregiving service we provide. This is critical because it allows our clients to receive all of the help they need without making any compromises in their ability to live their own lives, and find enjoyment with their hobbies, friends, family, and community.

We encourage independence and we understand its importance, but we also understand that it is possible that certain tasks should be avoided, that could cause risk to the physical health of any of our clients. For example, some clients may want to engage in physical activities that could leave them vulnerable to a slip and fall or maybe their vision or reaction time makes driving something that can be hazardous for them. In these instances our experience helps us navigate difficult situations, make the appropriate evaluations and referrals, and involve critical parties, making sure the client is involved every step of the way.

Dispelling Common Fears About Receiving at Home Care

At Preferred Care at Home we understand from our experience that refraining from doing tasks that were once thought routine and accepting personal home care services,  can feel like a blow to our client’s pride. When these feelings start to overcome our clients, our expert care team works to ensure senior clients feel involved in the care decisions and that their independence is not being infringed. The aging process, while normal, can be difficult and even anxiety provoking for many. We understand the complexities of aging and the difficulty some experience when it comes to asking for help. Yet, with the right personal home care services, we are confident that independence won’t be taken away, rather our care team helps support and many times restore a feeling of independence.

The right caregiver match will encourage and help senior clients pursue favorite hobbies, maybe even start a new activity, visit friends, and even attend events in their community. We have found through our many years of experience that the fear of losing one’s independence is often a senior greatest fear.  After our caring professionals from Preferred Care at Home come to help, it is common for our clients to feel a huge sense of relief. The care that is needed is received, family can rest, and clients are able to resume favorite activities that may have fallen to the wayside. It is a joy and privilege to experience first hand the support clients receive through our personal home care assistance.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s Care

Helping you stay safe and respected at home

Elderly woman sitting isolated on a bench

If you or your parent has Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia, you’re not alone. After all, on average, every four seconds someone is diagnosed with dementia, according to the World Health Organization. Yet facing the disease can feel so isolating, so overwhelming. Our in-home Dementia and Alzheimer’s care can help.

As advocates for quality dementia care, Preferred Care at Home has cared for hundreds of clients with dementia across the nation. Our specially trained, compassionate caregivers allow our clients to safely remain home, or in the home of a family member.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s home care services our experienced caregivers provide include:

• Stimulating mental awareness
• Playing memory-enhancement games
• Helping with crafts and reading
• Encouraging social interaction with family and friends
• Stimulating healthy conversation

Our caregivers keep a keen eye on safety and health issues by helping with the following:

• Nutritious-meal preparation
• Medication reminders
• Hygiene reminders
• Clothes selection
• Maintaining a safe home environment

Live-in Care

Affordable, 24 hour peace of mind

Peace of mind. It’s so often an elusive dream for people with elderly parents—and for elderly people themselves. That’s why Preferred Care at Home has always been known best for our 24 hour home care, also known as live-in care.

White chair on veranda

Our 24 hour home care services provide around-the-clock supervision and companionship in the security and privacy of your own home. Your caregivers, matched to you by personality along with life and work experience, are present day and night to provide professional, reliable and compassionate care.

In addition to quality care, we also guarantee continuity. You don’t have to worry about frequent changes in caregivers—having to get acquainted time and again. Central to our live-in care option is this commitment to consistency. And at Preferred Care at Home, where we strive to make our services accessible to everyone, live-in care is more affordable than you probably imagine.

Who Is Live-in Care Best For?

You may think of live-in care as being primarily for people who are bedridden. While it is an excellent solution for them, it’s also helpful for other people who want consistent aid. For example, our 24 hour home care is great for seniors who have:

• Unsteadiness or a fear of falling.

  Worrying about falling can lead to inactivity, which makes your muscles atrophy, which increases your risk for a fall! With live-in care, you always have someone there just in case, so you can feel confident to be as active as you can.

• Loneliness or a fear of being alone.

  No one should experience that empty feeling of loneliness. The compassionate heart of a Preferred Care at Home caregiver is an ever-present comfort.

• Trouble remembering medication.

  “Did you take your medicine today?” If that question’s been asked too many times, you should know that live-in care can eliminate that anxiety. Our quality caregivers will remind you when to take your medicine so dosages aren’t forgotten or repeated.

• Memory loss, or signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

  Memory deficiencies may creep in as we age. People with Alzheimer’s do best in a familiar environment. Most need extended hours of care in order to remain healthy and safe at home.

Live-in care services are also good for seniors who:

Want to avoid a revolving door of caregivers. Change can be stressful. Continuity is at the heart of our live-in care. As long as you’re happy and well taken care of, you’ll have the same caregiver by your side every step of the way.

Want to remain independent and in control of their care.With Preferred Care at Home’s live-in care, you’re the boss. You decide when and how you want things done.

Is Live-in Care Really Right for Me?

Still wondering whether live-in care is the choice for you? Here are answers to some common questions.

1. Can I afford 24 hour home care? Long-term care can certainly be costly. However, since 1984 the founders of Preferred Care at Home have built a reputation for offering quality services at affordable prices. Contact us to see which package works best for you.

2. What if I move or I already live in an assisted living community? If home is where you want to live, we can make that a reality. If you prefer to move into a facility, we can also provide any extra assistance you need. In essence, we come alongside you so home, or wherever you call home, is that safe place.

3. Will I like my caregivers? We match each caregiver to fit with your personality. We even look into life and work experience to make sure you two will get along swimmingly. A key aspect of our live-in care is quality interaction. After all, you have much to share with others. But of course, if you’re ever unhappy, we will promptly find a new person who fits your needs better.

If live-in care sounds like a good fit for you, contact us, and we’ll personally review all the details about how it works. We’ll even conduct a complimentary, no-obligation home assessment.