Framingham Senior Home Care

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

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.

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

End-of-Life Care

Tender, loving comfort and support

As you wind down in life, you may need someone in your home around-the-clock for total peace of mind. The support our end-of-life care team delivers is a constant source of comfort.

Empathy

At Preferred Care at Home, we partner with hospices to care for people as they approach life’s final transition. Our caregivers are specially trained in end-of-life care. Depending on your needs, they may, for example, prepare easy-to-eat foods, read to you, and watch for discomfort and summon health-care providers if needed.

With end-of-life care, we help people who are dying remain in the peace and comfort of their beloved home. If a hospice facility is required, however, we also provide loving services there.

After the person dies, the caregiver will also take care of the immediate tasks that need to be done:

• Notifying the appropriate people
• Providing privacy and dignity

End-of-life care is also available on a short-term respite basis. Our trained, compassionate aides give the family caregiver time to rejuvenate or accomplish tasks that must be seen to. However long you need us, we’ll be there.