Homemaker and Companion Care · A Pillar Guide for MetroWest Families
Preferred Care at Home of MetroWest Boston is Brent Auslander's Framingham office, and we help elderly parents stay home with homemaker and companion care. Each caregiver clears our 7-step screening, and one call is all it takes to plan care from 1 to 24 hours a day.
Aging in place means staying in your own home as you get older, with the changes and help that keep daily life safe. It works when it's planned before a fall forces the question.
The AARP 2024 Home and Community Preferences survey found that 75 percent of adults 50-plus want to live in their current home for as long as possible.
It suits a parent who is safe alone for parts of the day and wants to keep their own routines. It gets harder when the house works against them, like a bathroom up a flight of stairs, or when nobody checks in for days at a time.
Springwell is the state-designated Aging Services Access Point for 22 communities, including Natick, Ashland, Sudbury and Wellesley. Its programs include home-delivered meals, homemaking and shopping help.
New England winters bring ice on the front steps and darkness by late afternoon. Settle who clears the walk and who drives to appointments before the first storm, not after it.
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The CDC's Check for Safety checklist says to have grab bars put in next to and inside the tub, and next to the toilet, with a non-slip mat or self-stick strips on the tub or shower floor. We'd do both before anyone plans a bigger bathroom remodel.
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The same checklist calls for a light and a light switch at the top and bottom of the stairs, and handrails on both sides that run the full length. Keep shoes, mail and bags off the steps, and salt the outside path before the first ice of the season.
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Keep the things your parent uses most on lower shelves, about waist high, so nobody climbs for a mug; if a step stool is a must, the checklist says to get one with a bar to hold and never to stand on a chair. In the bedroom, a lamp within reach of the bed and a nightlight on the path to the bathroom cover the walk in the dark.
The CDC lists lower body weakness, walking and balance problems, and some medicines among the risk factors for a fall. A daily walk, meals at set times and medication reminders from someone who's there keep those physical risks in view.
Short December days and icy sidewalks mean fewer errands and more hours inside. Plan one outing a week your parent looks forward to, with a ride that doesn't depend on who's free.
Less than half of older adults who fall tell their doctor, per the CDC. A caregiver who's in the kitchen a few mornings a week notices a new bruise or a skipped lunch, and tells you.
Homemaker and companion help usually come first, and personal care joins when bathing or dressing gets hard.
Call us at (508) 375-7174 and tell us what a normal week looks like. We set up a consultation and build a care plan around it.
Our companion care covers conversation, walks, reading together and company at appointments and events. It's for a parent who lives alone and has started going quiet.
Our homemaker care takes on meal planning and cooking, light housekeeping, laundry, linen changes, groceries and errands.
When bathing, dressing or getting to the toilet gets hard, our personal care adds assistance with each, plus medication reminders.
Plans move from 1 hour to 24 hours a day with the same office, and we're reachable 24/7 for urgent needs.
Brent Auslander opened our office after visiting his grandmother in a Florida assisted living facility where she wasn't being properly cared for hygienically. "I couldn't believe it and thought, how could this be?" he says.
Every caregiver goes through our 7-step screening: background checks, reference verification, a skills assessment, a personality evaluation, an experience review, a multi-touchpoint interview and ongoing quality monitoring. We match caregivers to your parent by personality and experience.
This office has bilingual caregivers who speak English and Creole, and our experienced and trained caregivers include CNA and HHA professionals. We also accept long-term care insurance.
Raise it over coffee at their kitchen table, not in the car home from a doctor's visit.
Ask what they want their days to look like a year from now, then talk about what would make that possible. Staying home is often their goal too.
Suggest help with one chore they dislike, like laundry or the weekly grocery run. A few hours of homemaker help is an easier yes than a full plan.
Let your parent meet the caregiver we match by personality and have a say in who comes back. If the fit feels wrong, tell us: "If you are not happy, neither are we!" is how Brent runs this office.
Homemaker and companion help look after the house and the day. Personal care adds hands-on assistance with bathing, dressing, toileting and getting around, and these signs show which one fits.
It depends on how many hours of help your parent needs: our care runs from 1 hour to 24 hours a day, so a plan covers only the hours you choose. Call us for the cost of your plan; we also accept long-term care insurance.
Medicare doesn't pay for most of the everyday help that keeps someone at home. According to Medicare.gov, that includes 24-hour-a-day care, homemaker services like shopping and cleaning unrelated to a care plan, and personal care when it's the only care you need.
Yes, we accept long-term care insurance. Bring your policy to the consultation and we'll go through which hours and services it covers with you.
Yes, care starts at 1 hour a day, so a couple of short visits a week for laundry, groceries or company is a normal place to begin.
Yes, through our Transparency of Care portal. You can see the shared calendar, caregiver visits and notes, hear voice messages from caregivers and pay invoices online.
Yes, care is available up to 24 hours a day, so overnight and around-the-clock care are part of the same plan. Our office also has 24/7 availability for urgent needs.
No, the care our caregivers provide is non-medical: help around the house, company and assistance with personal care. Medical care at home, like nurse visits a doctor orders, comes from a home health agency.
Our priority towns are Framingham, Natick, Hopkinton, Holliston, Ashland, Sherborn, Newton, Wellesley, Sudbury and Needham. We also serve Waltham, Belmont, Chestnut Hill, Watertown, Concord, Lincoln, Weston and parts of Boston listed on our service areas page.
You don’t need a plan before you call. Describe a normal week to our Framingham office at (508) 375-7174, and we’ll suggest where homemaker or companion help fits.
