You’ve watched an elderly parent in their Acredale home start to struggle with the small things: a slower morning routine, a missed dose, a quiet recovery after a hospital stay. The hardest part is rarely the decision to ask for help—it’s sorting through the service types, eligibility, and timing on your own. Preferred Care at Home covers dementia, personal, companion, homemaker, transition, end-of-life, and veteran care across Acredale and the wider Hampton Roads area.
Preferred Care at Home of Virginia Beach is locally owned and operated by Deck Hankins, who opened the office in May 2020 as part of a national family of agencies founded in 1984. We’re contracted directly with the Department of Veterans Affairs and licensed by the Virginia Department of Health (LIC #142229-8080 | HCO-201500), with five Home Care Pulse awards from 2023 and 2024.
Caregivers move through a 7-step screening and are matched to your loved one by personality, not just availability, and the owner stays involved in every care plan. As a VA-contracted provider we staff veteran cases quickly, we help families file Long Term Care insurance claims (and eliminate the elimination period on most policies), and the Transparency Room portal gives family clear oversight from anywhere.
Quality in-home care begins with the right caregiver match. Our comprehensive approach includes rigorous background checks and a thorough vetting process to ensure every caregiver on our team meets our high standards for compassion, reliability, and skill.
We take time to understand your loved one’s personality, preferences, and unique needs before thoughtfully matching them with a caregiver who shares compatible interests and values. Our consistent team approach means you’ll work with dedicated care professionals who provide ongoing education, regular supervision, and care plan adjustments as needs change.
Families in Acredale often call when memory loss begins changing daily life: misplaced keys, repeated questions, a parent who feels less safe alone. Our Dementia and Alzheimer’s Care—a specialty since our 2020 opening—matches caregivers by personality, holds steady daily routines, and supports behavior changes in ways that protect dignity, with the same caregivers coming back so trust builds.
When bathing, dressing, grooming, mobility, or toileting become hard, our Personal Care is the right starting point—and it can begin with just a few hours a week and grow as needs change. Caregivers are screened through our 7-step process and matched to your household’s actual rhythm, not a generic schedule.
For an Acredale loved one whose biggest need is supervision, conversation, and a daily check-in, our Companion Care is often the right fit—steady company and a watchful eye, no hands-on physical help. We try to send the same caregiver each visit so the relationship feels like family, filling the day with light errands, meals, and safe activity.
Light housekeeping, laundry, meal prep, and grocery runs keep an Acredale home livable when these tasks have quietly become too much. Our Homemaker Care keeps the home clean, the fridge stocked, and the week manageable—scheduled around your household’s week and bundled with companion care when both kinds of help are needed.
After a hospital or rehab stay, the first weeks back home are the riskiest—meals, mobility, follow-up appointments, and medication reminders pile up at once. Our Transition Care coordinates with discharge planners, drives your loved one to follow-up visits, and supervises during the highest-risk recovery window, often starting within 48 hours of your call.
When a loved one wants to be home for the final chapter, our End-of-Life Care sits alongside hospice and handles the quiet, hard hours—companion-focused care, not clinical care. Families get respite, presence, and steady support, with dignity and comfort first.
Step 01
You call (757) 355-5080 and a real person answers—no automated routing. Tell us what’s going on at home today, and we help you find the right starting point.
Step 02
We meet with you in the home, listen, and build a plan around your loved one’s day, walking through the rooms and routines that matter.
Step 03
We match a screened caregiver to your loved one’s personality, not just availability—that’s how we build trust and consistency from day one.
Step 04
Care begins on your schedule, usually within days, and adjusts as needs change, with family following each visit through the Transparency Room.
We’re locally based in Virginia Beach and serve Acredale and the wider Hampton Roads area from our centrally located Stonemoss Court office.
We Serve:
Deck Hankins founded Preferred Care at Home of Virginia Beach because he knows firsthand what it feels like to bring a loved one home with unanswered questions. In 2001, his family brought his father, a World War II veteran and prisoner of war survivor, home from the hospital with a terminal diagnosis. They didn’t know who to call or what to do next. His father passed away that same day, in the house he had been brought home to as a baby, and those unanswered questions never left Deck.
Nearly two decades later, that experience became a mission. Deck’s purpose is now clear: to answer the questions, to listen, and to join the story of elderly people and their families as they seek to remain in the comfort and security of home. Virginia Beach is a deeply veteran community, and Deck takes that responsibility personally. Preferred Care at Home of Virginia Beach is contracted directly with the VA and is proud to serve veterans and their families across Hampton Roads with experienced, compassionate caregivers who can be staffed quickly when families need help most.
Quin’s commitment to quality senior care grew from personal experience. After watching his own parents navigate aging with cancer, stroke, and heart disease, he saw firsthand how the right caregiver transforms difficult seasons into manageable ones. A close friend’s struggle to find reliable care for her MS deepened his resolve. Today, Quin’s mission is connecting compassionate caregivers with seniors who deserve dignity, independence, and genuine companionship. When he learned about Preferred Care at Home, something woke up inside him: he could make a difference.
Richard discovered his calling at 14, working in an assisted living facility where relationships with residents gave him purpose during uncertain teenage years. After five years in the funeral industry helping families plan ahead, he recognized a gap: widows and widowers returning home alone, facing physical limitations without support. He wanted to own a business that truly helps people, and Preferred Care at Home was the answer. For Richard, this work is about facilitating meaningful connections that enrich both caregiver and client.
Yes—we serve Acredale, Virginia Beach, and the wider Hampton Roads area from our local office, and you can reach us at (757) 355-5080. We’ve been VA-contracted in Virginia Beach since 2020, with families covered across Acredale, Kempsville, Lynnhaven, and Hampton Roads.
Companion, personal, homemaker, dementia, transition, end-of-life, and veteran care. Most Acredale families start with one or two services and adjust as needs change—many begin with personal care for hands-on daily help, while others ask first about in-home memory care.
You call us, we visit your home for a care plan, we match a caregiver, and care often starts within days. The first call is a conversation, not a sales pitch; we then meet in your Acredale home to look at care needs and any Long Term Care insurance, and match a caregiver from our experienced pool.
Home care is non-medical daily support—bathing, dressing, meals, companionship, and household tasks, accessible without a doctor’s order. Home health care is doctor-ordered clinical care delivered by nurses or therapists, medical and time-limited. We provide non-medical in-home care and help you find the right kind.
Yes, in many cases—with structured routines, a safe home, and consistent caregivers who know your loved one. Dementia care has been a specialty since 2020; consistent caregivers and predictable routines help many families maintain independence at home longer than expected. We’ll be honest about when more is needed.
Often yes—Aid and Attendance, spousal survivor benefits, and direct VA contracts can all apply for veteran households. Hampton Roads has one of the largest veteran populations in Virginia, and we’re contracted directly with the VA, helping families navigate the documentation and staff veteran cases quickly.
