Small things are starting to slip, and the stress of piecing care together on your own is real. The in-home care Salem, VA families can count on is closer than you think. Preferred Care at Home is locally owned, VA-contracted, and matches caregivers to your loved one through a 7-step screening process, helping seniors stay home with dignity through every stage of aging since 1984.
Preferred Care at Home serves the Salem community and Roanoke County as part of a national network founded in 1984, with three generations of family experience in home care. Our local team is owned and operated by Deck Hankins. We are licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Department of Health (LIC #142229-8080 | HCO-201500), and Home Care Pulse named us Best of Home Care: Leader in Experience 2024. We serve Salem, Roanoke, and the wider Roanoke Valley.
When you call (757) 355-5080, you reach Deck Hankins directly, not a national call center. Every caregiver moves through our 7-step screening process and is matched to your loved one by personality and preferences, not assigned by availability. As a VA-contracted provider we staff veteran cases quickly, we help families file Long Term Care insurance claims, and the Transparency Room online portal gives your 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.
When a loved one’s memory starts slipping, the family providing care often burns out before asking for help. Our in-home Alzheimer’s care brings supervision, routine, and respite into the home where your loved one feels safest. Caregivers trained in dementia routines hold the day together with familiar meals, gentle redirection, and steady companionship.
Assistance with bathing and dressing has stopped being safe, but mom is not ready to leave her Salem home. Personal care puts a trained caregiver at her side for the moments that carry the most dignity, helping with bathing, dressing, transfers, and mobility with the compassion your mom would expect from family.
Your dad is mostly fine at home, but the days feel long and errands have become too much. Companion care brings a steady presence into the house for conversation, meal preparation, light housekeeping, and transportation around Salem. We match the same caregiver to your loved one whenever possible, so your dad sees a familiar face at every visit instead of a rotating roster.
When dust, laundry, and the next meal start to win, our Homemaker Care covers what the day demands: meal preparation tailored to your loved one’s diet, laundry and light housekeeping, and grocery trips on a weekly schedule, so the household keeps running and your parent keeps living in it.
The discharge folder from Lewis-Gale Medical Center or Carilion Roanoke Memorial is full of instructions no one at home is ready to handle. Our post-hospital recovery support covers those first weeks home, when readmission risk is highest. A caregiver handles medication reminders, sets up the home for safe movement, and keeps follow-up appointments on the calendar.
For a Salem family keeping a parent at home through the final months, the work is presence as much as care. Our end-of-life care provides gentle help with daily comfort, sits with your loved one, and supports family members who need rest, coordinating alongside hospice teams so nothing falls between the cracks.
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 start in Salem and serve families across Roanoke County and the wider Roanoke Valley, adapting to the neighborhood where your loved one has built their life.
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 Salem and the surrounding Roanoke County and Roanoke Valley communities.
Preferred Care at Home provides in-home care in Salem and throughout Roanoke County from our local team. We handle companion care, personal care, dementia support, respite, and more for families across the Salem area. Call (757) 355-5080 to speak with Deck Hankins and get started.
We offer companion care, personal care, dementia and Alzheimer’s care, respite, live-in, transition, end-of-life, and VA care.
Companion care, personal care, and in-home Alzheimer’s support are the three services Salem families ask about most. All care is non-medical, scheduled from one hour up to twenty-four hours a day, and our team adjusts the plan as real life shifts and care needs change.
A call to our office, a free in-home consultation, a personalized care plan, and a personality-matched caregiver, usually within days.
You call (757) 355-5080 and speak with Deck Hankins directly. We schedule a free in-home visit to identify what is going on, then build a care plan around your loved one’s actual needs. A caregiver screened through our 7-step process is matched to your family, and care can typically begin within days of that first call.
Cost depends on hours per week, the level of care needed, and whether overnight or live-in coverage is involved.
Rates vary because no two care plans are the same. A few hours of companion care a week costs far less than twenty-four-hour live-in or in-home Alzheimer’s support. We explain every cost clearly before you commit and walk through how to pay for home care, including Long Term Care insurance and VA benefits.
No. In-home care is non-medical, home health is clinical care prescribed by a doctor, and hospice is separately regulated end-of-life clinical support.
The in-home care Preferred Care at Home provides is non-medical: companionship, personal care, dementia support, respite, and live-in coverage. Home health is clinical nursing or therapy ordered by a physician, and hospice involves a separate licensed clinical team. Virginia licenses these care types separately, which is why the distinction matters.
Start with whether the agency is licensed in Virginia, who answers the phone, and whether they explain service types clearly.
At Preferred Care at Home, Deck Hankins walks through every service category before you commit. Every caregiver passes a thorough background check and our full 7-step screening process. Families deserve professional guidance and full transparency when searching for senior home care in the Salem area.
