Ft. Wayne Senior Care Heart to Heart Program

JULIA: Hi, welcome to Fort Wayne Senior Care Radio. My name is Julia Anders, and I am here with my co-hosts, Matt Anders, and Brenda Tunin who is an RN. Good morning.

BRENDA: Good morning.

MATTHEW: Good morning.

JULIA: Today we are going to talk about 20 Questions to Ask Potential Care Providers. If you are looking for care for a loved one, these are a great resource for questions to ask potential care providers. Number 1 is: How many years has your agency been in business serving the community? Our Comfort Keepers has been in business for almost 9 years. The second question is: Does your agency care liability coverage? Matthew why don’t you talk about that; liability coverage.

MATTHEW:   Yes, we do carry liability coverage. That’s a very important thing. We cover workers’ comp coverage and general liability coverage. So we are fully insured and it is important for you to make sure when you are looking at providers that they do carry all the appropriate liability coverage.

JULIA: Because it protects the family too, and we actually had a caregiver that tripped going into a home, and our insurance covered that. That’s an important thing too.

MATTHEW: You’re right they fell of the front porch or something.

JULIA: And our insurance covered it. So that is important. Some of these things are very important too, because when you are having independent contractors, they are not going to have liability insurance. Number 3: Do you conduct national and local criminal background checks and driving records on all employees? And, Matthew, why don’t you address that too, because you are the one that actually pulls ours.

MATTHEW: Yes, we do both a state of Indiana criminal background record and a nationwide criminal background record. We search all counties that people have lived in their whole lives searching for any criminal activity. That’s a very important thing when you are having people come into your home. You understand what their background is.

JULIA: And it also asks… the second part of that question is: Are personal and professional references required? And we do get personal and professional references for all of our employees. The fourth question is: Are caregivers employees of your company, not contractors and protected by workers’ compensation? So the answer to that question with regard to Comfort Keepers to our office is they are employed by us and this is important too for several reasons. We take out their taxes. They are covered by workers’ compensation; our liability insurance too, and we have done those background checks. So if you’re hiring someone, you know, from maybe out of the newspaper who is applying for a job, you are not getting those background checks and they’re not covered by workers’ comp. Are caregivers bonded and insured for theft?

MATTHEW: Yes. That is another very important thing you want to check with any agency to make sure they are bonded and insured for theft. If they have an assurity bonds for theft, it’s extremely important. Our company definitely does that, and anybody you think about hiring should have that.

JULIA: And someone who has a criminal record can not be bonded. Is that correct?

MATTHEW: Correct.

JULIA: Ok. Brenda, maybe you should talk about this. The sixth question is: Do you have a systematic method for tracking caregiver arrival at the client’s home?

BRENDA: Yes, with Comfort Keepers we do. We have a call in system. It is an 800 number so there is no charge to the client and the caregivers when they arrive; they call in. That comes to our office into our computer system and that way we can tell that everyone is showing up on time or we aren’t missing any shifts.

JULIA: Because what happens is, if they don’t call in to the computer system, they don’t clock in, then that phone will ring in our office and it will tell us that that caregiver has not arrived. And so what we do is call the client and check and usually it is just they forgot to call in or maybe the client was on the phone when they got there. That’s a very important thing. We can track our caregivers, and we make sure they have arrived where they need to be. Another one, question 7, do you provide 24/7 telephone service? Brenda, address that one also.

BRENDA: Yes. With Comfort Keepers we do. We maintain the office, of course, from 8 – 5 and then after that there is a prompt on that. If you call the office number and it comes straight to our cellphone and a live person will answer that around the clock. A lot of times during the week I have that phone, and we get calls in the middle of the night. Things happen and we are prepared to be able to get some help to them if there is an emergency.

JULIA: A lot of companies, you can’t even get a live person during the day. We just take our in-home care very seriously. We work with clients that have dementia and that’s why, you know, and Brenda said she gets calls in the middle of the night. Sometimes our clients that have some dementia will wake up and call, and Brenda talks to them at 2 in the morning. We have clients with Alzheimer’s too. So having 24/7 telephone service is very important and also number 8:  do you provide back up coverage in the event a caregiver can not make it to work?

BRENDA: Absolutely we do. All of our clients are serviced with a team. That team may consist of a minimum of two caregivers and then someone that we are assisting around the clock will of course have a much larger team, but we always have that back up. If something happens and on rare, rare occasions it does that either one of those familiar care givers can not go, then I’ll make a visit, because everyone has had an opportunity to meet me during assessments.

JULIA: That’s a wonderful thing about Brenda. We are not kidding when we say that. She really has I think this week you had to go out and work at a clients for about 4 hours.

BRENDA: Yes, I did.

JULIA: That client added extra hours and we’re trying to make those changes, but Brenda went out and did that. That separates us from other companies too. Number 9: Does your agency require minimum number of hours per shift? If so, what is the minimum? Matthew why don’t you address that.

MATTHEW: We do have a minimum. We have a minimum of two hours. A lot of companies have now gone to three and four hour minimums, but we have maintained it at two. I think it is important. Some people don’t need more than two hours and some people can’t afford more than two hours.

JULIA: Right.

MATTHEW: So that’s important. We do have a minimum, but it is a low minimum.

JULIA: Number 10, and these questions are good to ask of a potential company too so you can get all these questions answered and get them out in the open, because you don’t want any surprises when you sign up with a company.   If they have a four hour minimum and you have to have 2 hours or two 4 hour visits a week, you need to know that going in, because some people can’t afford that. Some people don’t need that much help. Number 10: Do your services include personal care such as bathing, continence care, and mobility assistance? And that is an important question too, because some companies only do companion care, but Comfort Keepers at our office we do assist with bathing and continence care and mobility assistance. But ask that company when you sign them up, because what happens is maybe you are at the point that you don’t need that help, but if you do get to the point where you need it, you want that company to be able to help you with that.

BRENDA: Right.

JULIA: Number 11: Does your agency provide transportation services for clients? Does one of you want to answer that?

MATTHEW: That’s an important thing that you need when you’re hiring a company to be able to provide it. We do provide that. The caregivers can either drive their car, or if the client has a car that is operating and insured, we can drive the client’s car. We do charge .59 a mile if the caregiver is using their own car, but we do have that service available.

JULIA: And some of the places where we take people?

MATTHEW: Oh geez, we go to doctors’ offices, hair dressers, any kind of appointments, laundry.

JULIA: Beauty shops, grocery store, just out shopping. Some of our clients want to get out. So if they are able to, we take them with us. If they can’t we go run errands for them. So that’s important. Some companies don’t provide transportation services. At Comfort Keepers we do. Number 12: Does your agency maintain a business office where I can come meet you and the office staff? Brenda, why don’t you address this one.

BRENDA: We do. We have a main office in Fort Wayne and those office hours are 8 – 5 and always welcome for family to come in. And in addition to that we could meet family at other places as well at their home or we have even met in restaurants and that kind of thing too, but yes we have a main office.

JULIA: Number 13, do you provide in writing the care services provided and clearly describe all rates and fees? And we do that. We have a rate card that clearly points out all of our rates and the minimum hours and Matt do you have something you want to add to that?

MATTHEW: I think the key to that is there are no surprises. The key is it is what it is and here it is and we give it to you up front and you know what it is.

JULIA: Right. So there is nothing sneaky about it. If you have a company that doesn’t want to give you a rate card and things in writing then you should be worried. Number 14: Do you have an administrative staff I may contact for information? And do you have a nurse on staff? And so the answer to that is yes we do. And Brenda is our nurse. Brenda is a registered nurse and so ….

MATTHEW: Even though we are a non-medical company, I think it’s important to have somebody on staff who is a nurse, who is directing the assessments and trainings.

JULIA: I’m looking on here to see if training was a question, but our caregivers are trained. Brenda does all the training for all of our caregivers. That is another important question that I would ask. Who does the training for your caregivers?

BRENDA: And our training is all based on what a CNA a certified nursing assistant or a home health aid would learn. The only difference is that they don’t have to take the test at the end. They could and they could all be certified if they wanted to be.

JULIA: Right. It’s very good training and we’ve been told that our caregivers are some of the best trained in Fort Wayne. Does your agency make periodic supervisory visits to a client’s home?

BRENDA: We do with home care personal care or resbit care depending on whatever kind of service. We do that. Every client that is especially receiving personal care is visited weekly. Those who are just doing companionship care is about every six weeks that we are out there visiting with them.

JULIA: After the first visit, Linda calls the client to ask how it went, you know, did you like the caregiver? We also call our caregiver. How did it go? Did you like the client? We make sure that that’s a good fit. Number 16: Can you provide documentation explaining the client’s rights, your code of ethics, workers’ compensation, and HIPA Compliance? And we do. We leave a packet with all of that information with our clients.

BRENDA: And a nice thing let me throw this in here. We also leave in that information because we are licensed by the Indian State Department of Health is information to contact them if you are not happy with us. We have never had that happen, but we like to leave that with you so that if something happens that you don’t have to go hunting and finding because you don’t know who to report them to. That information is in there.

JULIA: Yep. That is a really good thing too. Number 17: Can you provide emergency monitoring systems? Matthew why don’t you answer that.

MATTHEW: Yes. We do provide it’s called Safety Choice. It is the necklace or the wrist watch that people wear and they can push a button in an emergency situations and it is answered. So yes we are able to provide that if that is a service you feel you need and that is important for when you are dealing with seniors.

JULIA: Number 18: Will your agency provide a free in-home assessment prior to starting service? Brenda, why don’t you answer that one. That’s a good one.

BRENDA: We do. Most of the time I get that opportunity and that privilege to go out and meet with families. We encourage as many family members as you want to be there. I have had whole housefuls before, because the siblings want to know, your children want to know what is going on, you know, they want the details, they want everything up front. So we do that free and give you lots of information, refer you to financial resources if you need that. But yes we do that free in-home assessment.

JULIA: Right. And our services are available by the hour and we offer 24 hour care and everything in between and Brenda meets with the family and they discuss what would be the best, you know, what they need and what they can afford. And then we make that happen. Number 19 is a question you would ask how quickly can your agency initiate service?

BRENDA: I always say we can do it right away, and I come back to the office and then I have to beg for mercy from our scheduler.

MATTHEW: What did I do? What did I get us into?

BRENDA: Seriously though, within 24 hours. We have never not been able to do that.

JULIA: Because people need help, you know, sometimes they, you know, how hospitals are they don’t find out their loved one is going home until the day of or maybe the day before. Hey your mom’s being released and has to go home with 24 hour care for a week and they are scrambling to find someone. So yeah as Brenda said we can usually start right away. We can make it happen. Number 20: Are you certified or licensed by any government agency to provide home care? Very important. Matthew why don’t you address that.

MATTHEW: If you are in the state of Indiana and you are an agency, you have to have a license. It’s called a personal services agency license by the Indiana Department of Health and so you need to check and see if you are looking into agencies if they have that licensing. Very important. They would be operating not within the law if they were doing it without a license. So that’s very important. We do have the appropriate license available and we can prove that to people.

JULIA: We actually send our license number on every letter we send out. It has a license number on the bottom of that letter. So I would ask for that when you are meeting with a company, you know, ask for proof do you pull a nationwide criminal background check? Let me see a copy, you know, what company do you use? And sometimes you have to ask those questions, but this is a good resource because when people are looking especially if you have never had to look for in-home care, you don’t know, you know, you don’t know what the questions are, you don’t know the answers, you don’t know the questions, and you are struggling. This would be a really good resource for you. We have this available at our office. We have a brochure and it is called 20 Questions. If you are looking for in-home care, dementia care, care for a loved one who has Alzheimer’s, we can provide Alzheimer’s care. As Brenda has said she does all the training for our caregivers; very well trained. We hope this will be helpful in your search for an in-home care company. If you have any questions, you can call our office at (260) 484-5858 and thanks for listening.