Submitted by Paul Blom, Right At Home

Whether you have an aging parent or an ailing spouse, most of us are familiar with the concept of home health care. Even if we have no first-hand exposure, few people aren’t aware that you can hire an agency to provide regular visits by a home health aid to provide bathing, transferring and other medically-related services for your loved one.  Many times these services are almost automatic when a loved one is being discharged from a nursing home or rehabilitation center and often are covered by Medicare or other insurances.  Unfortunately those funds quickly run out, many times prior to the time that the patient is actually able to remain in their home without some sort of assistance.  Usually, that assistance becomes the responsibility of the family.

The onset of shorter hospital stays, less funding for home health care and more desire to remain in one’s home has developed a need for more non-medical home care services.  What are non-medical home care services you ask?  Terms that are commonly used to identify non-medical home care services are Companion Care & Homemaker Care.  Agencies that provide this type of care are not typically licensed for home health (so there is no bathing, medication distribution, transferring, etc…) and focus on providing assistance with activities of daily living such as;  maintaining household cleanliness, meal preparations, medication reminders, companionship and transportation for appointments and social outings, help with correspondence and many others.

Right at Home is one such agency.  Founded in 1995 in Omaha, Nebraska by Allen and Terry Hager, Right at Home has provided non-medical care and assistance to hundreds of clients in the comfort and privacy of their homes. Independently owned and operated, the Twin Cities office of Right at Home builds upon the mission and values of Allen and Terry Hager to provide this much needed service to those in the Twin Cities area.

Right at Home is the perfect solution for seniors and others who aren´t ready to leave their home for an institutional setting, but because of illness or chronic conditions need support to remain at home.

Right at Home clients can include those with diminished eyesight or hearing, arthritis, COPD, those recovering from severe medical problems such as cancer or heart disease, or those who are dealing with memory loss or Alzheimer´s disease. Many clients have a number of conditions together which make the everyday activities of life difficult.

With some help, they can be relieved of using their energy for simple activities that for them are exhausting ones. They can then begin to use that energy for whatever is for them the important things in life: connecting with friends or family, taking a short walk, or perhaps reading a good book.

In situations where we provide a respite for a primary family caregiver (e.g. a wife caring for a husband or a daughter caring for her mother), we find that with our help often the relationship can strengthen when one removes the considerable stress the role of constant caregiver can bring.