YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - In-home care providers across the Mahoning and Shenango valleys enable seniors to remain in their homes longer, delaying the need for nursing home care.
"In this day and age, people want to stay in the luxury of their own home," says Gina McLaughlin, executive director and franchise owner at Care Builders at Home. "However, it's difficult to sometimes have Mom staying alone, so what we offer them is a way to stay at home, be cared for, monitored, safe and still have the beauty of their own environment."
The in-home private care company, with offices in Vienna, Ohio, provides care to elderly and others who are physically or cognitively disabled.
Initial contact with the company usually comes from a family member of the person who needs care. A son or daughter who lives outside of the area grows concerned upon recognizing a parent's decline. But they also want to respect that parent's wish to remain in their home.
"We'll have children calling us and we end up meeting them at the home and kind of designing a plan of care to keep them as safe as we can while they live alone," McLaughlin says.
She's a nurse who has been at the 20-year-old company for 10 years.
Services provided depend on each client's needs. Care Builders staff meet with each family and assess the need. If a client meets certain criteria, they could receive free care.
"Care Builders at Home is a provider for the Trumbull County senior levy, the Mahoning County senior levy," McLaughlin explains. "Those are programs where I as a nurse can go into their home and sit with them and identify that there's a need."
It doesn't need to be somebody with an income restriction. It's based on medical need, she says. The agency also offers services for veterans.
David Handler, CEO of NuChoice HomeCare in Hermitage, Pa., says his year-old company provides personal care services for clients including medication reminders, housekeeping, errands and meal preparation.
"Our goal is to keep the patients at home without having to go to a nursing home," he says, adding that people are happier in their own homes. "There's something about staying home. There's especially something about a patient being home, being able to stay in their own home. They feel safer. They're healthier."
So far, the biggest challenge facing NuChoice is staffing, he says.
Juleana Chatman, owner of Jewel-Z Private Care, cares for people both in their homes and in assisted living facilities. She started the company about
2 1/2 years ago and counts five people on her staff. Chatman prides herself on developing relationships with her clients. When she initially meets a new client, she spends 15 days with that person and their family to get to know them and their needs.
"I learn them and then I find the perfect fit for them, so they're just not given any caregiver," she explains. "I stay with these clients until I find their fit."
Chatman believes establishing a relationship with clients goes hand in hand with providing care. She values the consistency of caregivers seeing the same clients.
And she says she's picky about who she hires. She doesn't hesitate to part ways with an employee if they don't meet her standards.
Chatman views her business as more than just a way to make a good living.
"It's making sure that these people are getting the care that they deserve," she says.
Jewel-Z Private Care provides personal care, transportation, laundry, meal preparation, companionship, housekeeping, assistance with mobility and medication reminders.
Chatman started in the culinary industry before moving into healthcare. She cared for an elderly couple in Pittsburgh as her first foray into the new industry, commuting to their home in Youngstown. That relationship lasted until the couple's deaths more than six years later and led to Chatman discovering her passion.
The couple also inspired the name of her business, Jewel-Z. The family appreciated the care she provided and told her she's a jewel.
McLaughlin, the executive director at Care Builders at Home, says demand for services provided by her agency is increasing. Demographics may be part of the reason.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 23% of residents in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties are 65 or older.
In Pennsylvania, it's about 24% each in Mercer and Lawrence counties.
McLaughlin has worked in medical staffing for 20 years, hiring registered nurses and state tested nurse aides for many healthcare facilities in the area.
"All along, we've always gotten calls in the office, 'My mom needs some help. Do you have anybody you can send to my house?'" McLaughlin recalls. "Initially, we thought, that's not what we do."
But she realized the company was providing a service, hiring people, credentialing them and maintaining standards, so why not help. Ohio doesn't require a license to provide private care, so the company began offering it.
"From let's say 15 years ago to the present, people aren't as healthy," McLaughlin says. "People are more sick at home than they used to be, so their needs are much greater."
Care Builders' personal care workers offer nonmedical services such as medication reminders, bathing, meal preparation, grocery shopping and housekeeping.
"Our families have the option at any time, they can hire one of our nursing staff if they wish," she adds. "It's costly, but sometimes some families feel that they just need more of an advocate, or they need somebody just monitoring..."
She points to an example of a patient newly diagnosed with diabetes whose care involves using an insulin pen, glucose level checking and dietary changes that may be difficult to manage.
"So it's nice to have an advocate or a nurse coming in to check and make sure and educate and help them better understand the proper way to take care of their new diagnosis," McLaughlin says.
Care Builders employs more than 100 people who work in the field, serving clients in Trumbull, Mahoning and some in Columbiana. It serves 78 families.
The length of time a client needs services varies. It can be for a few hours or for a few days.
"In our company, we're designed where we can be available spur of the moment," McLaughlin says. "We allow our families to add hours or decrease hours anytime."
If a family wants to go out of town for a weekend, Care Builders at Home arranges for people to be with the loved one through the family's absence.
"Our motto is always the least amount of people with the most amount of hours coming into the home so that there's consistency," McLaughlin explains. "In a situation like that, we would do a 12-hour shift where a caregiver arrives at 7 a.m. and leaves at 7 p.m. and then somebody else arrives at 7 p.m. leaves at 7 a.m."
In August, Care Builders at Home will introduce a virtual caregiver platform. Information about the client, such as a list of medications and when the client is supposed to take them, is loaded into a tablet. The device will ding at the appointed time, alerting the client. The client then would interact with the device indicating he or she had taken the specified medication.
The information is documented, and a family member can review it and determine if a loved one skipped a dose. The virtual caregiver may also advise a client to weigh themselves daily, documenting the result.
"It's geared for somebody who really does want to be independent, who doesn't want somebody in their home, but yet, it's a way that they can be held accountable," McLaughlin says. "It's very easy to use."