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When a parent needs senior care, the question often arrises from their children “How can I be involved in Mom and Dad’s care without physically being with them?”

According to a study performed by AARP, a parent age 60 or older who has a least one child lives on average 280 miles away from their nearest child. Which brings up the question “How can I be involved in Mom and Dad’s care without physically being with them?”.  At Kind Hearts Senior Care, we easily bridge the gap between patients and their family members. We do this through the “Family Portal”.

The “Family Portal” is a proprietary feature that Kind Hearts Senior Care offers to every single client. When a caregiver clocks out of a shift, they do so from their mobile phone. After clocking out, they leave a narrative of their shift that includes anything from activities performed, the physical status of a client, and anything else they feel the family would benefit from. In turn, the family members can login to the “Family Portal” and listen to real time updates about their loved ones. It’s the perfect solution when you want to keep tabs on Mom and Dad without peeking over their shoulder’s.

When you are looking for Senior Care in St. George Utah, remember that Kind Hearts Senior Care will help you seamlessly bridge the gap between you and your loved one, in a simple non intrusive way. For questions or a free consultation call us today! 435-275-1656

When looking into Senior Care options, many individuals will look into both Home Care, and Assisted living options before determining the route the route they want to take. While this is a fine approach to determining a long term solution to help a loved one maintain their independence, it is like comparing apples to oranges.

At an Assisted Living Facility, residents typically have their own unit that they stay in, where they can be cared for. While a beautiful building can be enticing, if your goal is to maintain your independence, a beautiful facility is rarely the option. I recently ran in to a situation where a client was debating on going to an Assisted Living Facility, or staying at home with home care services. The client, needed little help with activities of daily living, struggled with depression and anxiety. Her depression was sparked by little socialization and interaction. I highly recommended that the client got to an Assisted Living. An Assisted Living is a great way to have social outings and make friends.

For those who are looking to maintain their independence, Home Care is usually a better option. While we can provide socialization, outings, and friendship, we can also focus on maintaining your independence. If a loved one needs help bathing, shopping, housekeeping, and laundry, Home Care Services are the perfect solution.

Let’s make a few comparisons to paint a better picture:

Cost:
The cost of an average assisted living is roughly $3,500. This fee does not include any Activities of Daily Living. If you are looking for help with shopping, bathing, housekeeping, and other help, the cost would go up roughly $1,000. Making the assisted living a total of $4500.

The cost of Kind Hearts Senior Care is $21 per hour. If a client needed help with any Activity of Daily Living, including transportation EVERY SINGLE DAY, the client could receive almost 7 hours a day of home care, to equal the $4500. You would be paying the same amount, to stay in your home.

Staffing
In an Assisted Living Facility in Utah, staffing ratios are required to be 8 people to 1, and 6 people to 1 if the patients have Alzheimers. If each resident were to need help for 30 minutes to an hour, it would take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours just to be seen for a second time. You would be paying for 4 hours of waiting time! As well, staffing requires changes for both the employee who visits you, as well as the schedule by which they visit you based on other residents needs, leaving you to become acquainted with a new caregiver, after having waited for 3-4 hours.

Home Care is a one on one relationship. We send one caregiver to help you for the entire time they’re at your home. If you’re paying for the care, why not get the best bang for your buck? As well, we consistently staff the same caregiver, on the same schedule to help provide continuity, so you or your loved one will have a routine, which will ultimately hep them.

Transportation
At an Assisted Living Facility, their are restraints on transportation. Typically it must be scheduled 3-5 days in advance, and it has a limit of 1-2 transports per week. Its your care, why should’t you be able to have transportation anytime you need?

At Kind Hearts Senior Care, we believe that some of the best moments in life, are spur of the moment events. Things like going to the senior center, shopping, visiting the doctor, or meeting up with a friend from high school aren’t always planned 3-5 days in advance. Sometime we all just need a break and want to go on a drive! With Home Care services, you can have transportation anytime, any day, anywhere.

If you are considering an Assisted Living Facility or Home Care services, call us today for a free consultation!

How do you know if someone needs Home Care?

Aging people are people in transition. The loss of family members and friends, a change in living arrangements or finances, retirement, the loss of driving privileges are all lifestyle transitions that require the entire attention of the family. Ideally, our elders will ask for our help during times like these, but, as family members aha learned, this may not happen. In fact, one again parent might “cover” for the other, or one aging spouse may decline assistance from the other because he or she feels ashamed and powerless.

Know what to look for

Things may seem normal on the outside. Some changes are barely noticeable. Once in a while we all forget details or put things off, but when a pattern of neglect develops, it may be serious. Remember, dementia (mental deterioration) in not a normal part of aging. Sharpen your observational skills, and look for patterns of consistent neglect within the following contexts:

• Basic Tasks – difficult in walking, dressing, talking, eating, cooking, climbing stairs, or managing medications.
• Hygiene – infrequent bathing, unusually sloppy appearance, foul body and/or mouth odor.
• Responsibilities – mail is unopened, bills are piled up, checkbook is unreadable, bank account overdraft notice are accumulating, prescriptions are unfilled, phone calls aren’t returns, cooking pots and pans look burned, refrigerator interior has found odor, food supply is low, home interior and/or exterior is unkept, laundry is piling up, automobile has new dents.
• Health – weight loss, changes in appetite, problems swallowing, fatigue, burns, black and blue marks (possible signs of falling), hearing loss (look for signs of lip reading and talking loudly), seems withdrawn without reason,incontinence (bed-wetting), spilling and dropping things (check carpet for stains), complaints of muscle weakness, insomnia or excessive sleeping, dehydration.
• Isolation – lack of interest in outside friendships, activities, or hobbies, keeps curtains drawn day and night, has little access to transportation, lives in another city or state and lives alone.
• Attitude – sadness, display of verbal or physical abuse, talk of being depressed and feeling of despair, abuse or alcohol or drugs, paranoia, refusal to communicate, unusual argumentativeness, a recent emotional or medical crisis.
• Cognitive Functions – consistent forgetfulness about where things are, getting lost while walking or driving, confusion, loss of reasoning skills, difficulty answering questions, inability to find the right word, use of repetitive words or phrases, sever personality changes, wandering, inability to recall names of familiar people or objects, inability to complete a sentence, forgetting who to use simple, ordinary things such as a pencil, forgetting to close windows, turn off the stove, and lock doors, loss of sense of time.

If some of these warning signs are present, and you are beginning to question your family members ability to make choices and decisions, please give us a call. Our free consultation, and Nurse Assessment will be able to answer many of the unanswered questions you may have. At Kind Hearts Senior Care, we take pride in helping your loved ones stay at home as long as possible, and as safe as possible!

 

When looking for a Home Care Agency in St. George, there will be many companies who offer home care services. At the surface, most companies will seem to be the same. But what truly sets Kind Hearts Senior Care apart as the leading providing for Home Care Services in St. George?

Remember the 3 P’s!

Professional

• We have no long term contract! Our continued service is based on your satisfaction not upon a contract. You can cancel your Home Care at anytime
• We use tested systems to train, track & manage.
• We use a nationally recognized Certified Companion Aide program.
• We use an online computer scheduling and time tracking software that is accurate and dependable
• We do random supervisory Home Care visits
• We hire people who are experiences who know how to provide compassionate  home care, know how to cook, and how to clean.
• We are thorough in our hiring process – we background check, fingerprint, reference checks, check driving records, and drug test our caregivers.
• We are Licensed, Bonded, and Insured

Passionate

• We Love Seniors.
• We love providing Home Care Services.
• We hire the right people. We don’t hire the first person who walks into an interview. We are selective in our hiring process.

Prompt

• The owner, and scheduler answers the phone ALWAYS. We are on-call 24/7 and truly care about your Home Care needs.
• Our scheduling software ensures that we are on time to shifts, by using GPS time stamping.

At Kind Hearts, we take pride in being the #1 Home Care Agency in St. George. Give us a call today to help your loved one experience the Kind Hearts 3 P’s!

As some of you may have noticed, we recently added a new tab to our website titled “Senior Move Management”. This post is to give a deeper explanation of what Senior Move Management really is.

Senior Move Management is a growing industry in the Eastern United States. It is the concept of helping the elderly or disabled when they are transitioning from their home to an Assisted Living Facility, Skilled Nursing Facility, or Senior Independent Living Facility.

Why the need? As the number of seniors will almost double in the next 10 years, there is a major demand for Senior Move Managers. This is for multiple reasons. Some of which include children who live out of state, children who can’t help due to family or work obligations, strained family relationships, or lets face it….some of us just hate moving!

As people try to go from a 3000 square foot home of 30 years, to a new 800 square foot home, they are also faced with a problem. What do I do with all my stuff? There are hundreds of things that these seniors can’t take with them to their new residence, and they are usually hit with the age old question of “Where do I even start?”

 

As a Senior Move Management Agency, Kind Hearts Senior Care can relieve all the questions and concerns involved with moving and downsizing.

We do this by providing a free consultation and estimate. Once the contract is arranged, we begin by creating a floor plan. We will do a walk through of your new place, and make a copy of the floor plan. We use our propriety floor space planning kit, to plan out every inch of your new home.

After a floor plan is created, we then make a game plan as to what to do with all of the “stuff ” that won’t be going to your new home. We will accompany you, room by room, sorting through memories, and yes even junk, to determine what you would like to do with each item. Typical actions include arranging items for pick up by a consignment company, taking items to be donated, sending items to loved ones, putting items in storage, and selling items either online, or through an auction house.

After all of your items have been successfully sorted through, we will help you with the packing process. Our kind and compassionate move managers will help you safely and securely pack all of your belongings. The cost of boxes, packing material and tape is all included in your hourly costs. We can help you move all of your boxed items.

After packing small items, we will help you arrange for trustworthy movers who will treat your large possessions as their own. We will help coordinate and oversee the move.

Once your large items are moved in, we will help you move the small items into the home, unpack, and get situated. This can include hanging pictures, setting up electronics, and running to the store for items that may have been left behind or forgotten.

Our goal is to make the downsizing transition of going to an Assisted Living Facility as easy and painless as possible!

Call us today for a free consultation!

 

24 Hour Home Care is a great alternative to moving into a Nursing Home, or Assisted Living Facility. The cost of 24 Hour Home Care will often time exceed the cost of a Nursing Home Or Assisted Living Facility. Some of the reason for this include…

• Staying in your home – Staying in your home simply costs more, you need to determine if its what you truly want
• 1 on 1 care – An Assisted Living facility usually has a 1 to 20 caregiving ratio, which means there is 1 caregiver to every 20 patients. A Nursing home is typically 1 to 10. If you need hands on care, 1 to 10 or 20 is not hands on
• Continuity of Care – At Kind Hearts we strive to send the same caregiver to you all the time, your home is not a revolving door with new faces every few hours
• Transportation and shopping at any time – If you want to go to the store, your sisters, the hair dresser, or simply go out for a drive, you can. This is not possible at any facility.

24 Hour Care is a great alternative to leaving your home. And, its cheaper than you might think! Call us today for a free consultation!