Featured in Columbia Regional Business Report
Our finance director, Alexandria Brown, spent time recently meeting with reporter Melinda Waldrop from the Columbia Regional Business Report. The publication featured Alexandria's interview in a longer length story about the growing trend of seniors planning to live longer years in their own homes.
Following are some of the topics addressed by the Business Report article about senior home health care.
Trends in Care for Aging Adults
The feature cited many interesting figures related to changing patterns of where older adults are choosing to spend their later years including the following:
- "A 2012 AARP study found that 90% of seniors planned to continue living in their current homes for the next five to ten years. "
- "Nearly two in 10 Americans age 70 and older said they either could not accomplish or found it hard to complete daily tasks without assistance."
- "Medicare Services data indicate 20% of Medicare beneficiaries will be readmitted to an acute care facility within 30 days, which translates into 2 million admissions with an annual cost of $15 billion."
Programs to Reduce Hospital Readmissions
The Business Report article offered details about Right at Home's hospital-to-home program with Lexington Medical Center, which assigns eligible patients 20 home health care hours after being discharged to help prevent readmission. Alex spoke about the services experienced caregivers provide to help reduce stress and strain on recently discharged patients during their recovery period.
"We do everything from running personal errands, light housekeeping, any cooking that needs to be done, bathing, dressing... We'll never leave someone unattended. We've had to get up and do cases at three o'clock in the morning" - Alex Brown
Finding Quality Caregivers to Help Seniors at Home
Alex gave background about the steps her home care agency based in Columbia takes to find great caregivers for their elderly clients, including reviewing past hands-on experience in hospitals or other facilities, requiring current state licensing, and successful completion of background checks and random drug tests.
"We try as best we can to get the best out there as far as our employees are concerned. It weeds out a lot people. It also prevents us being able to hire as many people as we'd like, but for us, it's worth it. Clients need to be able to trust that whoever is in there is going to do a good job." - Alex Brown
The Rewards of Caring for Others
Alex recalled the satisfaction of knowing Right at Home Columbia staff and caregivers are helping to fulfill their business mission of improving the quality of life for the families and seniors they serve. She remembers meeting the daughter of an elderly client that the agency served for four years.
"It was our first time meeting her in person. She was extremely grateful because she just had peace of mind knowing that we were there...Our caregivers kind of become part of their clients' family. They depend on that person, physically but also emotionally. They're a support for them, and companionship."
Get More Details About Our Home Care Agency
To learn more about home care services locally near Columbia, call us at (803) 551-4004. If you are interested in a career in caregiving, visit our caregiver page, or if you are ready to apply, view our open jobs.
