Companion Care
Over the course of your life, you’ve tailored your home to be exactly how you want it. You’ve set routines that feel familiar. However, as you get older, you may find it hard to keep up with things. You may struggle to do household chores or make your way around town. With our Companion Care services, we aim to make sure you don’t have to struggle with the day-to-day.
Right at Home caregivers provide assistance so you can live comfortably at home. More importantly, our caregivers promote healthy living and well-being through the benefits of social interaction.
Sometimes all someone needs to stay independent and engaged in their community is a little companionship with helpful hands and a watchful eye.
Contact us today at (360) 392-3934 to get more information on how we can help you.
Homemaking
In addition to being a friendly and familiar face, Right at Home’s caregivers can help you keep your home just the way you’ve learned to love it. This can include:
Light housekeeping- Taking out the garbage
- Preparing and folding laundry
- Home organization
- Cleaning
- Cooking nutritious meals
- Grocery shopping
Wellness
Living well is about more than just good health. Our caregivers can help foster wellness both mentally and physically to delay the effects of aging. This includes:
Wellness support- Safety supervision
- Light exercise encouragement
- Cognitive stimulation
- Meal planning
- Reading a book aloud
- Playing games or engaging with hobbies
- Accompanying you on walks or outings
Senior Transportation
It’s important that you’re able to safely make trips across town for medical appointments or grocery store runs. Right at Home’s caregivers have assisted countless older adults with transportation needs, such as escorting them on walks or driving them to visit friends. No matter the destination, we can help with:
- Appointments
- Grocery shopping
- Leisure outings
- Running errands
Health Reminders
Our caregivers understand the importance of protecting your loved one’s health. Sometimes all your senior needs is a gentle nudge to take medication or a “let’s practice this together” to follow doctor’s orders. We are there to help with:
- Medication reminders
- Managing medical, dental, optical appointments and health screenings
- Monitoring blood sugar, blood pressure, heart rate, etc.
The risk of using unsupervised ‘friends’ or private unsupervised caregivers
Many times, a good neighbor or close friend can fulfill that role. Unfortunately, there are many seemingly helpful people out there that take advantage of seniors living alone, preying on their vulnerability. Unfortunately, the risk of elder abuse in unsupervised care situations is very real. Even what first starts out as an authentic closeness can grow into an emotional dependency or a case of misplaced trust and/or loyalties.
Our first-hand learning experience
Even professional caregivers can sometimes overstep their professional boundaries. This is why supervision is so important. Our owners, Sharon and Steve Morris, have witnessed this first-hand when a previously used private caregiver came to visit Sharon’s mother in her assisted living residence without her families’ or guardian’s knowledge. The ex-caregiver then drove Sharon’s mother, who had just been recently diagnosed with dementia, to several of her banks trying to withdraw funds for her to retain a lawyer to get her out of the assisted living community. The ex-caregiver put herself in between the family and their own mother, resulting in tense relationships and legal fees. Sharon’s brother and her mother’s guardian filed a complaint with the Board of Nursing, which resulted in the private caregiver receiving a three-year probation of her license to practice as a Certified Nurse Aide. Sadly, the damage to the family relationship with their mother cannot be undone.
Supervisory Visits
As a licensed Home Care Agency in the state of Washington, we are required to supervise our caregivers to conduct themselves ethically and professionally. In this role, we make unannounced supervisory visits to the home to ensure that our caregiving staff is properly attired and following the approved plan of care. We also rotate caregivers from time to time to prevent bonds of dependency growing.
No money or gifts accepted
We aim to provide friendly and personal companionship and we expect our caregivers to respect the professional boundaries between friendliness and friendship. To reinforce this mindset, Right at Home Northwest does not allow its care staff to accept tips, gratuities, and gifts without reporting them to the office. We understand that a client may feel compelled to offer some physical form of thanks so we allow small thank-you gifts, typically with a value less than $20.
Respecting professional boundaries
We are constantly reminding our staff that they are there in the home to provide professional and personable companionship and not to develop friendships. We think this reduces the risks of abuse and family interference and helps to make our professional companionship care worry free.
To support this goal we recruit, train, and develop our caregiving staff to exemplify the 5 Ps of what we call a 5-Star Caregiver:
- Professional
- Personable and friendly
- Proficient and competent
- Prompt and reliable
- Passionate for our mission to improve the quality of life of those we serve
