Vancouver Island Home Care
Community Health
Supported Living Resources
Navigating Community Health
Protecting Your Wishes
Is Aging at Home Better?
Sometimes.
Types of Home Care Provider
Choosing Support at Home
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Types of Supported Residence
Choosing a Supported Residence
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Comparing Costs of Care
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Subsidized & Free Supports
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Home Care
Provider How & Why
Preparing for Home Support
Our caregiving team is almost uniformly skilled and capable of providing companionship through end-of-life care with an average experience over 10 years. All are bonded and insured with regular police checks.
Services Available
The Service Agreement comes with no obligation to receive any service. It provides permission for us to provide the listed services when they are requested.
Agreements are often set up in advance of care needs so that when the time comes it’s a simple phone call to start.
Skilled & Complex Caregivers
Specific timing is one of the primary challenges in home care. Many people want the same services at the same times. We prioritize timing on a needs basis and will discuss time flexibility of services beforehand.
Service Restrictions
Service can be requested six months away or within an hour. Ability to meet short notice requests is determined by staffing capacity and the type of service being requested.
If urgent unexpected service requests are a frequent occurrence ask us about strategies for success.
Continuity of Care
Our hourly minimum service is one hour, increasing in half hour increments. Services under two hours are at a higher rate due to the added difficulty of providing short visits.
Many organizations have minimums of 2 hours or even 3 hours per visit. Scheduling and staffing become easier at the three hour mark but may not provide the flexibility of service to meet client needs.
We do not require clients to have a minimum numbers of hours per week. We will provide a one hour service once a week if that is what is needed.
Some organizations require a minimum number of hours per week (ie 9 hours or more per week). This is because smaller services have no financial return.
Removing Caregivers
The client or authorized family can always decide who is part of the caregiving team. We think our people are generally exceptional. We appreciate frank and honest feedback if you find otherwise.
Invoices & Payments
Invoices are sent out monthly and may be paid by cheque, e-transfer, credit card or bank payment through RBC.
This contrasts with other organizations sending out bi-monthly or bi-weekly invoices.
Added Fees & Costs
Caregivers are primarily supervised and supported by the Coordination Team with clinical education from the Nursing Team.
Cancellations
Visits can be cancelled with no charge by giving at least 24 hours notice. Visits without notice are charged half. Once the caregiver is on the way to the home the visit cannot be cancelled or reduced.
Travel Time
Roughly 15 minutes of each visit is allocated to the travel necessary for transit to or from your home. There is no kilometer charge for this travel.
In circumstances where people live away from population centres or during hazardous weather more time may be allocated for travel.
Communication
To keep the communications consolidated and clear we ask that one family member acts as the main contact. This is usually the person with the Power of Attorney or the most local family member.
Documentation
Home caregivers write notes about each visit which become part of the client record. Employees write in a formalized factual narrative avoiding person opinion or conjecture.
Scheduling & Coordination
After Hours Support
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Supporting those who support us
Possible home caregiver placements are dictated by geographic distances and time. Then we find the best fit from those options. Good coordination means home caregivers aren’t rushed and aren’t rushing their clients in turn.
Good coordination also means the caregivers have effectively scheduled blocks of work and enough hours each week to sustain themselves without insecurity. This is a part of the secret to success for clients in home care. Meeting caregivers needs consistently allows them to focus on meeting the needs of others.