River Oaks Homecare is now officially a Home Care Pulse Certified Trusted Provider!
This month we’re proud to announce that River Oaks Home Care has been officially deemed a Home Care Pulse Certified Trusted Provider!
Home Care Pulse is an independent, third-party company conducting interviews with our clients to gather satisfaction ratings and feedback, as well as with over 3,000 other home care agencies nationwide. Using Home Care Pulse is just another way to show commitment to our clients and our caregivers. We want to know your feedback, where you think we’re doing great, and whether any areas need improvement.
Our clients gave us an average 9.6/10 satisfaction rating. We’re proud of this rating because it shows our commitment to helping seniors goes further than just making promises. Each and every day, we’re here to show up and give our best to our clients so that they can continue to experience the richness of life in their own homes.
We make every effort to ensure that all our attendants are trained, equipped, and supported in their work. We believe it’s this commitment to hiring the best caregivers that lead our clients to rate their satisfaction with the ability of their caregivers better than *98.7% of other home care providers nationwide.
If your senior loved one is in need of care and desires to stay in their own home, visit our website today for more information about our home care services and various funding options to see how we can help your family!
* From April 2022 Report
Improve Your Loved One’s Quality Of Life
When we have elderly loved ones, we are always concerned about their physical and emotional wellbeing. For many older adults, changes in physical abilities can lead to withdrawal from activities, hobbies, and social interactions. A person’s quality of life is an essential component of their health and happiness, and often older people become isolated, which decreases their quality of life.
As we age, our busy lifestyles begin to change, and the social interactions and physical activity levels we once enjoyed naturally decrease in frequency. However, aging doesn’t automatically negatively impact our quality of life. Keeping your elderly loved one engaged in the process of living can improve their mental and emotional state and increase their quality of life.
How Aging Can Affect Quality Of Life
The National Institute on Aging reports that depression and boredom often lead to forgetfulness in aging people. Studies show that inactivity is one of the primary reasons many elderly fail to thrive. For caregivers and families of the elderly, ensuring their loved ones receive enough physical and mental stimulation to keep their bodies moving and brains active is a constant challenge.
Staying As Active As Possible
Studies continue to show that active lives and fitness for seniors stave off a myriad of physical and emotional issues. For the elderly, decreased range of motion and loss of mobility lead to falls and other injuries that can negatively impact the quality of life. The more seniors can engage in fitness activities and remain active in daily routines, the less they worry about experiencing severe injuries from falls.
Physical Excercise Options For Seniors
Exercise also produces raised spirits and a more positive emotional wellbeing. Activities held in social environments can also keep your loved one connected to people and interested in hobbies or events. Your loved one may enjoy special classes offered for 60+ crowds that are geared towards low-impact exercises, stretching, and muscle strengthening. Or, they may instead meet up with a walking group weekly and enjoy stimulating conversation while increasing their physical activity.
Staying Connected To People
Many seniors simply find themselves spending more time at home as they age. While being in the comfort of home is a good thing, constant isolation is not. There are ways you can help to stimulate your elderly loved ones’ quality of life through specialized home care services. In-home senior care services offer a variety of care services designed to meet the needs of the elderly in their home.
Even if your loved one is not yet in need of full-time in-home care, companionship and homemaking services provide social interactions to lift spirits and create vital human connections.
The Take-Away
As our loved ones age, the more we help them remain physically and emotionally stimulated, the better their quality of life.
Our Technology And Our Service Model
At River Oaks, part of our mission is access and the convenience of working with families to get the very best care plans for their senior family members. When you think about how that works, it relies on some specific types of communications and models that save time and energy for everyone who’s involved in this collective process of decision-making.
With that in mind, let’s talk a little bit about the technology on our site that helps to keep everyone in the loop in an easy and convenient way.
The Family Portal
It’s common for a facility to have public information on the website. Then you click in and read about it. That’s part of the early “Web 1.0” that represented the Internet a few decades ago. But then, more became possible!
We’ve gone the extra step, now, in designing a family portal that is walled with a login, so that families themselves can get in and access information and interact with staff in a digital way. Our families do take advantage of this and like the convenience that it offers! Take a look at what you can access from home, and how that can help you to keep on top of caring for an elderly family member living here.
Online Referrals
We also have a form online for online referrals that helps to streamline this kind of communication with people who are doing the research on senior care. Again, this is just a practical use of today’s “Web 2.0” model that offers users much more. But unfortunately, too many businesses don’t meet this need online. Then they have to do more by phone – and you know how that often goes.
Job Applications
Another of the digital services you can find on the website is a job application resource for seeking talent from the community. That process, that talent development process, is important in building the best care model for nursing home residents and their families! We know that, and that’s why we’ve invested in this feature.
Pennsylvania Waiver Services
Of course, there’s also the funding angle to work through, and an array of state waiver data to look at. There’s the Aging home and community-based services waiver and the Attendant Care/Act 150 Waiver, where a caregiver might be able to live in your home according to certain state criteria. There’s the Obra Waiver, a Home and Community Based Waiver program, for those with developmental physical disabilities; with the goal of achieving an independent lifestyle in a community. There’s also the Commcare Waiver – that’s a home and community-based services waiver for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury.
Talk to us about all of this! We can help.
Home Care Company that Cares
At River Oaks Home Care, we are dedicated to serving America’s seniors in a caring way, and helping to provide affordable home care services to clients.
If you’re experienced in the home healthcare industry, you’ve probably seen some of the codes of conduct and mission statements that companies frequently advertise. When you see these, it’s a good thing – it means that someone has thought about articulating why we do what we do, and what standards we hold our businesses to, for the sake of the clients and their families.
The context is that it’s important to treat seniors with decency and respect. We understand that those who we serve are in many ways vulnerable to outside forces in their lives. With that in mind, we have created a mission exemplified by the word “caring” that shows how we approach our services:
You can see this in a page on our web site. These principles guide our business philosophy: comfort, affection, respect, integrity, nurturing and generosity.
How do we live this out in operating our home healthcare services?
It starts with staff recruiting and training. We on-board people who understand their mission and the care that our customers require. We then retain these talented individuals to keep our ship functioning well.
We appreciate our staff, and make sure that they know that, and create a work environment that is positive and encouraging. That means a lot to our employees, but it also means a lot to our families because it is this kind of going the extra mile that assures quality. When companies cut corners or fail to reward good work, bad things can happen!
We also adhere to the professional code of ethics of the industry, and always look at how to apply best practices in our business operations.
From non-medical home care to specific kinds of care like Alzheimer’s and dementia care, our home health professionals work on this firm mandate. We understand that we are an arm of the caregiving community that supports families. So we keep in touch with families and understand their needs – we listen to seniors and family members and put together dedicated plans for customer care. We take the time to listen, and do the extra work to safeguard our seniors – because they deserve it!
All of this is incredibly important in today’s world, where frightening stories of nursing home abuse and other problems abound. At River Oaks Home Care, we are dedicated to making sure that none of these types of headlines threaten the security and well-being of our families. Take a look at everything that we offer on our web site and call us with any questions – we look forward to meeting your family and coming up with solutions to adequately support an aging family member in their home.
5 Advantages of Choosing In-Home Elder Care Services
As the life expectancy rate in America continues to grow, more and more families are facing issues related to caring for aging relatives. For a variety of reasons, there may come the point when it’s not feasible for a relative to take care of themselves. For many years, the only course of action for families in this situation was to place the relative in a nursing home. However, there are good reasons to consider using a health care service that comes to your relative. Here are five advantages to choosing in-home elder care services.
Specially Trained For At-Home Care
In-home elder care services use highly skilled professionals who are trained to help patients in environments outside of traditional hospital and nursing home settings. Aging in place creates unique challenges. To provide the level of care a patient needs, in-home care specialists are trained on how to handle the various issues that may arise For some people, having someone around or on-call who can help with the age-related matters is all the patient needs to remain at home and keep their independence.
Individual Attention for Needs and Health Concerns
When placing their loved ones in managed care, it’s common for people to be concerned about how much personal attention they are receiving. These concerns are valid concerns since many facilities keep their minimum level of staff needed to meet state requirements. Traditional staffing levels at nursing homes make it hard for nurses to focus on an individual resident. With in-home care, the nurse can devote their entire attention to the patient and their needs. When you use an in-home care service, like River Oaks Home Care, your relative has the same small team of nurses and caregivers. The individual care also makes it easier for the person to bond with their team of caregivers, which also provides healthy social interactions.
Person Gets to Remain in a Familiar Environment
The most significant benefit of in-home is keeping the patient in their old home. Older adults are justified in their desire to remain in the places where they have lived for years. A house is filled with memories and familiarity that a nursing home can’t replace, and it can be a hard adjustment for many people. By using in-home care services, there’s less disruption to the life of your loved one, and they don’t have to adjust to a new environment. They are near their friends, favorite restaurants, places of worship, etc. In-home care gives the patient more independence.
Reduced Risk of Infection
Something that is often overlooked when considering in-home versus managed care is the risk of infectious diseases. Nursing homes do everything they can to minimize the risk of germs spreading from person to person, but it’s impossible to prevent all vectors for illness. Whenever you put a large number of people in one space, it increases the risk of spreading germs. Besides the possible viruses from other residents of the nursing home, there are also the germs from staff and visitors to considers. The risk of death from seasonal cases of flu increases as someone ages. Compared to nursing homes, in-home care has significantly fewer opportunities for illnesses to spread.
Potentially Lower Costs.
Because you aren’t paying for a large facility and staff, in-home care services can be less expensive than nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Depending on the situation, you may only need to hire an in-home care specialist for specific times of day rather than have someone with your relative 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Many people overlook the option of in-home care for their aging relatives due to price concerns. However, as the number of qualified in-home nurses increased, the cost of in-home care has dropped, and more insurances are making paying for in-home care options. Depending on the services the patient needs, in-home elder care may be a less expensive option than moving your relative into a nursing home.
If you’re trying to decide on the best care option for family members with age-related health issues, the specialists at River Oaks Home Care can help you weigh the options. Contact River Oaks Home Care to learn more about getting in-home health care services for your loved ones.
We are participating in the 2017 Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
End of Alzheimer’s starts with me!
River Oaks Homecare is participating in the 2017 Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Saturday Nov. 11, 2017.
Alzheimer’s disease is relentless. So are we. Join our team for the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s®. This is the world’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research.
Donate or Join our team here: Team River Oaks Homecare
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Finding breast cancer early and getting state-of-the-art cancer treatment are the most important strategies to prevent deaths from breast cancer. Breast cancer that’s found early, when it’s small and has not spread, is easier to treat successfully. Getting regular screening tests is the most reliable way to find breast cancer early. The American Cancer Society has screening guidelines for women at average risk of breast cancer, and for those at higher-than-average risk for breast cancer. Read more from the link below :
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/screening-tests-and-early-detection/american-cancer-society-recommendations-for-the-early-detection-of-breast-cancer.html
Culled up from the American Cancer Society Website (https://www.cancer.org/)
Our Care Transition Service
Our Care transition service
Our Care transition service ensures your loved ones are well received back home from hospitals and nursing homes. Why is it important to have our caregivers in place for this? The answer is simply to reduce hospital readmissions for our loved ones. We don’t want them going back on re-admissions again and being treated for the same thing. It also eases out stress within the family in general, knowing fully well you don’t have to worry brings peace of mind.
Our main goal is to achieve a 100% recovery with our clients by making sure that the plan of care is followed, medication reminders are in place, preventing falls, and also ensuring that scheduled appointments with primary care physician visits are not missed.
If you or someone you love can benefit from our care transitions services (A family member can be employed to take care of you or your loved one), please give us a call at 267-755-7500.
Guest Blog: Mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma cancer is a rare and very serious disease caused typically by long-time, long-ago occupational exposure to asbestos.
It strikes mostly seniors, often turning a well-planned retirement upside down for patients and their families.
Although there is no definitive cure, recent treatment advances and better diagnostics have allowed mesothelioma specialists to take a more curative approach if the cancer is caught before it has metastasized.
Mesothelioma is no longer viewed as the death sentence it was a decade ago. Surgeries have become more advanced; chemotherapy drugs are more personalized; and radiation is more precise.
Gene therapy, immunotherapy and a variety of clinical trials with the latest advances in medicine are available to provide hope where once there was none.
“When hope is part of the equation, anything is possible,” said mesothelioma specialist and thoracic surgeon Dr. David Sugarbaker, director of the Lung Institute at the Baylor College of Medicine. “I remain optimistic that we can put together the right combination of patients and treatments to effect a cure.”
A Rare, Aggressive Cancer
Mesothelioma is diagnosed in only 3,000 people annually in the United States – compared to 220,000 with lung cancer – and usually after the age 60, primarily because of a long latency period (20-50 years) between asbestos exposure and obvious symptoms.
It begins with the inhalation or ingestion of the toxic asbestos fibers. They can become lodged in the membrane around the lungs or the abdomen, cause inflammation and eventually scarring, which can lead to a myriad of serious problems, including asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma cancer.
Pleural mesothelioma, which starts in the thoracic cavity, is the most common. Peritoneal mesothelioma, in the abdominal cavity, is responsible for 25 percent of the cases and typically comes with a better prognosis.
Because this cancer is rare, it’s vital to find a specialist who treats it regularly and understands its intricacies. Many doctors, including some oncologists, rarely see it, taking a more nihilistic approach to treatment.
A specialist can devise a personalized, multidisciplinary approach that may extend survival time considerably.
While the majority of patients live less than 18 months after diagnosis, and many receive only palliative care, some patients today are living three, four or five years beyond their life expectancies with the latest treatments.
Early symptoms will include shortness of breath, fatigue, chest discomfort, muscle soreness and a lingering dry cough. As the cancer progresses, those problems will intensify.
Advice for Patients and Families
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with this crippling cancer, some advice to follow:
- Find a specialty center. This will improve greatly your odds of surviving.
- Explore clinical trials. This is where you will find the latest, cutting-edge therapies.
- Stay engaged. Don’t try to fight this alone. Lean on family and friends, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
- Be active. Force yourself to exercise daily. Get up and walk, even when treatments wear you down.
- Join a support group specifically for mesothelioma. Other patients and families can become a wealth of information. It will take away the feeling of isolation.
Always remember to be aggressive in your approach to treatment. Ask for second opinions and get answers. Discuss various treatment options with your doctors.
For many patients, the power of prayer is crucial to their survival. Don’t discount it.
Also remind yourself to eat well and learn what foods feed the cancer, and what foods the cancer doesn’t like.
Above all, surround yourself with positive people.
Tim Povtak is a content writer for The Mesothelioma Center and Asbestos.com, an informational source for mesothelioma patients and families.
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