Spotlight on Eldercare Services
By Craig Corkery, Eldercare Services Coordinator
Service Alternatives, Inc. received its home care license in November of 2004 from the Washington State Department of Health. This home care license allows us to provide nonmedical care to seniors in their own homes including certain medical tasks that have been delegated by a Registered Nurse.
The Eldercare program currently serves Pierce, King, Snohomish, Skagit and Island counties, and we plan to expand. Our services include companionship, personal care, cooking, cleaning, medication reminders, and transportation to medical appointments and/or activities in the community, yard work and respite care. We require a minimum of two hours for each visit. Beyond that, the customer decides how much time they need.
Our caregivers are vital to the success of our Eldercare program. They do fantastic work, and have built a reputation for providing quality care. Past and current customers have high praise for them, and we've received letters acknowledging their hard work and quality of care. Debbie Hendricks has worked in our Eldercare Division for two years. She took time from her busy schedule to answer some questions for us.
Betty Tronsrud and Debbie Hendricks
Q: What is it that you enjoy about working with the elderly?
Debbie: I learn a lot from them about life with regards to their historical perspective. They have great stories to tell. The customers I work with are very kind and I enjoy the one on one interaction I have with them.
Q: What are the benefits to this type of work?
Debbie: I get the opportunity to work with people and help them live a better life. I gain a lot of self esteem and satisfaction when I see the benefits they receive from quality of care.
Q: What is your biggest strength?
Debbie: I have compassion. I love what I do. The people I care for see this when I'm working with them. It builds their confidence that I will do quality work.
Q: Besides your biggest strength, what would you encourage other caregivers to do that will help pave a road for exceptional service?
Debbie: I think it is very important to be empathic. Treat the customer how you would want to be treated if you were in their situation. Put yourself in their perspective as best as possible, and be respectful to their needs.
The Eldercare Division has provided care to about 24 amazing people in the last four years. Currently we have nine customers in Oak Harbor, Arlington, Everett, Snohomish, Monroe, Edmonds, Bothell and Seattle. One of our customers, Betty Tronsrud, was gracious enough to allow us an interview for this article. Her comments provide some insight on her perspective on care giving, and why she chose SA as her provider.
Q: How has eldercare services or care giving has been for you in the past?
Betty: Well, I spent some time myself providing care to my own family members. As a teenager, I lived with my grandmother and was her primary caregiver. In the 1950's I spent time in Yakima caring for my sister inlaw who was paralyzed from the neck down due to polio. When my parents became ill, I was their primary caregiver. I spent a total of 15 years caring for them. The majority of those years were spent caring for my mother. At one point in time, I had spent six and half months caring for my mother 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and the only break I received was being able to leave the house for only two hours each Monday morning.
Q: So, we're providing care to an expert in care giving! What are some strengths needed to be a quality caregiver?
Betty: I worked on a farm growing up, and that taught me or gave me an excellent work ethic. It is important for young people today to have a job or have had a job that instilled excellent work values. Along with a great work ethic you need patience and foresight.
Q: How did you hear about Service Alternatives?
Betty: I got your information from the telephone book. I went down the list of home care agencies, and you were the first agency to give me a decent answer with regards to what your services included, caregiver training & availability as well as service fees.
Q: Why did you end up choosing Service Alternatives as your home care provider?
Betty: Well, you backed up what you said you would do. Your follow through was great. When I first contacted you, I mentioned I had issues with my insurance agency reimbursing me for previous care that I received from another agency. You then told me you would follow up with my insurance agency to see what you and I needed to do to get reimbursed for my future home care services. Part of the reimbursement process was finding a nurse to come to my home once a week and you did a good job coordinating that. It was a long process, but you stuck with it, and things worked out. Also, after meeting Debbie and Karen, I felt good about the care I would eventually receive.
Q: We have been providing services to you now for 7 months, so how would you compare our caregivers with past caregivers, and how do our services match up with the strengths you talked about earlier with regards to quality care giving?
Betty: With past agencies and visiting nurses, I continually had issues with communication and caregivers not willing to do certain tasks or services. Your caregivers do excellent work. They are very reliable and have good communication. They understand my needs. They come in and do what is expected without having to ask me all the time what needs to be done. They go out of their way to do quality work.