Life at Home with Live-In Care

Clare, supervising nurse for ABC Home Health’s live-in services, finds that most of the seniors she visits want to be in their own homes. “The first thing they tell me, when I meet them in the hospital or nursing home, is ‘I want to go home.’”

Clients and their families are surprised to learn that a 24 hour live-in care program is easily available to them. Over the years hundreds of ABC Home Care clients are able to live comfortably at home with the help of someone carefully matched to the client. ABC Home Health’s program has provided 21,000 live-in days in the last two years. The care is affordable and staffing is consistent over time.

Clare points out that ABC Home Health is an agency owned and managed by nurses, with a focus first and foremost on the client’s health. Clare and Jeannette Sheehan know that caregivers themselves need to be personally committed to the client’s well being, as well as having the appropriate training and experience.

Live-in Care is Special Care
Jeannette and Clare say that live-in care is quite different from the work that a 9 to 5 provider offers. “Because the client’s home becomes the caregiver’s residence,” says Clare, “we are as interested in finding a good personal match for the client as we are in the technical skills of the caregiver.”

Clare says that many clients worry about giving up their privacy to a stranger. “In fact, though,” she says, “while it’s hard to believe, the live-in caregiver becomes like a member of the family in a very short period of time.”

Other clients worry about supervising the live-in caregiver, or making sure they are comfortable. But supervision is ABC Home Health’s responsibility, and Clare provides close support. Furthermore, Clare says “ABC’s live-in caregivers are not just sitters. If a worker is concerned about a client’s condition, they are trained to call ABC and a nurse will respond immediately.”

Training for caregivers includes matters of privacy, use of space, and “how not to be in someone’s face.” Clare works with caregivers to help them understand family dynamics and when it’s important to ask for help from the family, who are often closely involved in the client’s life.

Sometimes clients, especially those with difficult conditions, find it hard to believe that someone will really stay with them 24/7, but quickly come to see how they can rely on their live-in caregiver.

What makes a good live-in caregiver?
Each member of ABC’s live-in staff meets the strictest standards of professional competency. Applicants undergo a thorough screening process to determine both clinical and personal strengths. ABC Home Health is looking for caregivers who can deliver care skillfully, and in a gentle and compassionate manner.

Clare says that the caregiver skills she looks for will vary. A certified home health aide may or may not be needed. “It’s more about their experience,” she says. “Have they taken care of their own mother with Alzheimer’s? Have they worked with a stroke patient?”

When setting up a live-in arrangement with family members, Clare works to involve the client in determining a good match. She will ask, “What do you like to do? What are your interests?” This information is as important as the client’s medical condition, because the caregiver is going to become part of the patient’s life.

Live-in Care in Action
A live-in caregiver does all those things that a client can no longer do for themselves. This includes assistance with personal care, light housekeeping, meal preparation, shopping, and the many small things that are part of daily life: reminders to take medicine, picking up prescriptions, applying creams or lotions, caring for the pet, answering the phone or the doorbell, writing letters, helping to find a TV program. At the end of the day it’s the live-in caregiver who helps the client into bed, and makes sure they are comfortable for the night.

Live-in care also involves companionship, and this is why ABC Home Health is careful to match the individual caregiver to the client. For example, one client and her caregiver love to watch TV together (see “Life at Home with an ABC Caregiver”). Because they are both Catholic, these two even say their evening prayers together at the end of each day.

Clare is clearly proud of ABC Home Health’s live-in team. “How amazing the workers are,” she says. “It takes a special person who can devote their entire life to caring for one person.”

For more information on any of our services including the Live-in Program please call ABC Homecare at (781) 245-1880, or email us at info@abchhp.com.