In Home Care Requires Empathy
By Mike Bundrant with Tom Louden of BrightStar Health Care

Allowing someone into your home to assist with daily living activities is not an easy decision to make. If you are required to make that choice, you’d better make a wise one. The elderly or injured who need in-home help face a wide range of options and risks.

Recently, I spoke with Tom Louden, the owner of the local BrightStar Health Care franchise. BrightStar has 160 franchise locations nationwide and counting. Tom oversees in-home assistance with daily living activities for clients throughout Southwest Riverside County.

BrightStar provides everything from bathing and oral hygiene, dressing and grooming, meal preparation, light housekeeping, transportation to and from appointments, grocery shopping, laundry and even just sitting with clients to talk. Having recently passed their survey for a skilled care license, their services will expand in the near future.

Yet this is more than a business venture for Tom. As a disabled veteran and the victim of a near fatal accident as a volunteer fireman when he was 21 years old and a more recent brush with death in a motorcycle accident, Tom has experienced first hand what it is like to receive in home care. He walked in his clients’ moccasins, so to speak, so he realizes how important it is to practice compassion toward those in need.

I asked Tom why he chose this particular franchise to work with and he replied, “The founders got into this business because of the problems they had finding help for his grandmother when she was dying of cancer.  After she died, they opened this business because they felt they could provide a better service than they received, which they have done.  Knowing what it’s like being the one dependent on getting good care, I decided this business was a good fit for me.”

“We care for the young or the elderly,” Tom continued, “depending on what they need.  We are here to help.  They can be people with dementia, or strokes, with back problems or having fallen down. You name it, if you need someone to help, we are here.”

As in-home care is often not covered by insurance, financial considerations are always an issue. It is tempting for many to seek to pay as little as possible for assistance. “You have to be careful,” warned Tom.  “There are people who will offer care for less, but you have to know what you are getting.  We do background checks, drug testing and extensive personal interviewing to qualify staff members. We do reference checking and CPR certification and their TB test as well.  We know that our person is qualified before we send them into a home.”

“All things considered, you have to have the budget for it,” said Tom, “but if I had someone whom I cared about that needed help, I’d be very careful who I sent into the home.”

Here are some additional pointers to consider when hiring in-home care. Make sure the agency is licensed and bonded and hires its caregivers as employees. Some agencies hire only contractors, who act as independent business owners and may not be covered by the agency’s liability insurance. It’s also a good idea to seek third party validation, such as from the American Board of Homecare.

When the care and feeding of loved ones is at stake, there is no such thing as being too cautious.

Healthy Times would like to congratulate Tom Louden and BrightStar Healthcare for recently being awarded a contract to provide in-home assistance to patients of Loma Linda VA hospital and for receiving the company’s “Customer Satisfaction” award at the annual BrightStar conference in September.

To contact BrightStar, please call…..(951) 679-6986 24 hours a day 7 days a week to speak to Angela or Tom about your needs.