Brian Carrigan 
Let me begin this article with the well-known The Wizard of Oz quote:
“There’s no place like home.”
In all my years of working with seniors, I’ve only met a handful who were adamant about being put in a skilled nursing facility (and their primary reason was that they didn’t want to be a burden to their loved ones). Fair to say, placing a loved one in a nursing home can be a traumatic experience for all involved. The truth is that most people dread the notion of institutionalization—and for good reason: In a recent study, 53 percent of the nursing home residents studied died within six months. Why such a harsh statistic?
There are many moving parts here, but I’ve identified what I feel are the top three medical and psycho-social factors that spur this unfortunate trend:
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- Very high patient acuity levels that span a wide array of disease processes
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- Risk of infection, even in those facilities that are well-maintained. (Gather a group of people who are mostly sick and immune-compromised in a confined area where they very seldom leave the premises and the probability of infection is exponentially higher than in “normal” conditions.)
- An over-arching feeling of lack of control, loneliness, a lack of interaction with family members and
loved-ones , and the overwhelming sentiment of irrelevance or of being expendable. Many seniors also have a raw fear that the end of life will be other-than-honorable, undignified.
How wonderful then that there is a new and better alternative for taking care of our seniors, which represents a paradigm shift in the world of home care. This alternative was the genesis for creating Remain At Home Senior Care (“RAH”), a company that was launched and is headquartered in Athens, GA, and whose main mission is to afford seniors the opportunity to “age-in-place” at the location they call home.
RAH SIGNIFICANTLY EXCEEDS STANDARDS
It’s all about the Medical Care
Remain At Home’s new model of senior care is a rare hybrid of in-home medical and non-medical “companion care” with physician and RN oversight for all care plans. We also afford the ultimate in flexibility – hourly to 24/7/365 care – based solely on preference and need. Perhaps our most distinguished offering is that we use the most qualified licensed medical caregivers only. Our caregivers are all on-staff (no “contract employees”) and can administer any/all medications (unlicensed “companions,” by law, cannot). The RAH experience also includes access to a medical social worker, chaplain, dietitian, and volunteers. Whatever our clients require, even if it is above and beyond hands-on caregiving, it is provided. Additional services include, but are not limited to: blood sugar checks and management, catheter care, hospital discharge coordination, ostomy care, vital sign monitoring, and specialized wound care. All services are covered under the baseline hourly charge.
Learn more about our medical care capabilities →
It’s all about the Companion Care
RAH’s Companion Care services, or assistance with Activities of Daily Life (ADL’s), exceed expectations: laundry, cooking/meal prep, transportation, light housekeeping, pet care, shopping, bathing, changing and genuine friendship, to name just a handful. No “cookie cutter” or “one-size-fits-all” caregiving. Based on a balance between acuity and interests/hobbies, our clients and their families let us know what kind of caregiving experience they wish to have and we strive to comply, within the context of accepted guidelines set forth by our medical and companion care licensure.
View our service comparison chart →
It’s all about the Caregivers
Prior to hiring our caregivers, in-depth background checks (local and national), DMV and a 9-panel drug test (we also drug test randomly post-hire) are conducted. Since all of our caregivers are licensed, we also conduct licensure and “medical industry” reference checks. Once a caregiver is hired, they are required to earn continuing medical education credits. Additionally, a current CPR certification is required and we offer Hepatitis C vaccinations as standard protocol.
Learn more about some of our distinguished caregivers →
It’s all about Competitive Rates
RAH is able to maintain competitive hourly pricing, even though we offer
both high-level companion and medical care. Simply stated, we are not a franchise, so the significant amount of monies that would otherwise go to a corporation as “franchise fees,” are reinvested into our people, whom we regard as our biggest and core asset. Our product is our employees and we take very good care of them.
It’s all about the Coverage
We have above-and-beyond coverage in all facets of caregiving and employee management. If interested in specific liability coverage and amounts, you are invited to view our formal “Liability Certificate of Insurance” during the initial assessment or during a visit to our home office. Additionally, all employees are insured to transport our clients in their own or the client’s car.
Learn more about our service by reading frequently asked questions →
If you are in need of in-home care or are interested in finding out more about RAH’s offerings, please do not hesitate to call us at 706-254-2000 visit our information request page to set-up your free assessment.
Thank you to everyone in the Athens community for your support of our mission to take care of and honor our seniors and for championing our vision for a new and wonderful model of home care.
It’s all about…Keeping the promise.
