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Personal Home Care Helps Fortunately, she had another choice. Today, thanks to assistance from Holland Hospital Home Care Programs, Mattias is still in the home she has lived in for 48 years. Home care aides visit her for eight hours every day to help with cooking, cleaning, getting to appointments and the dozens of other activities that make up the day. Her response now? "I'm so happy that I can be home," Mattias
says with a smile. In addition to monitoring vital signs, that help can include anything from daily personal care tasks (bathing, cooking, medication reminders) to homemaking duties and errands (laundry, light housekeeping, shopping) to companionship (day trips, games) to respite care for caregivers. "Keeping our patients safe and functioning at their optimal level are our top priorities," says Van De Burg.
Personal care is a growing field in the home care industry, according to Jan Langeland, director of Holland Hospital Home Care Programs, which offers personal care as well as a number of skilled nursing, rehabilitation therapy and social work services. "I believe it will continue to grow rapidly in the next decade due to the aging population and people's mobility – meaning that loved ones often live far away," says Langeland. The personal care service provides peace of mind for a client's loved ones. Often adult children have many other commitments and responsibilities, and everyone benefits from some assistance and the reassurance that their elderly or disabled loved one is being well cared for. The services are used to provide long-term intermittent companionship, respite care or short-term support necessitated by a serious injury or illness, notes Langeland. Clients undergo a free initial assessment by a registered nurse, with follow-up nursing visits arranged as needed. All home care aides are fully screened and trained, and are supervised by an RN case manager. Van De Burg estimates that the program's 34 aides provide 2,400 to 3,000 hours of personal home care services each month. They are available 24 hours a day. "We work around [clients'] needs and schedule what works for them," Van De Burg says. That includes connecting people with other community resources such as Meals on Wheels, churches and support groups. Home care aide Mary Boeve recently picked Mattias up from her exercise class at Evergreen Commons, and the two had tea in the elderly woman's flower-filled backyard. For Mattias, small pleasures like that are "like a beautiful vacation." "I couldn't have done it myself," she says. "Home care is wonderful."
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