COVID Stories of Care | The Future of Healthcare is Home Care

Notes from Glenn entering the 12th week of supporting our Clients and Caregivers, with office team & nurses working remotely.

Home Is the Safest Place for Care

Many providers and families believe that the home is the safest place for care.  The COVID pandemic has also spurred an increase in more care in the home. WFC is grateful for a post-COVID increase in client referrals. As many of us are moving through the stages of returning to work, we’re busy fielding new client recommendations from many different sources: our clients, their family members, our referral partners, through outreach in the community, and online inquires.

The growth in our business dovetails with the increasing interest in working or being treated in the home vs. other senior care alternatives. We are seeing incoming clients who, after being treated in-hospital for COVID, are discharged and using WFC for home care along with those having deferred elective surgeries and need in-home care for recovery.  The same is true for adult children looking for home care alternatives their parents as they return to work. 

That home care is increasing in marketplace relevance is also reflected in a stepped-up number of industry activities and in an integration of different national trade groups. I mentioned last week that I was a panelist on a webinar devoted to understanding the impact of COVID on home care practices. My colleagues locally and across the country and I are conferring more with each other virtually in realtime and at various industry webinars.  It has been great to see this spirit of cooperation across the Home Care industry as evidenced by this great video from multiple industry trade groups on the future of home care:

Special Thanks to Our Caregivers & Clients

We are especially grateful for feedback from Our Caregivers & Clients and even more so when they recommend WFC to a friend as an employer and/or home care provider.

Shout out and thanks to Kelly O’Keefe, a WFC caregiver who graduated from one of our first CNA Transition Classes and almost immediately started a long-term client case near her home. Kelly recently referred a client to WFC from her local community. It is great to see both Clients and Caregivers referring each other to WFC based on their positive experiences.

And here’s an unsolicited testimonial we received last week from a client’s family member about his experience with our nurse Annette establishing care for his mom after a hospital stay:

Just wanted to drop a quick note to you re. Annette Buckley. Not only was she very thorough, informative and sympathetic, she was also a great sales person for your organization. She was a joy to work with and I will definitely call on her again if my mother needs help or if any of my friends are in need of family services. 

Client Stories – Leo B.

Please be sure to take a look at an appreciation of one of our favorite clients, Leo B. in the Client Stories section of our website:

water color man with dog

“Catherine Goes to” …

Greenwich Woods Rehab and Health Care Center

Our Director of Business Development, Catherine Lanza, continues to deliver appreciation baskets to residents of our Partner Facilities. As she has done many times in these past COVID months when residents are ‘sheltering in place’ in their rooms, the latest recipient of Catherine’s magic baskets is Greenwich Woods Rehab and Health Care Center.

Here’s Catherine account:

June 1, 2020, was an exciting day for us and for the 67 residents at Greenwich Woods Rehab and Health Care Center, in Greenwich, Connecticut.

WFC put together 67 large type puzzle books with 67 light up pens, and packaged them with assorted salty and sweet snacks for the residents to enjoy while they engaged in word find, crossword puzzles, and other assorted games.

Catherine, met Monica Smith, Social Worker, and Dana White, the Assistant Director of Nursing, outside the Rehab, and presented all the goodies.  They were so thankful and appreciative and said that the residents will really be excited!  And they were!  We are happy to help in any way we can!

Catherine Adds Some Fun to Our Friday Afternoon Zoom Call

Catherine adds fun to our daily Team Zoom calls on Fridays with a variety of activities.  She has earned the nickname “Julie” after the Cruise Director from Love Boat many years back.  Last Friday each of us picked a song that we best identified with – the selections were quite interesting across many years and genres:

Glenn – Reelin’ in the Years from Steely Dan – 1972

John – Enter Sandman – Metallica – 1991

Kenny – Everything’s Gonna be Alright – Bob Marley – 2006

Catherine – Working for the Weekend – Loverboy – 1981

Melissa – I Make my Own Sunshine – Alyssa Bonagura – 2012

Melanie – Red Red Wine – UB40 – 1983

Annette – Survivor – Destiny’s Child – 2002

Nicole – It’s all Right to Love Me – Johnny Mathis – 2017

Jessica – Everything I Do I Do It For You – Bryan Adams – 1991

Transition to Virtual Recruiting & Onboarding

COVID-19 has led us to re-evaluate our recruiting, onboarding, and training processes and programs. We are now offering virtual and paperless procedures for every stage. 

Expansion of our digital HR capabilities will meet the rise in job applicants with caregiving credentials who want to consider working in a Home Care Setting instead of a Facility Setting, as well as those considering this rewarding field.  

Our Home Health Aide Training Program (HHATP) in Katonah enables us to train and provide the NY HHA Certification to a qualified applicant in any scenario:  2-day HHA Competency for former NY HHAs whose certificates have lapsed; 4-day CNA to HHA transition classes to add the NY HHA for NY, CT & NJ CNAs who would like to add the flexibility of working for a NY Licensed Agency in a Home Care setting; 3-week full HHA Class for those who are new to professional caregiving.

 

STAY SAFE. STAY HEALTHY. STAY HOME.

Westchester Family Care Inc. assists people of all ages, by customizing home care plans to maintain a healthy quality of life and safety at home.

Contact WFC for an immediate family need or when planning for future needs: info@westfamilycare.com914-764-7500, www.westchesterfamilycare.com.

Westchester Family Care Provides Peace of Mind and Confidence that the Elderly Are Safe and Living with Dignity in Their Own Home.

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