Arranging care for your senior parents as they age, so they can stay at home safely, can be a daunting undertaking. Falls that lead to hospitalization, medication mismanagement, and under or malnutrition, are just three of the most common scenarios that can lead to elders losing their independence.
Comfort Keepers®, the only Accredited home care service on the North Shore, is dedicated to supporting seniors at home to reduce these kinds of incidents. Through overnight care, 24/7 and live-in care, as well as short visits (three hours), they provide a full range of services, including homemaking, meal preparation, assisted rides, personal care, and companionship.
"Because we're North Shore owned and operated, we're able to be hyperlocal, quick and flexible," says Cherian Itty, owner of Comfort Keepers® North Vancouver and West Vancouver.
"Most of our caregivers and our entire management team live in North Vancouver or West Vancouver, so we fully understand the challenges here. We're also highly networked with public and private support and services on the North Shore for seniors, allowing us to be very flexible and quick in customizing care plans and attending to the needs of our senior clients."
One night, North Shore resident Cheryl M. was in a near crisis situation with her parents and required prompt assistance.
"I made the first call to Comfort Keepers® late in the evening and not only was it returned immediately, they found someone to come in the next morning,” she shares.
Comfort Keepers® followed up by sending a staff member to visit Cheryl’s parents in Horseshoe Bay and ensure they were comfortable with the caregiver. They scheduled the same caregiver time and again to reduce confusion.
These essential details provide peace of mind, and are reassurance that the small interactions are not being overlooked.
"We know our clients and our client's family, which is super important to us," acknowledges Itty. "You're not talking to somebody at a call centre in another city, who has no clue what's going on."
Exemplary Standing
Comfort Keepers® was awarded the 'Accredited with Exemplary Standing' seal by Accreditation Canada, achieving the highest available certification in Canada for home care services.
"It demonstrates our commitment to offering safe, high-quality home care and validates our current processes," says Itty. "Plus, it helps us constantly improve, using a framework of over 500 standards to measure ourselves."
"We're the only home care provider on the North Shore that has been designated as 'Accredited with Exemplary Standing'. Our caregivers love working for an Accredited company because they know they are and will be supported. Our client care leader is an RN, with a PhD in nursing, who ensures our caregivers are well-supported with training and assessments."
Care plans tailored to individual needs
"We have a free in-home care consultation with the family and the client, and any key decision makers, so we all understand the physical, cognitive needs and challenges," says Itty.
To promote home safety, physical and mental health, and overall well-being of their clients, Comfort Keepers® employs an Interactive Caregiving™ approach, a highly-flexible and customized care plan.
"We empower caregivers to go beyond our 200-point checklist and modify the care plan as needed, finding those little things that make a seniors’ day. We refer to this as ‘Elevating the Human Spirit,’, which is closing those gaps between the checklist points."
Caregivers go beyond the tasks and fully engage and interact with their clients in physical, mental and social activities such as walks, dancing, reminiscing, hobbies, and visiting their favourite people and places.
"We also have scenario planning for everything from a pandemic and snow, to down telephones to email server outages, whatever it is, so we're not scrambling or unreachable when those situations happen," says Itty.
"What we do and try to do when there's adversity, makes a big difference—actually, all the difference."
For more information, visit www.comfortkeepers.ca
