Non-Medical Home Health Care - What You Need To Know

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2:33 Today We're going to talk to Mary Doyle from Adult Care Assistance home Care on non medical home health care. So let's welcome Mary. Good morning, Hey Mary, how are you doing well? Thank you good? Tell us a little bit about you in Adult Care Assistance home Care perfect. Well. First of all, thank you so much for having me this morning. My name is Mary and I am with Adult Persists home Care. A little bit about me personally. Grew up in the Midwest. I moved out here to the Arizona area about five years ago. I am a sunshine girl, so the heat, the sun, the hotter the better.

3:17 So I've always said I was born for Arizona, and I finally made it here, so I love it. I am an outdoors person Mary, four kiddos, a couple pups. I just enjoy life. Good good, All right, Well, I'm trying to think back to when I first met you. It's probably been two or three years ago, now, probably three or four years ago now at one of the networking events, I. Think, yeah, yeah, it's been at least probably three, but probably closer to the four year mark. Yes, yeah, yeah, So all right, Adult Care Assistants home Care, you guys are non medical home health care, So explain what non medical home health care is.

4:03 Yeah, So a lot of times when people hear home care, they normally even doctors, physicians, nurses, they still get confused with home health as well. So we really want to highlight the difference between the non medical home care and home health. So when people hear that, they often think of nurses and physical therapists, but non medical is different. We're there to help people remain independent and safe in the place that they want to be most, which is their own home. Right. So, and you guys are I know you're in the West Valley, but you also in Tucson.

4:47 We are you Scottsdale. And you've just recently opened in the East Valleys. Yes, so we are serving most of the valley now. We are in the West Valley, the East Valley up north into Scottsdale, and we do have a location in Tucson as well, serving now the Green Valley area. So we're continuing to expand, we keep identifying the needs, so we are trying to go and work where the need is. Awesome. Awesome, So do insurance companies like insurance companies would normally cover like medical care, do they cover non medical? They do not.

5:29 One because it's it's not a it's not health care that's needed, it's just that non medical that's needed, the assistance to remain independently or recovering. But we are contracted, so a lot of our our services are private pay, but we are contracted with the VA. Kind of veterans are not aware that there is this benefit that the VA will cover for them. So the VA covers a much a slight portion of services. Private long term care insurance also will subsidize a lot of times, they'll reimburse for our services. Okay, there is with. Medicare, there is a new it's called the Guide program, and so they're allotting just a very short amount of hours per year, and so you know, until that that program gets funded, it's kind of limited on what is offered through that through Medicare. And then a lot of times people don't realize that your life insurance policies a lot of times there's a living writer benefit in that that people can tap into. So we're trying to educate on that as well, that you don't have to wait till you pass to have some of these services or to utilize those funds that you've been paying into so you can depending on how your your policies are written, you might be able to utilize some of that to recover or to have the assistance in your home.

6:51 Oh that's interesting. So would is that something where they somebody would need to go to their life insurance company to find out if it's or do you guys help them navigate that. We definitely will help navigate a lot of times if they have a copy of their policy, we asked to just to review it with them and we can most of the time identify whether or not they have those benefits listed. But we will will help navigate the systems, whether it's the VA system, long term care insurance, or that life insurance policies, the annuities. We will help walk them through that process. Wow, that's great instead of saying, well, talk to your insurance company and come back. If you have the benefits. Right. Yeah, And a.

7:34 Lot of times we'll have to you know, once we identify that they have it, we will sit with them while they make the phone calls because you know, they're the ones with the policies, so a lot of times they won't talk to us, right, we can sit with the prospect and ask them, you know, right. Okay, so somebody finds you, whether it's through a referral or they find you on the internet or the doctor. You know, you're one of the referrals they hand out and they call you. What are the first steps? Yeah, the first step is the phone call, So just call and find out. We want to explore We're trying to identify the true need when they're making that phone call.

8:21 So it's just going to be a conversation with us. You're not obligated at any time to sign onto services with us. If you're just looking for education, looking for resources, looking for advice, what those next steps would be, we will walk you through it. So we're going to have that conversation, listen to what they're saying. We're going to help identify needs. A lot of times what they're calling for, they don't realize that there's more. That goes to it. Okay. The big thing I like to say is a lot of times are we might get a phone call and they're like, I just need help with a shower, and I'm like, you know, shower really is a basic task every day and if we're having issues taking just a shower, you know what else are we having trouble with. You know, if they can't shower, they can't bathe, can they do that housekeeping? Can they get out and run those errands?

9:10 Everything kind of goes hand in hand, and you. Guys will help with all that. I mean, you'll help with some housekeeping and. Running errands. Yep, yep, all of our services. We again, we're there to help you remain independent. That's the thing. People start to fear that once they bring in home care that they're going to lose their independence. But our job really is to keep that independence without being alone. We can come in, we'll assist with your ADLs, your activities a daily living and that can be from bathing, dressing, grooming. Help with meal preparation. You know, maybe they're doing frozen meals because they don't have the energy to prepare meals.

9:50 They can't go get the ingredients, so they're just doing the quick fix. So we can prepare healthy, balanced meals. We'll do that, like housekeeping their laundry. You know a lot of things that the elderlies will wait to change their bed linens because it's so hard. I even struggle sometimes keeping the sheets on my bed. Right the final corner, trying to get it on the mattress that one corner. And so see, those are the little things, the things that we take for granted, and we start to just kind of put off. So we let them know, hey, we can come in and do that. We'll do your laundry, we'll change your bed sheets once a week. Medication reminders this is huge, you know, making sure that they're taking their medications as prescribed. We can't administer medications, but we can do the reminders. So we're going to be reporting on whether or not those meds were missed. We come in and we see that two days had We hadn't been in there for two days and they didn't take their medications for two days. Now they're more confused or they're they're having an off day. Well, that's a big indicator as to why. So we'll start start with that.

10:51 Transportation to appointments again, just getting them safely. Yes there's uber, yes, there's other ways to get to your appointments, but it's they'll pull up and you have to be ready and you have to get out to the door into the car. They'll drop you out the curb at the doctor's office. We do not do that, we will allow time, will pick you up, allow you time. Maybe we help you take a shower before we go to that appointment. We'll get you in the car, we'll transport you there, get you in safely, and we wait. Sometimes we have family members the responsible parties that are out of state, so they would like, you know, someone to go with their loved one to that appointment and take notes and be that reporter back to them. Oh that's yeah, because sometimes you know, they forget what the doctor said or the language that the doctors are using.

11:38 It's confusing, confusing. So we go in and we can take notes and be those reporters, or we could even bring them in on a video call and they can be present with the appointment. Oh that's nice. Grocery shop. And Errand's companionship. I think that's one of the big things that's overlooked a lot of the times is you know, people kind of downplay when you talk about the companionship, but loneliness six or sinks in after a while, and you know that can be. That's cute, Yeah. Yeah, that can just the loneliness can start the trickle down effect of a lot of other issues you mentioned. Oh, no, I wanted to ask you, is there a do you guys require a minimum amount of hours a week? No.

12:44 Obviously the more hours you have the better one for consistency. Right, we used to have a minimum, but we were identifying that there were there were clients that just couldn't afford it, or they just they felt they didn't needed. Now, being in the industry, we understand that. You know, they. Say I just need help with a shower or a load of laundry, but really to get the quality of care and the true assistance needed. We don't like to be rushed. So the longer the you know, we did have a four hour minimum that was to be able to get in there when you start to build that relationship, if you're just in and out and that's task based, you really don't build that rapport and then you start to feel rushed. And like anything, if anybody is starting to feel rushed, you risk you know, having accidents or.

13:40 Issues. So we definitely don't want to push them to hurry them through what we're there for. So we do have what we call a service call. The service call is anything up to two hours. That's a flat rate. So maybe they do just want a ride to the doctor's office, or they only want a shower. That's fine, we can come in and do that. But you're just the continuity of carriage just not there because you're not guaranteed the same caregiver on those short shifts, and it's it's going to be based off of you know, the caregivers availabilities. If you do at least a four hour shift, we can then be more consistent. Caregivers are more apt to pick up those longer shifts. They don't call out as often, so if you schedule them to a two hour shift, they you know, sometimes our caregivers work for different agencies, right because on home care hours aren't guaranteed. The hours aren't there with the client, we can't offer those out.

14:40 But so a lot of times our caregivers work for different agencies. So we found that that four hour minimum is kind of the sweet spot where they're committed to that shift. Otherwise you have them on a two hour shift or anything less than the four hours. There are other agency calls and says, hey, I have a four hour or six hour They will do a last minute call out with the shorter. So that's a few of the reasons that we try to stick to that four our mark, so you can get consistency the same caregiver, and you know, it's a little bit cheaper. The service call rate is a flat rate is a little bit more because we have to incentivize our caregivers to accept those shorter shifts, right.

15:23 So yeah, yeah, and I would think, you know, you're having somebody that you don't know come into your home, right that you'd want to be able to establish the rapport the relationship with them and have the same person be the one coming in and caring because then they get to know you, right, and how you like things done and all of that, and so then you kind of you know you and I guess you probably have run into this where maybe the personalities between the caregiver and the and the patient don't necessarily mesh, and so you you try somebody else, right, not every not every two people their personalities mesh, so correct.

16:11 Yeah, And we do our best, you know, we we do try to pair caregivers based off of those different traits and attributes. But I always tell our clients give us the first two weeks, right. We don't always get it right the first time. Majority of the time, we were able to do a pretty good match, but please call if if you feel like it's not it's not working out, or there's something going on. We've got multiple caregivers, right, so just because it's the one that we sent you, that doesn't mean it's the only one we have. We can definitely work work it out and find somebody that's a good fit, but you can't really establish that in just a quick two hour visit. So so based off of their skill, need and our care are the level of care needed and the skills of our caregiver we match that. So most important is that safety, supervis and making sure that we can take care of the need that is there. But personality is huge. If a client, we're going into their home, so we want to make them feel as comfortable as possible with who we're sending in there. So we always tell our clients at any time, if you feel like this is not the right fit, please advocate for yourself. They can reach out to us.

17:20 Just because it's the caregiver that we sent in, that doesn't mean it's the only caregiver we have. So true, we've got lots of caregivers and we really try to stress the care team. We don't want just one client with one caregiver either in the event life happens caregivers call out family emergencies. We like to have a care team, so we try to introduce at least two caregivers to every client so they know who might who might be the fill in when their regular calls out. Got it? Okay? So I've heard a lot of people in the non medical home health care field about how this type of industry is not regulated in Arizona.

18:06 Correct. So, but there is another agency Arizona in Home Care Association that you can belong to, which I believe you guys do belong to it because I think I a while ago looked on their members list and I saw you there that holds that holds their members to a higher standard. Can you explain a little bit about that, especially with it being non regulated. Yeah. Yes, So in Arizona it is not regulated. There's no oversight to home care, which is scary. We call it the wild West out here, which means anybody can open up a home care agency. They don't have to meet their caregivers. They can do ten ninety nine employees it.

18:50 It's crazy. So with that, Crystal Wilkinson. She's the owner of Adult Care Assistants home Care and she is part of OSNAHA, the Arizona in Home Care Association as well as the HCAAOA, which is the Home Care Association of America. Actually the president of the Arizona chapter for that, advocating and trying to push for regulations here in Arizona to protect our seniors. That's the big thing is because it's really leading our vulnerable population. At risk without those. So when choosing a home care agency, that's probably the first thing you want to do is just educate yourself.

19:34 Is this agency part of OSMAHA or part of the Homecare Association of America? Are they holding themselves to higher standards because nobody's watching us, nobody's checking in, nobody's nobody's doing that for you. So if you hire a company that's A ten ninety nine, they're hiring their employees at a ten ninety nine, not W two, So they're not taking any risks or liabilities on your behalf if they do not have W to employees, So that basically you're hiring a private caregiver. If something happens within your home, you're fully responsible. So a lot of times they're like, Oh, I'm just going to use my friend from church because it's cheaper, or I'm going to use this agency because they're cheaper. Well, is it cheaper because they're not paying all of those taxes and liabilities and insurances that are actually going to protect you in the end. Right, So that that alone is the biggest question, and we help people when they're calling around, I always tell them we may not be the one you choose, and that's okay.

20:36 There are multiple agencies that do a great job. But if you're going to shop or research, please go to that OSNAHA dot org website and any home care agency that's listed on there. I would hunter, I would highly I would. I would say they would be okay to go with because they are the ones that are being held those higher standards. We have to make sure our caregivers are background checked. We do, you know, state and federal background checks on them. They have to have a fingerprint Clearance Card TB, they have to be CPR for state certified driving records. We pull five years prior to employment.

21:17 I mean, because a lot of our clients need that transportation assistance, so we need to make sure that they're in somebody that's safe to be with. And then. Drug testing. We drug test at time of employment, at higher and then randomly throughout. We get some pushback, you know, we even say yes for marijuana, we're going to test for that, and it's legal, it is, but you still can't be under the influence. So we are one hundred percent drug free. Our caregivers are one hundred percent drug free because again, we are putting our clients at risk at any time that's going Toady falls outside these guidelines, right, And I think.

21:58 You hit the nail on the head. A lot of people, well don't think about you know, like you said, hiring a friend of theirs from church or their neighbor. Says, oh, I had this person help me. It was just for a couple of weeks or a month or six weeks while I rehabbed, and it was so great, and they're a lot less expensive, and but you don't realize that there are so many different things that can happen, especially if like if you need them, possibly need them around the clock, where you've invited them in and they're now living in one of your extra rooms, you know, for four or six weeks while you rehab, you get to the point then where you're done, you don't need their services. Well, sometimes people have had to go through the eviction process to get them out because right or you know, even if they're not living with you, but they're they're at your place, you know, helping you and they slip and fall. Yep, well now you could be held responsible for all of their medical costs.

23:06 Yeah, there's just yeah, there's so much that wrong. Yeah, and that I think is, like I said, the biggest thing if I could educate on anything, I think it would be hiring privately versus a vetted home care agency. Yeah. Yeah, definitely it might cost you a little bit more out of pocket, but the benefits that you're getting far outweigh that. Just the peace of mind knowing right that if. My caregiver got sick or got into an accident, or their kid got sick or something, that there's going to be a backup. I'm not going to go without. And if they happen to get hurt at my home, then I have peace of mind knowing, right, barring any.

23:55 Negligence and stuff like that, but I have peace of. Mind knowing that the the agency is going to cover that based on their insurance and all of that. Yeah, and I think too, the biggest thing is those boundaries that get crossed when there's no oversight and you've got somebody just coming and going. We've seen it so many times, and a lot of times we get called in because the caregiver has now you know, there's a lawsuit against this caregiver, or there's been something that's happened. They've started this, they were stealing from the clients, or families are getting involved because they feel like they're getting their loved ones getting taken advantage of. So just having oversight from an agency, a vetted agency, there's no comparison to that.

24:42 Yeah. Yeah, And I wasn't aware of the Healthcare Association of America. And that's awesome that Crystal you said she's currently the president for the Arizona chapter. Wow, that's awesome. And actually, on a side note, I think Brian Watson, our community outreach specialist that's in Tucson, is going to be doing a panel with a few other people with Crystal. I just seen Brian a couple of weeks ago. He was on a we did a presentation. Oh was it a couple of weeks ago that he did it with you guys. Yeah, okay, I was going back and try updating the schedule and I'm like Crystal Wilke and said, why do I know that name? And then I looked more into it and I'm like, oh, that's more Mary works.

25:29 Yes. Yeah, So I went down to Tucson, I think it was about two weeks ago and Brian was there and he presented on Rose did an amazing job. Oh good good, yeah, good like. But yeah, so you know, obviously the show is called Let's talk about scams, but you know, I think a lot of times we talk about online scams and you know, people you don't know, where it's more of exploitation right when it's people you do know. But it does happen because and it has happened here in the Phoenix area where people have recently you know, lost their spouse and then somebody befriends them, you know, and gets them to allow them to move in to help take care of them, and it just snowballs after that. Right then assets are turned over into the caregiver's name and all that stuff, and it can just and then you you're at a point where it's like what's my recourse? Right, so that having that association like OSNAHA, which for people that aren't familiar, it's Arizona in Home Care Association. But the website is a z NAS in nancy.

26:42 Ha dot org. Correct. Yeah, And you can go in there and you can look at a list of there, you can look at a directory and if I remember right, it says a little bit about each company and what type of like if you're if you're credited with the VA, they'll put that in there as well. Yeah. Yeah, and it's it's nice because you know, like I said, we served most of the valley here, but sometimes I get calls for areas outside of where we're at. True, right, I can go to Osnaha dot org. I can put in their zip code or an address and say, you know, home carees in your here, and it will give me a list of homecares within that area for them that I can say, you know, I've personally never used them, it's out of our area, but this is who Osnaha dot org would recommend. Again, if I can pull a name off of that website, I would feel I feel good about saying give them a call.

27:39 Yeah, And you can even pull a few of them off of there, right if you want to interview two of them, or three of them or five of them, you know, whatever makes you feel comfortable. Yeah, yeah. Is there anything else that you have come across or heard about when it's in home care? Like? Well, how about like if somebody's interviewing a company, like, are there specific questions that are really good that they should be asking these companies? Absolutely? Again, I think the biggest one it's it's you know, we don't know what we don't know. So when you're calling around again, a lot of people get hung up on the cost. Put cost to the side. I don't feel like you can really put a price on your health.

28:28 You're going to get a range of pricing, and just think of it. You know, if you're going on a vacation and you want to pay for the best hotel, you're gonna have to pay a little bit more, right, right, So sometimes you are going to get what you pay for. So please don't get hung up on the pricing. But when you're calling around, please please do your research. I highly encourage that the first thing you want to ask again to protect yourself, is are your employees ten ninety nine or W two. Okay, that's the biggest question you want to ask, because then you know whether or not you're going to be solely responsible for risks and my abilities or is the agency that you're hiring going to take on that. Right And if they're W two, then that means they're employed by the agency and the agency is going to assume the risk.

29:13 Correct, Okay, yes, so those and are there long term contracts some agencies, you know, it's in the fine fine print that you know you're signing this contract and you need to give us at least two weeks to a month to discontinue services. That's not always feasible, So just find out really what is entailed in the documents that you're signing. Am I obligated? Do I need to pay upfront for services? A few agencies do require deposit upfront. We do not. We you know, we come in, we do that initial assessment, no charge to you, and then based off of what your needs are and what our professional opinion is from our care manager, we come up with a game plan and then you pay for services that you utilize after the facts. We we you know, will invoice you for your services every two weeks and there's no upfront costs to get started.

30:12 Okay, you mentioned you guys do an in home assessment free of charge. You go into that a little bit more. Yeah, So when we get the initial phone call, we're exploring, you know, from that phone call what they feel their need is. But a lot of times some people are not true reporters. Right, They're going to explain their best day when really that's not been their best day for a long time. A lot of times people wait till the crisis happened to call us. So we say, get ahead of it. Don't wait till that crisis happens. Once you start seeing the signs of forgetting medications, missing their meals, falls or fear of falling, even difficulty with keeping up the house, maybe a loved one's been taking care of them and they're just getting that burnout isolation again the companionship piece that I was talking about, memory changes, or they're no longer safe to drive, right. They don't want to give up their driving, but we can see that it's no longer safe. That's when we need to start having these these conversations and having the phone call come in.

31:21 But from that initial phone call, it's exploratory. We're going to be asking a lot of questions, trying to get some background on it, and then our next step would be, you know, thank you so much for sharing this with me. I would love to have my care manager come out and meet with you do a quick home in home assessment. Again, it's a it's a chance to get eyes on the client on what's truly happening, eyes on the home. Sometimes, you know, we don't feel comfortable sending a caregiver into home that we've not been into, so we want to for sure make sure it's safe. Is it a hoarding situation or you know, are there holes in the floor, is it running water? You know, is it even safe for our senior to be there before we send a chargiver in there.

32:03 So that's huge. If you're getting people that are doing online assessments or over the phone assessments and not even stepping foot into your home, that's of a concern because you don't know what you're sending somebody else into. So we schedule that appointment again free of charge to you. We come in. It's usually about an hour, it could be an hour and a half. Each case is different, depending on what we're going into but we're gonna not just talk about your needs, but we're going to do like a physical assessment as well. You know, you say you walk, just sign okay, show me. Oh, I see you have a walker. Let's see how you get up and down with that walker. You need help with a shower? Why do you need help with a shower? Is the bath cluttered? Is there not room to move around in the bath? Do you have the proper DM in place? Do you need a shower bench? Do you have the handheld shower head? So we're going in at we're assessing not just them but the home to set them up for best services and how can we serve them best in their right right?

33:06 And especially you know for people that their family is out of town, you know, out of state, and so they're not there, they can't come every weekend, right and check things out. Having that professional set of eyes that is actually evaluating and knows the questions to ask, knows what to look for, knows what should be there but it's not there, right, that can help? Is just I think that all of that brings so much peace of mind. Yeah, yeah, and again we were in the industry, right, we see this every day. This is what we we live and breathe. And those that are calling us, they're in the moment, they're in the crisis there. They don't know where to go the next steps, and so if nothing else, it's a phone call and it's resources. My background is social work, so I'm all about resources. I want to make sure everybody gets all the answers and solutions that they possibly could need, whether that's our services or other services. I have a huge list of resources that I refer to all the time because I'm looking at each client holistically, not just oh, they called me because they feel like they need my service. At the end of the day, if they need my service, I am sure there's other services that can benefit then and have that continuity of care across the board.

34:33 Right right, Yeah, because you mentioned it earlier, you don't know what you don't know? Yeah, right. And the other thing was the. Whole you know a lot of people do have life insurance policies. Yeah, but we think about when we think about life insurance, we think about it is it's going to be there to take care of the expenses when I pass. So I'm not going to burden my family with that but you can tap depending on how it's written and what kind of policy it is, you can tap into that ahead of time to help take hair. Yeah, and that's something that a lot of people don't realize, and so we're really trying to educate them now on that, Like, you don't have to wait till you pass to have those benefits.

35:19 Use it now. This is this is something you've been paying into. Use it for when you need it. So as long as your policy has it, we encourage you to use it. Right. And then you mentioned Medicare has a new. Policy. Yeah, it's called the Guide Program through Medicare, And again it's very limited on the hours that they allot per individual, but they're starting to see the needs. So that's exciting because previously home care Medicare turned their head. To right, Well, it was always after the fact, right they want they would pay once you got hurt and went into the hospital or went into rehab or whatever, and it's always reactive. So I'm glad to hear that the government, part of the government is actually seeing the need for if we can just help people be proactive about things where they can stay in their home safely for a longer period of time. We're going to save so much more money than having to pay for hospital stays, surgeries, you know, all this other stuff.

36:32 Yeah, and I've always said that be proactive, not reactive, and I see home care as the preventative peace. You get services in there before that crisis happens, you're going to have less hospitalizations. Let's rehab visits, less falls. Right. It doesn't guarantee that you're not going to fall, but get us in there early, we can we start seeing the signs and we can start getting resources in there and prevent a lot of what happens. Next instead of waiting for something to happen and then go, oh my gosh. Right, it's kind of the same thing with what we do. Right, a lot of people are like, they don't say it, but they're thinking it, Oh, my loved one will never fall victim to a scam or I'll never you know, fall into a scam. And it's like, well, if credit card's been compromised, do you, in essence have you know whether you know anyways? It's I could go on and on about that, but it's it's being it's being proactive and going why do you want to wait to see if it happens to clean up the mess and then all the added costs on top of it.

37:36 Right, I always say, you're just one fall away, one fall away from major life changes. So get us in there early, be proactive, let us prevent some of the things that could happen. Right, And you mentioned another thing was that you know. A lot of people wait until they have the need for it, and usually when the need arises, it's a panic situation because you need to have it right away. And so if you can, you know, call you guys, talk to you about what you do, if any your insurances would fall under that, the VA whatever, get your private you know, and and then you know, look at OSNAHA and look for a few other ones you know, or if they're not in the service area of where you guys work, you know, they can put in the service area, find out places that are in those areas, interview them, gather the information and Okay, maybe you need to make a phone call once a year just to update, have your price is increased, have you changed anything? Right, But so when the need arises, you're not going to panic because as I tell people, and we talk about this a lot, when it comes to a tech support person.

38:58 Nobody wants to have a tech support person in their back pocket. They wait until the need arises, and it's usually a panic situation. They google and take the first first person they find, which could be somebody who's not reputable, not legitimate, could be a full on scammer, right, and could cause a lot of devastation. So you know, they especially with Arizona not regulating non medical home health care companies, they could google and find some company that's not very reputable or that maybe is quote unquote scamming people, right, because they're in a panic situation.

39:38 Panic is emotion. Yes, yeah, I one hundred percent. I always say get ahead of the game, do your research, get things in place before you need it. I do a lot of different vendor fares and people will walk by and I don't need it. Not ready for that yet, Yeah, you're not, but you never know when you might be. So having the information ahead of time, we'll do that. In home assessment, we'll do everything and have you on standby just because it doesn't mean you have to sign services, but you're ready. You're ready when that time comes, right, So always get ahead of the game. Yeah, I mean I didn't think I was going to need a home health care agency at fifty four, seven years ago, but I did, you know, I didn't anticipate breaking my knee and dislocating my elbow on all on my right side and having to be in a wheelchair.

40:28 And yeah, my husband had to work and I had nobody else to take care of me, so I had to hire a home health care agency. You know. Luckily, my sister worked in the senior industry and so she had some companies that she had worked with that she referred me to, or she actually did the leg work and got it all worked out. But not everybody has those resources. Not everybody has a family member that's around that works in the industry that would have these resources. So yeah, it's really good, you know. Yeah, it's as same with you, Mary. I can't say. Enough about being proactive. Yeah, it just is peace of mind.

41:12 So any other things you want to say about non medical home health care, about adult care assistance, home care. Well, I think another point that I wanted to touch on was a lot of times people overlook this too is the family caregiver, Right, You've got somebody that that's providing the care for you. Oh, Okay, they get burnt out, right, so use us as that respite piece. Let's give your loved one a break as well. They you know, a lot of times they're trying to balance their life. They've got careers, they're raising kids, and now they're also trying to care for a loved one. So asking for hope isn't isn't giving up. It's making sure that your loved one receives the best care possible while also protecting their health.

42:00 Because burnout is a real thing. So well, yeah, if your. Caregiver gets burnt out, it's not good for their health. But then they can't give you the best care that you need if they're burnt out. Yep, So always tap into that too. Look, you you know, be the wife, be the daughter, and let somebody else do the care and take care of your loved one so you can, you know, keep that relationship with your loved one the way it should be. Right, And. The VA has a respite care program, and I don't know about other insurance companies that would be. You'd have to check with your insurance company or go over your policy with Mary or someone in her office and find out what all is available.

42:46 Yeah, we would love to help walk through anybody through any of these and navigate that system for you and find out where where we could benefit you and use the services that you've been paying for, right absolutely, you pay into it, use it, I use it absolutely lot of the time. You know, you've served, you've you've given so much of your time. Now let us take care. Of you, right absolutely? Yeah. Yeah, And I think through the VA that respite care is available. I mean I don't know all the ins and outs of qualifying for there's so many different programs, but again, you guys know all that stuff. If you're a veteran, or if you're a spouse yes of a.

43:30 Veteran, or a spouse of a veteran, please reach out to us. I would love to educate you on what services there are out there to help. You, especially with home care. Again, they don't need to have to have nursing services, they don't need a licensed nurse or PT anything like. There are home care services to help keep your loved one in their home. And do you guys help complete the forms with them? Do you guys? You know? Okay, yeah, because I know that's a big thing. With one in particular, I've heard is like a twenty or thirty page or well, I don't know about the form itself, but all the stuff you have to send in with it, it becomes cumbersome.

44:10 It is a process, and our care managers do an amazing job. They'll walk you through step by step from the beginning from not only just submitting your request, but getting your appointment with your primary care doctor to getting that appointment scheduled. There's so many steps to the process, but our care managers have it down to a t and they be good pretty much expect a lot of the things good. All right, Wow, that's a lot of information, but it's a lot of valuable information. I am so happy that you're available, Mary, because I think there's a lot that people don't know about non medical home health care.

44:52 Yes, yeah, I agree. You know, I've seen firsthand that the right caregiver, having somebody in place can change the entire family's life. So it's not just about helping somebody bathe or prepare meal. It's about giving families and you know, that peace of mind and allowing people to continue living with dignity in their. Home, that in their home right, which is which is where everybody wants to stay is in their home as long as possible. Yeah, so all right, thanks again Mary, I really appreciate all your knowledge and expertise on this.

45:32 Well, thank you so much for having me. Yeah right, I hope to see you soon. All right, thank you, Joyce. Okay, all right, thanks Mary, good bye. All right, Well that's all we have for today. As Mary said, if you are wondering whether you have any life insurance policies, VA benefits, anything that will help help you with you navigate your non medical home health care, reach out to them at Adult Care Assistance home Care. They cover the majority of the valley and they are in Tucson as well. They not only can help. You navigate that they have an awesome team that can perform services for you in your home, but they also are a wealth of information for a wide variety of other resources that.

46:24 You might need as well. And don't forget to visit our website at Rosadvocacy dot org. Social media links are at the top of the homepage. The newsletter sign up is down at the bottom for the emailed and or the mailed newsletter. And we are having an event coming up on October twenty fourth in Tempe at one hundred mile Brewing company, a champagne and chocolate tasting, and the chocolate will not be from the United States, It'll be from a lot of other areas, Europe and Asia. So you're going to get to taste some really really good chocolate and champagne. We'll have dinner and appetizers. Get on our website find out more information under events and sign up. There's some sponsorships available. You can buy your tickets and we look forward to seeing you there on Saturday, October twenty fourth. All right, Brian's going to be here the next few weeks with some fantastic information and I'll see you back here mid August.

47:29 Thank you. Well, that's all the knowledge for this episode. Tune in every Tuesday at eight am Pacific time on KFOURHD Radio at KFOURHD dot com as Joyce explores a variety of knowledge. So you have the power to make scam protection your healthy habit, and until then, feel free to reach out to Joyce and let's talk about scams.