Craig Fossay, Owner ComForCare North York

Families in North York need the services of home care agencies every day. Recent events have made some families worried about considering a long-term care home or retirement community as a future living option for their loved one. Some of these settings in Toronto were hard-hit by the coronavirus disease.

Seniors living with dementia often require more support. This includes the need for companionship, safety supervision, meal preparation, medication reminders, and other housekeeping tasks. Increasingly, ageing in place, with support from outside home care is a desirable option. Transition from hospital to home, mobility challenges, and chronic diseases often dictate the need for in-home care. Whatever the reason, private home care helps take the worry off your shoulders when you can’t be there for an ageing parent.

Home care services from the CCAC/LHIN are excellent and free-of-charge. The challenge we see is that the need for care often exceeds what publicly-funded agencies can provide under OHIP — especially non-diasbled seniors living with dementia. Private agencies are often retained to provide a comprehensive level of care and consistency.

Home Care Pulse is an organization that helps monitor client satisfaction in the Home Care industry. They completed a survey recently of some of the common challenges families experience. We thought it really resonated, because our ComForCare business model aims to prevent these frustrations from occurring.

1. Understanding client-centred care—Not understanding clients holistically can create an immense disconnect —what are their lived experiences, and how does this influence care needs, communication and behavioral approaches. Our team delves into the social history of our clients right at the start—their background, profession whilst working, hobbies, religion, ethnic origin, interests, musical taste, personality, family circle, close friends, favourite foods, food allergies, community activities, and other salient information. This helps us develop an individualized care plan, and match a suitable caregiver.
2. Too many caregivers—A new caregiver at the client’s door for each shift is not a welcome experience. Every client benefits most by developing a trusting relationship with their caregiver. Consistency is key. This aids in understanding and meeting client expectations and needs. The need to orient/train a new caregiver on client routines and nuances of the care plan can be onerous for a client and their family. ComForCare North York creates a trusted client relationship with a cohesive care team. ComForCare will vet the caregivers with the family before they are assigned. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we have restricted caregivers to take on only one client.
3. Punctuality—some caregivers are not always on time. This inconveniences families, and may pose safety risk for clients. Our caregivers consistently use our Caregiver App wherein they receive our client’s care plan, confirm the date and time of their care, and receive daily reminder notifications to keep them on-time. We closely monitor the punctuality of our team daily. Anyone that is consistently not on time is at odds with our value of Care like Family.
4. Quality of care—the skill level of different caregivers can vary, same with their communication and interpersonal skills. We aim to have a consistent level of care for each client and level of skill with each caregiver. Training each caregiver in the needs of the client is carried out by our Care Coordinator, a Registered Nurse—before a Personal Support Worker (PSW) sees the client. The personalized care plan is on the same Caregiver App. The PSW will document all tasks completed, every shift. Family members can view its progress on our Family Portal. Any clinical notes are recorded, as well. Accountability is enhanced through this level of transparency.
5. Too much phone time—some caregivers are notorious for staring at their phone instead of paying attention to the needs of their client. We have a strict policy of limited personal use of smart phones for caregivers, while they are caring for their client. If there is a lull in their activity with the client, they have a list of tasks to be completed that will be useful for the client and the family.
6. Cooking—many caregivers need to be trained in the dietary expectations of our clients. We work with families to understand meal preferences of their loved one. Caregivers are trained in cooking recipes that are enjoyed by their client—examples, baked chicken breast, poached salmon, grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, roasted pork tenderloin, green salad, green beans with almonds, rice pilaf, and pasta!
7. Language and culture—the labour market for PSWs in Toronto is composed of many different ethnic backgrounds. We pride ourselves in this diversity, seeking out and hiring experienced certified caregivers from accredited facilities in Ontario. It is also vital for our PSW’s to have appropriate interpersonal skills, and ability to communicate effectively with the client.
8. Caregivers calling in sick—everyone gets sick, it happens to the best of us. Many PSW’s have young children they care for. We make sure our PSWs notify us as soon as possible, if they are not able to make it for their shift. We ensure there is a healthy bench of back-up caregivers that can be mobilized at a moment’s notice–prefering to staff a substitute with previous experience working with the client.

While there are many challenges associated with in-home care, all of them can be remediated by using a professional home care agency. Please contact us anytime at (647)-349-3515 or email us at [email protected].