Home Care Services with Melanie Mosshart

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

And Welcome back to answers for elder’s radio. Everyone. We are here with a brand new guest, Ms. Melanie Mosshart, and she is from hospitality home care, and that is in the sea tech area, is it is that right, Melanie? Yes, it is relocated right at City Hall and Sea Tach. That is amazing and and you know, one of the things that you know see tach is such a growing, amazing area and on its own and obviously, as we’re talking about the month of March of supporting families, Supporting Caregivers, coaching here givers, a home care agency like yours has such an important role in easing the stress on caregivers, and I know that that’s such an important piece, is it not? It really is. We want to be a big support to our caregivers, as they are such a big support to families that they go into their homes and take care of their loved ones and they work so hard for so little really and they do just a tremendous job that we really do need those people out there and we want to support them in any way we can. And you know, one of the things I think that’s so important about having for our families out there to have a home care agency. First of all, here’s one thing I always tell families. Whether you need a home care agency or not, you need to find one, you need to interview one and you need to have one ready to go such if anything ever happens. And I always say this to families, it’s like it doesn’t matter if you need one or not, you should find one that you can work with and that works for you. And don’t you agree with that scenario or that that piece of advice? That’s a tremendous piece of advice, because what we find happens quite often is that when there’s an emergency or a crisis that is unexpected, people just don’t know what to do, they don’t know which way to turn and they wait till they get news from their social worker about the discharge. And then what do they do? Many times they have families of their own. They’re what we call the sandwich generation because they’re taking care now of parents and their child, their own children, and the time and the knowledge that it’s necessary to take care of somebody. They don’t always have that. Well, and here’s the other thing. Every home care agency is different and and you know what your what your family, what fits your family is, you know, is so important because your loved one is going to be spending hours per week with an with a you know, family caregive with a caregiver, professional caregiver. And you know, the Nice thing about taking it into your own hands and say, you know, I’m going to interview hospitality home care and find out a little bit about what your philosophies are and find out if you’re a fit for their organization. That’s means if mom or dad gets sick, if mom or dad just need you know, they fall and they break an ankle or, you know, they have a break a hip or something like that, they’re in Rehab. You don’t have the added stress of now, what do we do? That’s the last time in the world you want to start interviewing homecare company. seriously. This precisely in size. Yeah, it’s easy too, because if mom has the flu and she needs help, she didn’t have to worry about anything. She can pick up the phone. You guys already have their their payment information on file. You already have all the and you know all the ins and outs of her desires and the kinds of foods that she likes to eat and her you know all of the medications she’s on, etc. You already have that information on file precisely, and you know one of the great things I have to share a story with yes knowing it. We recently had a family. It was three sisters taking care of their dad. He was going into hospice and they were at their wits and they really did not know what to do because all three of them had families of their own and they were trying to switch off and care for their dad and a lot of times they didn’t know what to do because there’s a lot of things that go in the in the taking care of a of a person when they need help with going to the restroom. We’re doing the things that that you know naturally happens when you get older. And so when I went out to talk to them, the sisters were so grateful that we were going to help and we sent out an inhome care giver who lives there. Now there’s two of them that are in home. Came also. They can’t they’ve only been there a couple weeks. They’re calling in the boys. I love that they sit and have coffee with the DAD and they’re calling them members of the family. Now their family. Now that and it has given one of the sisters you said, this is the first time I’ve had a good night’s rest in months, months, and it’s so rewarding to me to hear that. Absolutely and then our caregivers. We you know, we tell them if they need any help at any time to call us right away and we can do whatever they need to support them. Sure, so they feel comfortable too. So they have a question, if they have anything that they need, they just call in and we’re there for them twenty four hours, just like they’re there for the family twenty four hours. Well, and Melanie, for those of our listeners and those of the listeners that are out there caring for a senior loved one, what can your company do for families? Well, there’s a variety of things that we can do. We can do this simple things like companionship, just talk or read to them, that kind of thing. And we can also do if they needed a stand by assist, maybe they just broke an ankle or a hip and need someone to just stand by way they take a shower or help them with bathing. If they have a wound, we can dress the wound. We can do diabetic administration of medication on occasion as well. We have a nurse delegator so that we can do the medications. Incredible. So you do some home health, yes, things, which is incredible. That’s awesome. And then, of course, the the regular things that are that are difficult, that you know, the incontinence. We take care of that. Make sure that they’re clean and healthy and comfortable. We do meal prep. So it’s a variety of things that they can do right in their home and have somebody right there with them. Then they don’t have to go to the hospital, they don’t have to burden their family as much because now they’ve got somebody that’s there to help them with whatever their needs are. That is incredible and I love the kind of the hybrid type services that you guys have, and we are talking right now to Melanie Mosshart. She is the community liaison manager of Hospitality Home Care and Melanie, tell me a little bit about you know, the area that you serve. Well, we serve primarily the the King County and Pierce County areas. So we go as far south is Tacoma and then I cover pretty much the the King County area. So we go to Renton, we go to Kent, we go to is that more South King County? It is. It’s south King County primarily. Okay, well, that’s a pretty big area. They now how Far East do you go? Like, do you go out to like Covington area or out into that? We do in a claw. We don’t really go to Enham Clab but we’ll do go pretty far out as far as maybe Coddington we could go to, and we go pretty far south as far as Tacoma. That’s Planaria. It is a pretty big area. And and as far as your you know, what advice would you give to families that are looking to, you know, seek help for their parents? I mean, what would what would you advise them to look for? I think first talking to your parent or your loved one to know what they what is primary to them, because I have found in being in this this industry, that a lot of times they’re nervous about downsizing, about losing all their things, primarily losing their independence. If it’s something that they can stay in their home and get healthcare in their home, I recommend that primarily because that’s where they’re going to be more most comfortable and you guys having a home health aspect. I I’m sure part of that can be paid for by Medicare providing it’s a doctor prescribed service. Is that correct? Well, are we’re not Medicaid or Medicare ready yet. We have to be in business a certain length of time, so we will be at some point in the near future. Right now we’re not okay and our healthcare is somewhat limited, so it’s not as extensive as some of the other agencies, but we do offer it. We do have a nurse delegation. That’s wonderful, though, to have that ability to do that and have just have the freedom to be able to have somebody come into your home like that. So if somebody, a lot of families get in contact with a home carriagency through discharge, let’s say they’ve come out of the hospital after surgery or they have been in a Rehab Facility, and then, you know, they’re kind of oftentimes they’re in the you know flux, I always say, of a dis charge planner, a social worker and you know, my encouragement to family is families is to always know that they have a choice. A lot of times they don’t have the perception that they do. They kind of feel like they’re in the thralls of a system. But I you know a little bit about you. Is is like where, where can people start so they know what kind of choices that they can make? Well, primarily starting with the different home care agencies would be my first recommendation, and it’s going to be according to what kind of needs are their parents or their loved one actually needs. So right if it’s as simple as comfort keepers, can go and just do a person. That would just be someone there to read to them, or two like companion, companion. Thank you, that was looking for that word and it wasn’t. kind of but that kind of thing. But if they need something more, I think it’s important to look at the different healthcare agencies and, of course, the discharge planner. They’re pretty familiar with a lot of them. My recommendation to is to really vet whoever you are going to talk to make sure that they’ve got some good testimonials and that you know that they are pretty highly rated, and generally they are. When when it comes to the discharge planners, they pretty aren’t. They’re pretty knowledgeable about out who they recommend, which is good if someone to decides on going to an assisted living community for their parents so that they have three meals a day and they have the opportunity to have medical on top of that where they’re living, I recommend that they really investigate that as well because, for one thing, it’s pretty expensive these days to get into an assisted living and they have to make sure that they’re able to afford that right and also, I would really make sure that they know what kind of care the people are getting at that particular community. Perfect. So how do we reach you? You can reach me at two thousand and six nine, six six zero, zero zero, or at www hospitality homecarecom melanie, is such an honor to have you on the program and we hope to see you again. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate well, we loved having you well. Look forward to hearing from anybody that needs help with home care. We were happy to help, and you guys do really quick. You will do a complementary consultation with families. That correct, yes, complimentary and no obligation. Great thanks to hospitality homecarecom thank you, Suzanne.