Warning Signs: When is it Time to Get Home Care?
Katherine Lyons, the president and owner of BrightStar Care, talks about the warning signs that mean its time for your senior loved one to get home care.
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*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.
This is a special presentation of answers for elders with Bright Star Care of North Seattle. Welcome back to the program everyone. We have a very special guest here today and a lady by the name of Kathy Lyons from Bright Star Care, and you are here in the greater Seattle area, Kathy. Welcome to the program. Thank you for having me, Suzanne. I’m so thrilled to be here today. I’m so glad you are. So, Kathy, you know I’m interested in what you do because a lot of people don’t understand the whole home care home health thing and you know the other side of it is I know so many people out there that are taking care of senior parents and they’re overwhelmed or they’re completely in a situation where they feel like that it’s just way too much. And you know, I’m wondering if we could just take like a 360 degree view of what are the signs that we should look for as families that maybe it’s time to bring somebody in this a professional. You know, that’s the million dollar question and it’s going to be different for each family. What I share with people that contact us is I find people are contracting us when they’re already passed. The need are fighting, things are falling down around them, either with the care for their loved one or in their personal life. Right. So it’s kind of more of US taken a step backwards in just acknowledging, okay, I’m on this path of caring for this loved one and what do I think my capacity is? Three weeks, three months, right, six months down the road. and think about that aspect of it. If what I’m doing today is something I can continue to do for that length of time, right, and if that is the answer, even like, oh my gosh, I came and do it three months, I’m own six months, then you’re at the point now where you see need to start investigating. Absolutely right. You know, it’s interesting what you’re saying, because when ice first started taking care of my mom, I was so concerned about saving her money that I was pennywise and pound foolish in so many different areas because I did not reach out to people like you in the initial stages. And I will tell you something. It caused burnout on me. It caused me to lose my job because I was burned out, and it just that it takes a toll. And so when I look at a service like yours that could could have gone in and done things for my mom that I couldn’t have that you know that I had to do, that I felt like I had to do and the quality time I could have spent with my mom rather than doing the things that you know that you guys do. I now that she’s gone, I think about those days and those are times lost for me. There their precious times and and that is something that I share with families and the rest of our staff shares of families when we’re talking to them and they’re invested big gating care is we have to be physically responsible with their funds. However, there you can’t put a dollar know on the time of in the value of being a daughter or being a son or bring a granddaughter or niece or a nephew, whatever your relationship is with that person. No matter money is going to be able to do that. So each family situation is different, but you did hit on a very important part is when you are the caregiver, you have crossed over into the caregiver and are not the daughter and they’re not having that fulfilling relationship and actually going through the process of having fond memories. Unfortunately, sometimes they’re very negative memories at the time. They can be difficult. And the most important thing is is that, you know, I coached tear givers all the time and it’s like, you know, you need to take caregivers need to take steps while they’re still vibrant and they’re still active in their own lives and just starting to get into this process so they don’t go down the rabbit hole. And you know, it’s really easy to get caught up in that daytoday thing where that your your caregiving duties are just pulling you in and then all of a sudden you know, Bingo, you know you’re burned out, you’re starting to resent your family members because they’re not doing what you’re doing, and all of a sudden that dynamic is set up where you know you’re not happy camper and you’re taking it out on your elder loved one. It’s true. It’s unfortunately true and you know it. I am so thrilled that you’re coming out and talking about this because unfortunately there’s a lot of not shame of even feeling that way sometimes right right, and so I thank you for bringing this conversation out. Well, it’s important that we do and and the reason why I wanted to do that is because the service that you provide to seniors here and and those who with disabilities as well, is so vital to the quality of lives to seniors especially that are living, you know, independently. And so everyone we are talking to Kathy Lyons of Bright Star Care, and Kathy, tell me a little bit about the area that you cover first before we talk about your service specifically. Okay, while our office is here in the North Seattle area, so we cover predominantly South Snohomish and King county. When we get into this, you know, King Pierce County Line. It’s a little more spotty. King County, North King and South Snohomish’s our main territory. That’s great. So you’ve got a really wide net and obviously that you go. Now how far south do you go? Primarily on a regular basis? I would say about as far as south as des Moines camp that area. That’s great. That’s great. That’s great. So explain to me when people talk about Bright Star Care, which is pretty well known name, and of course I love a lot of the things that you guys do, which I want to talk about. But what exactly do you help families with? What is what we call home care? Okay, so home care can look different for each family. That is what’s the beauty of it. It is individualized to each family and what their needs are. So some families we go in and they have a lot of one did just cant and drive anymore right to go out to their regular church functions or the senior center, and there isn’t a family member cloth and they don’t feel comfortable hiring a taxi service and they don’t want to make it a burden on a friend to do that. So they will have us come in and take their loved one out on a regular outing there. So that could be a form of home and that’s huge because because, you know, even getting in and out of the car and unless you’re really trained to a senior that has got some mobility issues. That could be a catastrophe in itself if you don’t have somebody that’s helping your parent go someplace or get into a wheelchair or something like that exactly. And it’s also knowing that there’s someone there that is a safe person for them to be with right, that has had their driving record checked and has had it is ensured. And, you know, start just trusting someone that, because there’s a lot of people out there as they have very thoughtful, kind ideas. They want to do it, but if something happens in that person falls, who’s responsible for it? Are you going to sue your next door neighbor because they were so kind? Exactly, exactly exactly, and that is so key. And and making sure that there’s a bonded license professional that is there, that they are protected on multitude of levels, is so important, is so vitally important. So you do that and you also help what’s called, I think it’s called like ADLs. Is that correct? Yes, it is activities of daily living, so that that it can be anywhere from someone that needs assistance on scan by sisters showering and baby actually needs the physical help of transferring to right, someone that can no longer prepare their own food, someone that needs help with their medication, someone that needs help just getting dressed in the morning. It’s anything that we do every day that we take for granted. We want this family member who to remain as independent as they can. The longest and you know ourful. The greatest thing about that, Cathy, is the fact that you really are there, is a friend and somebody for them to talk to and to spend that time. That’s so important what we’re there as a team to help them get through this. I mean they used to be way back when we didn’t have a mobile society and we have really large families and extended families would all come in and take a little bit of its. Alberta was never on one individual person, but our families are smaller, world more mobile and it just doesn’t happen that way. So that is where we come in and we are a team. We have different caregivers and you know all honestly, one care giver might be really good for the family member to help them shower, but another one’s can be better for sitting down and doing that puzzle with them because their connection. So it’s the variety of caregivers and the team of taking care of that. I love that person. So tell me about Bright Star. How what makes you guys different from other agencies out there? Well, we are in home care agency that has a nurse on staff. First of all, we are joint commission accredited. So that’s the independent third party that we’ve invited to come in and validate that we are doing everything we say we’re doing. So they review all of our policies of procedures, the same as it’s joint commissions, the same agencies that are credit hospitals. Wow, that’s kind is something that most home care agencies do not choose to do. It’s not required to do it. It’s totally voluntarily and we’ve chosen to do that because any of us could say we’re going to do certain things, and I believe every Home Care Agency out there once too, but in the day we grind, sometimes things can slip through and this agency holds us accountable to them right. Well, it’s validating it saying that we are. So that is one big difference. And with that we have a nurses on staff and they are the ones that write the planet care and the plane of care is basically our our caregivers directions of what they’re going to be doing daily or weekly with the loved one in their home, and the nurse is overseeing that on the weekly care notes. So when in the care notes come in and if they see something a little bit different from the previous weeks. They have that tool to go back to the caregiver and thing you mentioned this. Why is that the case? Or I’ve noticed three weeks in a row she’s declined showering and she used to shower before. It’s that team approach to the caregiving and that’s the oversight that we have with the nurse that can notice the subtle changes that I, the lay person, non clinician, might not know has a deeper meeting to it. So, Cathy, how do we reach you? Well, you can call us at two D and Six, seven, seven seven, one thousand hundred and ninety row, or you can look us up on the website at Brightstarcare.com and enter your dip code and it will bring you to our web page. Wonderful, Cathy. Thank you so much for being on the program have a good one. This has been a special presentation of answers for elders with bright star care of North Seattle. For more information for BRIGHT STAR CARE OF NORTH SEATTLE, go to BrightStarCare.com. That’s BrightStarCare.com.
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Originally published May 13, 2017