It is a comment that we never time of hearing from our clients! When I think that the client genuinely wants to know, I explain our philosophy of care vs. the Industry’s. Once that is on the table it is pretty simple to see!
Philosophies
When my business partner Paul Demick and I decided to start a home care company close to 8 years ago, we did so with a pretty simply mission. “Do the right thing at every turn for everyone involved.” It sounds so simple! However, actually bringing that philosophy to life has been harder than one would think. Along with it came a lot of tough decisions like foregoing higher billings a profit and investing in human resources beyond what we had ever imagined.
In the home care industry, there is a temptation to commoditize the business into selling “hours.” The more hours you sell, the more money you make. However, what we learned early on that it is precisely that approach that equates to filling shifts and not offering great care.
Why is that? Well, if all you do is fill shifts with someone willing to go to a job, you miss the biggest opportunity of providing care…which is aligning a caregiver(s) with a client to create a connection and establishing a bond that makes the care seem more like a relationship that a job. If all you do is fill hours, you occasionally might get lucky and hit one out of the park. However, most of the time, all you are doing is throwing warm bodies at shifts…which equates to turnover and a reduction in consistent, quality care.
When we visit a client one of the first things we say is “this is a three-way partnership between you and your family, Caring Companions of Atlanta and the caregivers we align with you. If you think of it any other way, the likelihood of creating a positive outcome goes down dramatically. And, frankly, we are not interested.”
When a client does not see it that we politely part ways. Sure, it costs us money, but at the end of the day, what we really thrive on is what we started this BLOG with! “How Do You Find Such Amazing Caregivers?!”
The answer is, we listen, align, train and create a team environment that helps make all of us…from the client to Caring Companions to the caregivers successful. Read below:
- Align: We listen to what is important to the client and the family and use that to align caregivers that fit with what they want a need. We will not send a “chatty Cathy” into an introvert’s house…nor would we send a caregiver that is not a pet person into a home with pets. If someone likes crafting, we search for caregivers that like to participate and engage…not ones that keep to themselves.
- Train: we train each caregiver one-on-one against the family dynamics, diagnosis, preferences and environment they walk into. Then we introduced the caregiver prior to starting. Let them get the lay of the land to ease first day butterflies. The result is a caregiver that is set up to succeed.
- Team-environment: We avail each caregiver access to our Supervisor, Office Manager, Geriatric Care Coordinator, Geriatric RN and the owners. They have all of our numbers and have usually met most of the before they even walk into a client. By doing so, they know we have their back!
So, when we hear the comment “How Do You Find Such Amazing Caregivers?!,” we politely answer…sometimes with detail and sometimes with niceties. But inside, we are high-fiving and feeling satisfied about a job well done!
Adam
Adam is married and he and his wife have two younger children. The family shares their home with two cats and two hermit crabs. The kids are working hard to get mommy and daddy to add a puppy...time will tell! They live in Sandy Springs and are active in the senior community.
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