Central Oregonian
558 N. Main St., Prineville, OR 97754 | (541) 447-6205
Easing the transition to assisted living
Prineville’s Carriage House, a local assisted living home, has joined forces with in-home care providers Right at Home
Charity Burhart, residence sales manager (left) and Julie Burket, owner of Prineville’s Right at Home franchise take time for a photo.
It’s an all-too-common — and challenging — scenario.
At 85 years of age, Grandma still proudly lives in her own home, even though persistent, age-related problems begin to make her life difficult.
At first it’s the simple things — the laundry and basic housekeeping — but there’s soon coming a time when Grandma will need a hand, or even around-the-clock care.
The children do what they can, but with families of their own — compounded by the fact that the recession just cost Dad his job — both time and money are short. In-home care would help, but it’s expensive. How can she afford this — or the even more-expensive assisted living — given her meager resources?
The answer just might lie in “Shared Care,” a program resulting from a new partnership between Prineville’s Carriage House assisted living, and Right at Home, a franchised home care and assistance provider.
According to Charity Burhart, Carriage House’s residence sales manager, this will help to fill some of the gaps in seniors’ care.
“There are some that are at home, that aren’t always getting certain things looked after, but they may not quite be ready for assisted living,” she said. “What they’re (Right at Home) doing is transition care, where they’ll come into your home and provide certain services for as long as you need. Then, when you need a transition, Right at Home will do a warm handoff (to Carriage House).”
One of the advantages, Burhart said, is that this provides the senior with continuity of care — seeing the same friendly faces from day to day — but perhaps more importantly, it will save money.
Julie Burket is the owner and administrator of the local Right at Home franchise. She places caregivers in homes, anywhere from a few hours a week to 24/7.
“Sometimes by the time they’re paying that rate (for full-time care), it makes sense to move into Carriage House,” she said. “They can move into Carriage House, but at a lower rate, because I can still take care of them for cheaper. So it gets them in to where they have 24-hour supervision and somebody’s always here (Carriage House staff). They can move in for less, but they’re still getting the help from me, and from them.”
Another cost-saving measure, according to Burket, is the concept of “bundling.” This allows a caregiver to see multiple clients in a facility while reducing the minimum charge for any one senior.
“We just bundle services, so instead of somebody paying a full hourly rate of $21, we will see four clients in an hour, and we only charge them $7, so it’s a 15-minute visit,” she explained. “They can get the help they need. It’s not only good for their (Carriage House) business, it’s good for my business, and most importantly, it’s really good for the people.”
She noted that Shared Care can be used in reverse — to help a senior (or anyone) transition from the hospital to their home. This will also reduce the amount of “bounce back”, she added, which occurs when a Medicare patient is re-admitted to a hospital within a 30-day period.
Burhart urged people to contact her if they are interested or have questions.
“Every plan is so specific for each person, because everybody’s level of care is different,” she said. “People would have to come in and see us, and we would look at their situation. We are trying to be flexible. This recession’s hit people hard. Where are they going to go? Not everyone has family. Family gets burnt out taking care of the ones they love. It’s not an easy thing.
“It’s a real touchy subject. People don’t want to grow old. People don’t want to need help. But if you’re realistic, you realize that people need it. They need care. That’s what we’re trying to do, is just to make it more affordable. Even if you aren’t able to stay at Carriage House, I have lots of connections. I’m more than happy to get you in touch with the right person, and the right place.”
