There’s a need for our experienced caregivers to provide home care services, but there’s also lots of room for anyone who is motivated to volunteer a few hours a week to help seniors through their local senior center.  If you’ve ever thought about giving back, about doing something good for your community, the immediate gratification of seeing someone smile who benefits from your help and support – that’s truly rewarding. We got the idea to highlight this opportunity from talking to our local Senior Connection here in Montgomery County, they provide great services with a dedicated team of volunteers and paid staff.

Most every community has a similar group of unsung heroes that many many seniors depend on daily for shopping, errands, personal visits, even just a phone call to brighten their day.  Find the office of aging in your area – we have all the counties listed in greater Washington DC and the Philadelphia area – everywhere Warman Home Care operates.

The Pennsylvania legislature finally passed regulations into law in December of 2009 that require Home Care companies to meet minimum standards to operate in the state. AAA Warman Home Care, LLC, welcomed the new law because we have long invested in higher standards of training, experience, and care as part of our effort to grow and succeed in providing the very best care available.

Home Care Agencies and Home Care Registries have until March 31, 2010 to submit their application for licensure to the PA Department of Health. Warman is proud to report that we have already received our approved license to provide Home Care services in the Commonwealth.

The regulations are intended to protect consumers by requiring Home Care providers to perform a criminal background check ont heir caregiviers. They also require providers to ensure the caregiver has appropriate training and skills to perform activities of daily living ensure they are free to communicable diseases and obtain references on their caregivers. The regulations require the provider conduct face-to-face interviews and test the skills of the caregiver.

Warman Home Care has surpassed the requirements for each state in which it operates (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C.) by submitting itself to rigorous evaluation by the Join Commission of Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO). Warman received their Gold Seal Approval for quality and safety in 2007. JCAHO accreditation is the standard expected of hospitals and top quality health care providers nationwide.

Warman Home Care participated in a Senior Fair at the Philadelphia Protestant Home recently. The program was well attended, and had a visit by State Representative for that district, Brendan Boyle, who is pictured below.

The Fair had drawings and door prizes. Warman donated a $25 gift card to a local grocery store. Mary Magilton, pictured below with Warman Home Care’s Philadelphia Director of Operations, Brenda Head, won that gift card.  Thanks to the Philadelphia Protestant Home for hosting the Senior Fair. We had a great time!

If you are making these arrangements so that Mom or Dad can continue to live safely at home, there are many factors to consider to ensure that your parents remain safe in the home. A major way to ensure that they stay safe is to hire quality caregivers. Choosing an unqualified or untrustworthy caregiver may result in injury, mistreatment and even theft.

In Pennsylvania, there are no laws currently governing the qualifications, screening, licensing or bonding of caregivers. Many agencies offer low hourly rates for caregivers – but they are what the industry terms “registries” – just a broker making money off of scheduling freelance caregivers. Often there are no payroll taxes being paid, which can potentially become your liability. Also, there often is no insurance, no bonding, and a very thin “screening” process to verify the caregiver’s background and experience.

When seeking home care, make sure to work only with a fully licensed and bonded agency –one that does criminal background checks on their caregivers and employs them (pays their taxes).  Make sure you ask, and if you’re not getting clear answers, move on!

Working with a licensed and bonded agency will give your family peace of mind that your loved one is protected from theft of their belongings and identity. It also ensures that you are abiding by the laws and preventing liability. Theft can result in many personal, financial and legal hardships. Avoid these struggles by working with a licensed and bonded agency.

Warman Home Care carefully screens, trains and places compassionate, qualified caregivers, and our caregivers are all employees. We take care of all taxes, insurance and security bonding. We invest in continuing education and take good care of our employees so they can take good care of your loved ones. For more information about implementing home care for your loved one, contact Warman Home Care.

This is one of the most frequently asked questions we get from family members who call Warman Homecare. Most often people contact us for home care services in response to their loved ones suffering a fall or other injury in the home.  However, the best time to begin providing home care for your loved one is BEFORE an incident occurs. This will give you time to clearly research your options and make decisions in a less stressful environment.  Warman Home Care suggests that you look for the following signs with your loved ones:

• Forgetting important information like phone numbers or what day it is
• Forgetting to turn off appliances that could lead to a dangerous situation
• Having a hard time keeping up with laundry and dishes that can lead to unsanitary conditions
• Difficulty with grooming
• Not getting proper meals/nutrition requirements
• Getting confused as to when to take their medication

These are all signs that your loved ones could use help in their home to protect them from a more dangerous fall or accident.  They may only need a few hours in the morning to help them prepare meals for the day and do light housekeeping.  In the future,  services could include help with dressing and errands.  You choose the services you need for your unique situation.  The goal is to be proactive to help your loved ones be comfortable in their own home and give you the peace of mind that they are safe.  You can never be too careful.  If you are at all concerned that a loved one is struggling with certain activities,  don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call one of our Care Coordinators that will talk through your concerns and help you learn more about your options so you can decide if home care is right for your family.

If you have loved ones in the Philadelphia, Baltimore or Washington D.C. area, you should feel comfortable knowing you can rely on Warman Home Care’s superior home care providers. We believe that each senior is unique, and so is his or her situation. That’s why we strive to meet the individualized needs of every senior we work with in Maryland, Pennsylvania and D.C.

Warman home care providers are skilled and experienced. While this is important, we believe that senior care providers should also have a great personality. We work hard to match our home care providers’ personalities with the personality of the senior they will be working with. Seniors and their families will have the opportunity to meet selected care-giving candidates and select a caregiver who is the best fit.

Warman Home Care caters to diverse personalities and situations. No matter what the circumstances your loved one is encountering, Warman can be the home care solution for him or her. We offer light in-home elder care such as assistance with chores or companionship, to more intensive home care that requires more attention and special needs support or 24-hour live-in care.

Based in Gaithersburg, MD and Jenkintown, PA, Warman Home Care is close in proximity to metropolitan areas D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia. We currently provide senior care to individuals in Maryland, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Philadelphia and surrounding counties.

With Warman Home Care, it’s all about meeting your loved one’s needs. Call us today for information about personalized senior home care in Maryland, D.C. and Pennsylvania.

We’ve begun hosting regular meetings to bring together a core group of professionals that work with seniors, home care, and related issues: social workers, elder law attorneys, hospice groups, case management workers, and more. We started calling it CareShare, and each month different members of the group will host the event. Warman Home Care springs for lunch and we typically ask one group to present for just 10-15 minutes on important issues in our industry. Other than that, it’s a low-key event, all about building relationships not trying to sell each other. It’s by invitation only, but we are still looking for a few more complementary professionals. So, if this sounds interesting, please contact Hope Joyce  at HJoyce@warmanhomecare.com for the DC market and Brenda Head at BHead@warmanhomecare.com for greater Philadelphia.

You can win an iPod Touch just for giving us your take on a “Warm and Fuzzy” or is it “Warman Fuzzy”? Show us what you think with a video or photo and you might just win a cool prize. Or you can just click through and learn what a “Warman Fuzzy” really means to us! Check out our micro site at www.warmanfuzzy.com .

It’s been a while in the works, but Warman Home Care is proud to announce the launch of our new web site! Browse around and take a closer look. We’ve worked hard to make it as easy as possible for our audience – usually, adult children who are just starting to learn about home care options for Mom or Dad. We’re always open to suggestions and feedback – let us know if you’d like to see something on this site, or an area you’d would like discussed on this blog!