Home Care Company Partners with Harvard to Make a Difference

International home care company Right At Home is making a huge difference for elders and adults with disabilities all over the country and the world. The local branch, which serves the Greater Cleveland area, is managed by Shalom Plotkin and Elise Braverman-Plotkin. We had the chance to sit down with Shalom and get a snapshot of the great work he and Right At Home are doing for the community.

"Our goal is to help maximize the quality of life for those we care for. We do that by helping our clients to stay right at home, which is typically where they want to be," Plotkin said. "We provide non-medical, private-duty, private-pay home care. We [offer] companion care, which might be keeping someone safe at night, [or] making sure someone doesn't fall out of bed or wander. We do personal care, which could be anything from helping somebody to have a bath or a shower, or even to look after toileting ... grooming, hygiene. We also do some light housekeeping. It could be turning the laundry over [to us] ... to washing the dishes if people can't stand on their feet too long, or other things to help them stay independent in their homes."

Cutting Re-Hospitalization In Half

Right At Home has statistically reduced the re-hospitalization rate for their clients by 57%. That is a number that deserves our attention! They are currently partnering with the Harvard Medical School to track 20,000 of their clients across the country in an effort to make home care even better and more reliable for everyone. "Were working, for example, to reduce falls," Plotkin said, "which tend to be more frequent in colder weather when there's ice on the ground. We're tracking regional and national trends seasonally. It's a far-reaching study, and [Harvard Medical School is] partnering with us and with the software that we use as a franchise, called ClearCare, so we're able to collect all the data. We know that we're able to reduce hospital readmission rates by 57% because we have it quantified. ... Primarily, we're doing that by talking to people so that they're less lonely and they're more engaged, and that tends to lead to less anxiety, which means less emergency room visits, which means less tests. ... So, just being there, having somebody to be with you, makes a significant difference in reducing the hospitalizations."

Customized Care

Not all clients, Shalom shared, need regular care. Others need around-the-clock support. Right At Home will meet a client's needs exactly where they're at and come up with a customized plan to do so. "What we do is we make a custom care plan and it starts from there. So, I'll go and I'll meet our client in their home, wherever they call home, and it'll be a detailed assessment. After that initial meeting, we put the plan together. We have some of our staff back at the office--some of our nurses--look it over, and then we match up a caregiver. So, we're looking at their interests, at their personalities, at the services that they need, and we can pretty promptly put somebody in place. ... Then we go back and we see, how is that match working? ... We have supervisory visits. We come by periodically to make sure things are going well, make sure the providers are following the specifics of the custom care plan. We talk to our clients frequently, as well as our caregivers."

Shalom went on to describe the process by which caregivers get to know their clients, gauging their interest in things like going out or staying at home, and recognizing that, in some cases, it is just the ability to choose to go out that feels most important to people, whether or not they actually want to go. Often times, people are just looking to connect, from a nice conversation to sharing stories while looking through a photo album. "The caregivers do become almost like family to our clients," Shalom said. "Sometimes those bonds can develop fairly quickly. What our clients like to know, though, is that they don't have a contract. There's no maximum or minimum number of visits or hours. They can choose the schedule that works best for them." From a single hour appointment to help out with bathing, to full-time, day and night companionship, Right At Home tailors their service to the client's needs and wishes.

"It's humble work, but it's very rewarding. We're keeping a lot of people safe at home, wherever they call home. Some of [our clients do], in fact, live in assisted living facilities and we'll look after them there as well if they need a little bit more one-on-one attention to just stay in place. ... Our caregivers love doing this job. They love it. If they [didn't] love it, it would show right away, for example, in our interviews or in our supervisory visits. They have passion to help improve the quality of life for our clients, for those we serve. What that means is that that family has some peace of mind, and that is ... invaluable."

Affordable Service

While the services offered by Right At Home are non-medical and, therefore, non-reimbursable by medical insurance, their rates are extremely competitive and doable for many families at $19.50 per hour for a single caregiver on as an-needed basis and around $10 per hour for a live-in caregiver. Their services are covered by longterm care insurance and some veterans benefits, as well, and they are committed to doing what they can to help people find a way to afford the care they need.

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Here at HandyPro, we make your well-being our priority. Our interview series goes hand-in-hand with that effort, and we hope you find it helpful! For more information on how we can help you make your home a home for life, visit us at www.StayAtHomeModificationsINC.com, or call me (Brian Pritchard) at 216-212-7531.

If you’d like to learn more about Right At Home, visit www.RightAtHome.net/Cleveland or call Shalom Plotkin at (216) 752-2222.

To enjoy the full audio of our conversation, please use the player below...