Responding to urgent care requests

Muncie, IN team responded to an emergency caregiving need within an hour

Older adults with cognitive or physical health problems often depend on a family member – like a spouse or an adult child – for daily care. That can work well – unless the caregiver themselves become sick or injured.

That’s what happened in Muncie, Indiana when Judy, who had been taking care of her husband who has dementia, fell while getting the mail, breaking her kneecap. Suddenly, Judy’s daughter Shelly, who lives in California, had two parents who needed care.

Shelly immediately began making plans to fly back to Indiana, but she knew the trip would take her hours – and she knew they needed help sooner than that. While talking to the EMT who helped her mom return home from the hospital, she asked if he could recommend someone.  After asking around with colleagues, the EMT suggested Help at Home who he said had been helpful in a crisis in the past. It was already nearly noon on a Friday when Shelly called the Help at Home office in Muncie.

A frantic call, a worried daughter

Ashley, a care supervisor in Muncie, was the one that received the call and immediately realized that it was an urgent situation. “The daughter was just frantic,” said Ashley.

Shelly remembers saying: “I need you. My mom needs you.”

Understanding the urgency of the situation, Ashley called Brittany, another Help at Home care supervisor who was out doing intake interviews. Ashley asked her if she could squeeze in another intake interview between two appointments, Brittany scrambled to make time to meet with Shelly’s mom and called a caregiver who could head over immediately. “It was an hour after the phone call from Shelly that we had her mother admitted and fully staffed,” Ashley said.

Ashley said that such quick turnarounds are not always possible, but they do try to expedite people who are in emergency situations.

Help at Home provided peace-of-mind during a crisis

Shelly arrived about 12 hours after her first phone call with Ashley and was relieved to find her parents in good hands with a Help at Home caregiver. Shelly is an exercise physiologist and stayed for almost a week, helping her parents get settled into the new routine and suggesting some exercises for her mom. But when it was time to leave, she had lots of peace of mind because she had seen the caregivers at work and she described them as warm, caring, and competent.

“When I left, I knew my parents were well taken care of.”

She still regularly checks in with Ashley.

“I just appreciate the distance that Ashley and all of them went,” Shelly said. “She was so sweet from the get-go.”