Thirty-one years ago, Jeff Salter, CEO of Caring Senior Service, founded the home care company when he saw an opportunity to provide a service that was hard to find: non-medical care. Since then, the company, which provides in-home care to help seniors avoid relocation, has grown to five corporate offices and 53 franchise units. By Cindy Charette
Caring for Those in Need
Thirty-one years ago, Jeff Salter, CEO of Caring Senior Service, founded the home care company when he saw an opportunity to provide a service that was hard to find: non-medical care. Since then, the company, which provides in-home care to help seniors avoid relocation, has grown to five corporate offices and 53 franchise units. With a dedication to its GreatCare® method – which focuses on quality caregivers, care solutions, and active involvement – Caring Senior Service delivers personalized service from as few as four hours a few days a week up to 24 hours a day.
When a family member contacts Caring Senior Service for help, they often don’t know what their loved one needs, so Salter uses an innovative service assessment that focuses on the true needs of the client. “If you don’t ask the right questions, you don’t make the right recommendations to someone,” said Salter. The assessment poses a detailed series of questions designed to understand the underlying issues the senior is dealing with so that a service plan can be made to help solve those problems. According to Salter, the assessment determines the right combination of services and technology to help a senior age in place and at the best pace. There is a wide range of one-on-one care services, including bathing and restroom help as well as assistance with household duties, cooking, running errands and going to appointments.
Salter added: “At our offices, we have agency directors and care managers who we spend a lot of time training to do the assessment. We’ve developed a proprietary process, and the questions we ask really get to the root issues a senior might be dealing with. Our algorithms then let us predict what type of hours and services they need based upon that assessment.”
Salter hopes to help those new to non-medical home care by speaking to home health and hospice associations on the topic of innovation in the fall. He believes that innovation is not just about technology but also tools and techniques that can be used to improve a process.
“At Caring, we have always tried to be at the forefront of innovation,” he said.
Cindy Charette