A niche that’s growing Community Care Inc. at home with home care services in region
Community Care home care worker Bonnie Simmons, left, chats with client Mary Bruno in her Bentleyville home on Tuesday.
When it began business in Washington County more than 30 years ago, Community Care Inc. was providing nursing staff for hospitals and nursing homes in the area.
As the years passed, however, the agency, founded by and still owned by the Waleski family, has shifted its focus to providing home care and home health care to people ranging from just a couple of months old to 90 or 100 years, according to Jeffrey Doerfler, community liaison for the agency.
Today Community Care’s footprint has expanded to three offices in three counties, covering clients in a half-dozen counties, including Washington and Greene.
The reason for the shift to the home is simple, said Doerfler, noting that the number of people retiring and living in place in the region has continued to grow over the years.
“The referrals have been growing,” he said.
Growing so much, Doerfler added, that on April 29 Community Care is raising the hourly pay for its roughly 400 home healthcare employees – those who each day provide between 275 and 300 clients assistance with their activities for daily living, or ADL.
The work includes helping those in their homes with meals, remembering to take their medications, bathing, dressing and light housekeeping.
“They also provide companionship for all of the clients, maybe even engage with them over a favorite hobby,” he added.
For Community Care, which is based in New Stanton with other offices in Washington and Mt. Lebanon, the service adds up to about 3,000 hours a week and is a large part of the agency’s revenue. The growth of the business and demand for its services is also behind its reasoning for moving most of the home care givers who have been earning between $8.50 and $9.50 per hour to $10, and adding another $1 per hour shift differential for those who work from Friday night to Monday morning.
The change in the rates becomes effective April 29.
“Our caregivers truly understand our clients’ desire to have health and well-being while in their own home.
We feel we provide the greatest home care in the area, and a large number of team members have been with us a long time. We wanted to reward them.”
While home health aides don’t require a license, all are subject to state and federal clearances, license and auto insurance verification, pre-employment drug screening, and random drug screening during employment, CPR certification, a physical exam, and references.
The agency also takes care to introduce caregivers to clients and their families through a “meet and greet” before they begin service.
“It allows the client to pick their caregiver,” Doerfler explained, adding that once a pairing is made, the bond can become strong over an extended period.
“The caregiver tends to take ownership of these cases, because the family wants them there,” he said.
Community Care also has between 100 and 125 licensed practical nurses and registered nurses for skilled care services in the home on a 24/7 basis.
“We’ve always provided health care and facility staff” for area hospitals and nursing homes “but now our focus is really on healthcare services in the home,” Doerfler said.
Community Care’s skilled nursing services include pain management, medications,tracheostomy and ventilator care, diabetes management rehabilitation services, including physical, occupational and speech therapies; IV therapy and infusion services, gastroenterological and urological support, nutritional support and comprehensive fall prevention.
The agency works with the discharge planning area of area hospitals, sending a team of its best nurses who meet with the patient and their families before discharge to determine their care plan for when they return home.
“Our nursing starts before the patients come home. We call them our ‘float nurses,'” he said, explaining that the team spends up to six weeks training the nurses who will care for the patient in the home.
Community Care is also one of the few area nursing agencies that provides full-time care for pediatric patients in the home.
“We’re one of the largest providers in Southwestern Pennsylvania for pediatrics,” Doerfler said. “We get a lot of referrals for pediatrics from other providers who don’t provide the service.”
Regardless of where the agency falls on the care spectrum, ongoing training for staff members is at the center of its mission.
In addition to annual training as a refersher, the staff puts together training for patients who may have special needs, Doerfler said, noting that the nurses also care for people who have disabilities.
“We have in-service training based on the special needs of a person,” he said.
Doerfler said that most home care for ADL services is not covered by Medicare, noting that about half of the cases are private pay.
However, the agency will assist those who may qualify for care under various waivers, including the Medicaid Aging Waiver for older Pennsylvanians or the Options Program funded by the Pennsylvania Lottery.
“We assist families who want to apply for those programs,” he said.
The skilled nursing services are covered by Medicare.
According to Doerfler, while the agency has seen its business grow significantly in the region over the years, it has no plans to expand into other states.
“This is our backyard,” he said. “This is where we want to operate. We want to take care of the residents of Southwestern Pennsylvania.”
Community Care Inc. provides home care and home health care services in Southwestern Pennsylvania. For more information, call 1-877-830-9901.