The medical and companionship services Mildred Bachman receives from Personal Touch Home Care allow her to continue to live with her son Michael.

Mildred’s fall was the first of several health problems that resulted in her moving into Michael’s home. “It’s nearly impossible to envision the amount of stress and upheaval bringing an elderly parent into one’s home can be—especially when it was a sudden, unexpected event with multiple layers of health issues involved,” he said.

After his mother started living with him, Michael realized that other health problems and her diminishing memory were going to prevent her from returning home. Unsure where to turn, he started researching home care agencies. His research led him to Personal Touch Home Care. “They really just seemed to have their act together,” he said. Personal Touch offered a unique blend of medical services and companionship. “So many of the other agencies were just focused on medical needs, and that wasn’t really what I was looking for,” Michael recalled. “I needed some degree of health services, but I really also wanted social and companionship services.”

Personal Touch assessed Mildred’s needs and devised a care plan that focuses on improving her quality of life. “They have helped her maintain her independence and continue doing the things she was already doing.” Michael said. With the help of her aide, Andrietta Allen, Mildred does puzzles, sketches and takes regular walks. She also received physical therapy and has regained full use of her wrist.

“After Personal Touch started helping us, things got so much better,” Michael said. “So many of my biggest fears about my mother living with me turned out to be non-issues.” He added, “Something that seemed insurmountable and impossible became a routine, then actually enjoyable.”

Today, Michael and Mildred are both comfortable and happy with their living situation. It still requires a lot of work from Michael and his partner Jerome, but with the help they receive from Personal Touch, they are able to maintain busy work schedules while Mildred enjoys the hobbies and activities she has always loved.

“Pain management had been a constant struggle,” said Margaret’s daughter-in-law, Robbie. So was the relatively simple act of changing the linens or any other movement that might suggest to Margaret that she was falling again. When Margaret developed pneumonia and her health declined further, her physician, Dr. Anil Patel, recommended that the family consider hospice care. They knew that hospice care was available in the home, but they were surprised to learn that home can include assisted living or long-term care facilities, or even hospitals.

Luckily, Margaret lived at one of several area facilities that participate in Capital Hospice’s Centers of Excellence, a new program designed to make hospice care more accessible in long-term care facilities.

“The American Medical Directors Association has indicated that a significant percentage of nursing home residents may be hospice eligible. Our goal is to make access to hospice expertise easy,” said J. Cameron Muir, M.D., Capital Hospice Vice President of Medical Services. Hospice experts are able to offer end-of-life care and pain management specially tailored to the patient’s needs, as well as grief support to the family and long-term care facility staff, who often become part of a resident’s extended family.

For instance, when Capital Hospice’s Georgine Tedrow, an RN with advanced training in pain and symptom management, began to work with Margaret and her family, she recommended changes to her care plan. Georgine also recommended changes in Margaret’s medication to better manage her pain. And she changed her physical therapy goals to make them more realistic. At her suggestion, a Capital Hospice chaplain came to visit Margaret to address her spiritual needs. And when Margaret became agitated by people in or near her room, Georgine told her it was okay to ask them to quiet down or leave.

Robbie found that Georgine’s expertise and self-assurance inspired confidence in her mother-in-law. When Margaret was feeling better, she began calling Georgine “the boss.” Robbie related that during the next couple of months Margaret was comfortable enough to become quite social again.

Margaret died in late December 2004, her pain under control, her family at ease with her care and by her side. Robbie says Capital Hospice left an indelible mark on her family: “It affected my mother-in-law’s overall quality of life. At one point, I’d look into her eyes and the spark seemed to be gone. Then it returned. That’s what hospice did.”