Cheryl moved back to Fresno three years ago to take care of her elderly dad, Monte. Since then, she hasn’t been able to leave, because Monte didn’t want to be a burden to his friends and wouldn’t allow "strangers" to care for him.

Recently, Cheryl found out that an old friend had become very ill. She wanted to visit her, but she couldn’t leave her father alone. She called AngeliCare for details on elderly respite care. Understanding Monte’s resistance to outside help – which is not an unusual situation – we made the initial meeting casual and informal. We didn’t even discuss the service at all—it was just a meet and greet.

Monte knew about the ill friend and encouraged Cheryl to go, but he maintained that he didn’t want or need help. Together, we pointed out, in a roundabout way, that his stubbornness was preventing Cheryl from visiting her sick friend because she couldn’t leave knowing her father had no one check on him.

We asked Monte to give us a trial run. During Cheryl’s 4-day trip, we would send a home care giver for just 3 hours each day. They would prepare his meals, do some light housekeeping, and pretty much stay out of his way. Her dad finally agreed to try it out. After a somewhat rocky start, he found that he actually enjoyed not having to rely solely on his daughter. The trial period turned into weekly respite care, which ultimately improved their relationship and the quality of their lives. 

The Francos had just renovated their home to help accommodate the needs of the husband, Bob, who had advanced Parkinson’s disease. Bob’s wife, Shelly, was Bob’s primary caregiver, and the family worried that her duties were causing a large amount of physical and emotional stress.

Recently, the family had noticed that she was anxious and irritable, traits that weren’t usually part of her character. After they contacted us to discuss the situation, we recognized Shelly’s personality changes as symptoms of “caregiver burnout,” which is not uncommon to those overburdened with home care giver duties. Together, with the family, we determined that respite care three times a week would be sufficient in helping alleviate her stress.

The supplemental home care AngeliCare provided for the Francos turned out to be exactly what the family needed. Once Shelly had some help, she quickly bounced back into the easygoing mom the family knew. The family told us that hiring AngeliCare was "the smartest thing they ever did”, enabling a healthier, more joyful lifestyle for their entire family.

The Sanchezes had been utilizing our services on and off for a year. Dr. Sanchez was a retired general practitioner, and his wife, Sue, was a retired school teacher. We were initially hired to help Sue, who was bedbound and needed help with most of her ADL’s (activities of daily living). Although Sue was sweet and pleasant to work with, Dr. Sanchez could be very abrasive, which made it difficult to find and retain CareGivers for the job.

The situation worsened to the point that we had to stop providing service. Although this is highly unusual, it does happen. About a year later, Dr. Sanchez contacted us and wanted to resume services. He admitted that they had worked their way through a number of agencies and numerous independent caregivers. We agreed to meet with him and discuss the situation, with the understanding that service would not be provided, or cancelled, if our staff wasn’t treated respectfully.

While Dr. Sanchez agreed to our terms, we knew that old habits are hard to change, and that we’d have to carefully choose the right caregivers and constantly monitor the situation. The problem was, the caregivers we wanted to assign to the Sanchezes were already booked with clients. This situation took us through a different methodology. Although we make it a general rule to never transfer caregivers from satisfied clients, we were able to make a switch with all parties in full agreement. We managed to assign the perfect caregivers to the Sanchezes—two mature, strong- willed individuals with extensive experience.

It didn’t take long for Dr. Sanchez reverted to his normal self and we weren’t sure if the plan was going to work. We continued with our strategy, and our two resilient home care givers consistently stood their ground and learned to redirect the doctor’s tirades. While never ideal, providing care did become manageable. This was one of the most formidable care cases we’ve ever experienced. By using innovative measures, we reached a workable solution for a difficult situation.

We were contacted by a woman named Kelly, who was inquiring about home care services for her elderly uncle Lloyd. He was in his late 80s, lived alone, and was doing fine until he fell and broke his hip. Lloyd went through rehabilitation and made it back home, but was struggling to care for himself. He refused to accept any help from anyone. Kelly felt that Lloyd hasn’t been the same since his accident. Before the event, he had been active, kept his house clean, and enjoyed having company.

Based on information provided by Kelly, we built a client profile for Lloyd. Our specialized software helped us select a list of caregivers whose life experiences, interests, and personalities were similar to Lloyd’s. From that list, we picked a home care giver by the name of Marie, who we felt was the perfect match. Both were similar in age, very independent, enjoyed the outdoors, and both of them loved Nascar. We asked Marie to join us for the meeting.

We assessed Lloyd, created a care plan, and started home care the very next day. Within a month, Lloyd was back to his old self again. Sometimes a little help is all we need to get back where we belong.

Cruz, our primary care specialist, had just finished an assessment at a local senior community when she noticed an elderly woman lying in one of the parking lots. Cruz approached the woman and asked if she needed some help. The woman said she was fine and explained that she was just walking with her caregiver when she slipped. As she began to fall, she grabbed onto her caregiver and slowly fell to the ground.

She wasn’t hurt, but she didn’t know what had happened to her caregiver. She said that the caregiver started crying, didn’t seem to know what to do, and then just walked away. Cruz asked the woman for her name (Ruth), confirmed that she was a resident, and offered to help her up. The woman allowed Cruz to help her get up and escort her back to her apartment. Ruth saw Cruz’s name badge and asked what AngeliCare was. Cruz explained what we did, and Ruth became a client of ours that same day.