Page 30 - BusinessWest July 21, 2021

ers, Anstett saw her numbers shrink to 39 caregiv- ers who were now responsible for only 19 clients. In order for her business to survive, she continued to provide services for her clients who needed personal-care services around the clock and for those who had no family members in the area.
“Where possible, we asked family members to step in to help out,” she told BusinessWest. “At the beginning of the pandemic, there was less risk to everyone when a family member could be involved with their loved one’s care.”
Anstett also incorporated a detailed checklist
“I thought patients weren’t following up because of a language barrier. As it turns out, they weren’t responding because they didn’t understand the severity of the situation.”
of risk factors for each caregiver to review to pre- vent COVID-19 from spreading to them or their clients.
“We talked with caregivers about the people in their circle,” Anstett said. “It was similar to con- tact tracing, but we did it beforehand, so people would understand what they had to consider
to protect themselves, their families, and their clients.”
A Better Life Homecare in Springfield runs two home-care programs. In one, it provides
personal-care services such as helping seniors with grooming, cooking, laundry, and more. The other program provides low-income patients with medical care in the home, such as skilled nursing services, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.
On the medical side
of the business, licensed practical nurses (LPNs) handle many of the
home visits, while certi- fied nursing assistants (CNAs) and patient care assistants (PCAs) are the main frontline workers on the personal-care side. A Better Life also employs case workers to supervise PCAs and CNAs and to set up other resources a patient may need, such as Meals on Wheels and support groups.
Claudia Lora says communication with clients was key to navigating the pandemic.
When COVID hit, said Claudia Lora, com- munity outreach director for A Better Life, she and her staff made patient communication a top priority.
“We implemented daily phone calls to our patients that also served as wellness check-ins,” she recalled. Because a majority of the com- pany’s clients are Spanish speakers, A Better Life employs many bilingual staff. At the beginning
of their outreach efforts, Lora became concerned when some patients didn’t seem to follow up and respond to communications.
“I thought patients weren’t following up because of a language barrier,” she said. “As it turns out, they weren’t responding because they didn’t understand the severity of the situation.”
On the other hand, she said some patients temporarily stopped their home-care service out of concern about interacting with anyone in
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JULY 21, 2021
BUSINESS OF AGING
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