In this episode of Help Choose Home, we welcome Kevin Heraty, Chief Development Officer of Cantata Adult Life Services. Originally founded as The British Home in 1920 and opened in 1924 by the Daughters of the British Empire (DBE), Cantata is a nonprofit organization that provides care for a diverse population and offers a variety of services to help seniors. Located in Brookfield, IL, Cantata offers a residential care facility, in-home caregiving services in private homes, handyman services and a new Take 2 Neighborhood Care Program.
Topics discussed include:
• The unique Take 2 Neighborhood Care Program model
• The ideal client for a neighborhood-based care program
• The benefits of a neighborhood-based care program
Conversation Highlights:
Cantata Adult Life Services has been providing in-home care for more than 20 years. What Cantata has found during this time is that while seniors have a strong desire to remain in their homes, they often feel home care services are intrusive. Additionally, the cost for in-home care can be prohibitive for some seniors, leaving them few options that make remaining at home feasible.
Cantata’s Take 2 Neighborhood Program is an innovative care model available to seniors that was piloted in Brookfield, Illinois, and modeled after similar programs developed to serve those with disabilities. The Take 2 Neighborhood Care Program creates care teams that serve seniors in a specific neighborhood or who live in close proximity to one another by providing care in short intervals several times a day.
With the neighborhood approach to care, not only do seniors benefit by receiving the amount of care necessary to remain independent, but caregivers benefit as well. According to Kevin, the Take 2 Neighborhood Care Program uses caregivers more efficiently, they are able to pay caregivers more and caregivers have more predictability in their schedules when compared to traditional caregiving for one client. Additionally, Kevin shares that clients can see cost savings when enrolled in the program often between 20 – 40% more than hourly in-home care.
Kevin believes that it’s important for those in the home care industry to be open to change and improve ways to deliver services to seniors in the local community. In doing so, more needs can be met and more seniors can have their wishes honored to remain at home.
After listening to this episode, you will come away with a greater understanding and appreciation for the importance of innovation in home care. Through a neighborhood-based program, seniors can remain independent in their own homes and organizations can offer more consistent hours for caregivers.
You can listen to this episode here, on Apple Podcasts, Google, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.
To learn more about innovative ways in which home care is meeting the needs of seniors, listen to the Help Choose Home interview with Shawn Bloom, President and CEO of the National PACE Association. PACE, or the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, has been around for more than 50 years and is a model centered on the belief that it is better for the well-being of seniors with chronic care needs and their families to be served in their communities whenever possible.
If this episode has been helpful, be sure to leave a five-star review and share the podcast with your friends to help us in the national effort to educate about home healthcare options! You can connect with Merrily Orsini on Twitter: @MerrilyO.
Sponsors
The Help Choose Home podcast series is a collaborative effort by Axxess, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), and corecubed to educate the public about the many benefits of the in-home care industry, which includes non-medical home care, private duty nursing care, medical home health, hospice and other in-home health and wellness services
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