Home care services range from medical care to help with daily household chores. If you’re considering home care services, ask these questions to choose the best provider for your needs.

If you are recovering from surgery or need long-term care for a chronic illness — or you have a loved one facing a similar situation — you might be interested in home care services. Home care services range from skilled care provided by nurses or physical or occupational therapists to household support, such as cleaning, cooking and running errands.

Whether you’re planning to enlist the help of a home care services agency or hire a personal home health aide, knowing what questions to ask can help ensure that you receive quality assistance.

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Aging in place means living in the home of your choice—safely and independently—as you get older. It’s about living out your golden years in comfort. But it requires planning for how you will deal with any challenges that may arise. In essence, healthy aging involves creating the right environment and putting supports in place that allow you to meet your ongoing physical and emotional needs.

Did you know that American seniors are healthier today than they have been in years past? One study found that older adults were 14 percent more likely to say they were in excellent or very good health in 2014 than in 2000.

Successful aging is influenced by a range of factors, including diet, lifestyle, and genetics. The reality is that you can be healthy at 50 or any other age by adopting a lifestyle that features regular exercise and a well-balanced diet. Of course, staying healthy and safe may require adapting your home to accommodate your changing needs, which you can read more about below.

This article outlines how the definition of successful aging has evolved over the past few decades. It also describes some common diseases that often come with age and explains what you can do to reduce your chances of being affected by them. And it provides practical tips on how to successfully age in place.

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Meet our CEO Greg Von Arx

Education:
Bachelors of Accounting – University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire CPA (inactive)

Family Status:
Married, three children

Leisure time:
Exercise, hockey, golf, fishing, hunting, and work

Affiliations:
Wisconsin Association for Home Care (WiAHC) – Board Member
Iowa Center for Home Care (ICHC) – Board Member
Minnesota Home Care Association (MHCA) – Legislative Committee
Living at Home Network – Board Chair
Point Click Care – Home Care Market Advisory Committee

What about this company are you most proud of?

I’m most proud that we take care of so many people and allow them to stay at home. We have at any given time, on any given day, around 4,000-4,500 clients that we take care of.  I’m wildly proud of the volume of people we are able to help. I am most proud of our employees and their persistence and passion that allow us to continue to take care of more clients.

Do you have any advice for people starting their career in home health care?

I have a lot of advice for people who are starting in home care but the main piece of advice I would give is if you want to come to work every day and do the same thing, this is not the place for you. Home care is constantly changing, it is a dynamic environment. If you enjoy embracing change, solving problems, solving new issues whether it is new payers, new programs or new rules, Home care is the place for you.

What is the greatest challenge at Recover Health?

The greatest challenge the company faces is finding enough staff to take care of all the demand out there.  I always say demand is not our issue. There is a demand for our services. More and more people want to stay at home and understand their options for staying at home.  Finding staff in an economy with record low unemployment rates is the biggest challenge for the company.

My personal challenge with the company is to continue to grow personally and understand the role of the CEO. As the size of the company continues to grow, I have to be less hands-on and more of a leader and visionary.

What is most important to you? Our mission, our core values, our vision?

They are all tied together. I think at its core, I would say our mantra as an organization has come to me more clearly over the last months. We have to stay focused on our mission, continue to be passionate about what we do, and always be persistent. If we do that, people will feel like they are part of something greater than themselves. That is the greatest thing we can accomplish as an organization.

What are our priorities for next year?

There are always the foundational things we have to focus on: client satisfaction, clinical outcomes, employee satisfaction and engagement, financial performance. We have to focus on our mission, passion, and persistence and try to create an environment where people are in fact proud of the organization and feel like they are part of something greater than themselves.

What can employees do help drive long-term growth?

We are in the business of people and when people are involved there are a lot of different dynamics. Some of the main things we can do are to give people the benefit of the doubt, assume positive intent, and seek to understand before reacting to things. If we do that and work as a team to solve problems and again seek to understand as opposed to seeking to be understood we can drive long-term success.

What inspires you every day?

Personally, I am inspired by the constant change and the dynamic of the industry. I am also inspired to try to solve the puzzle of homecare and how we can do it efficiently, with outstanding customer satisfaction, exceptional clinical outcomes, and excellent employee engagement. Obviously, this is an area that we will always be focused on but the constant dynamic of trying to solve that puzzle continues to inspire me.