Informed Aging

Episode 83 Staying Independent at Home with the Right Help

• Robin Rountree • Season 1 • Episode 83

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Episode Summary:

In this episode of Informed Aging, host Robin Rountree welcomes Aubrie Depkin, Executive Director of Senior Helpers, to discuss the importance of aging in place and the role of home care services. They explore the differences between home care and home health, the benefits of hiring professional caregivers, and how small adjustments can improve safety and independence for older adults.

www.seniorhelpers.com/Orlando

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Robin Rountree: [00:00:00] Welcome to Informed Aging, a podcast about health help and hard decisions for older adults. I'm Robin Rountree, a former family caregiver. I've worked in the home care industry and now work for the Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center. The thoughts and opinions expressed belong to me and my guest on this podcast, not our wonderful employers and sponsors.

This podcast is a service of the Alzheimer's and dementia Resource center, we are not affiliated with the Alzheimer's Association. Before making any significant changes in your life or your person's life, please consult your own experts today. Our guest is Aubrie Depkin, executive director of Senior Helpers.

We're gonna talk about aging in place, staying in your own home, or whatever you consider to be home and getting a little outside help. So stay tuned.  [00:01:00] [00:02:00] 

We are back and yes, you did hear an advertisement for Senior Helpers because they are our sponsor and have been from the very beginning, so we appreciate them very much. And full disclosure, I did used to work for Senior Helpers for about four years. So now you know that I'm gonna introduce you to my former boss Aubrie Depkin the Executive director of Senior Helpers.

Robin Rountree: How are you? Good. 

Aubrie Depkin: How are you? 

Robin Rountree: I am good. And you've got quite a story in the home care industry. You. Started out as a caregiver? 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes, that is correct. I, had graduated with my bachelor's and had no idea what I was gonna do, so I got my CNA license and started working at senior helpers and then started working on my master's and harassed my boss to bring me in the office.

Told him I could do anything that he put me to work to, so he put me in the hardest position, which is [00:03:00] scheduling. 

Robin Rountree: Yeah, that is a tough one. 

Aubrie Depkin: And the rest is history. Just from traveling up. Coming up on 13 years there. 

Robin Rountree: Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. I love that. It's been a journey. You started at the bottom and worked your way to the top.

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. 

Robin Rountree: good for you. So we did talk about, home care on this podcast back in. 2021. And it was just me and Edith. I was going with my experience in the industry, that was in the middle of a pandemic and things have changed. But first let's talk about the difference between home care and home health.

Aubrie Depkin: Okay. So home care is considered non-skilled care. So what that means is we do. Personal, which could be bathing, toileting, getting dressed, and companion care, which could be errands, laundry, toileting, light, housekeeping, things like that. While home health, which is skilled care, could be wound change, [00:04:00] medication management, ot, pt, things along those lines.

Robin Rountree: Alright, so if you wanna know more about home health, which is the more medical version, zip on back to episode 57. I talked to Amy Anglin and she gives you all the rundown about home health and what Medicare will pay for and what they won't. So now we know, home care, also known as personal care. What are some other names that it 

Aubrie Depkin: comes by?

Companion care. Anything that a friend. Yes. things like that. Something not so medical because there is so much resistance of bringing someone in and the possibility of feeling like this person is taking away my independentness, so we wanna call it something else. Yes. Our name is senior helpers and some people think, oh my gosh, they're here to take away.

me being independent and that's not the goal. The goal is to keep you independent. So it could be a friend, it [00:05:00] could be an assistant, it could be, a concierge individual, things like that. It doesn't have to be a caregiver. It could go by another name, 

Robin Rountree: and it's Taking away the things that are now hard to do for whatever reason.

if your balance isn't great, maybe vacuuming the floor isn't what you should be doing. 

Aubrie Depkin: Correct. 

Robin Rountree: So it's keeping you doing the things you wanna do and taking away the things that are now getting hard to do. Does that make sense? Yes. 

Aubrie Depkin: it's keeping what you want to do and. adding to the quality of your life by making sure that you continue to do the things that you wanna do, but safely.

Ah, so yes, you may love doing laundry, but do you have a stacked washer and dryer? And maybe you shouldn't be bending over to, Or reaching on your tippy toes to take from the front and throwing it down at the bottom. What can we do to add to that independentness so you can still feel like you're doing laundry, but [00:06:00] we're just keeping you safe to do laundry?

Okay. 

Robin Rountree: If that makes sense. Okay, that makes sense. Okay. Now you throw out quality of life, and that is part of something that they mention in the advertisement, the life profile assessment, right? Yes. What is that? 

Aubrie Depkin: So life profile is exclusively. To senior helpers. It was developed by an occupational therapist, and what it does is one of the main things that it looks at is 140 safety risks.

So we go into the home, we do an assessment, we look at certain areas, the bedroom, the bathroom, the garage, what are the steps look like going into the house, and it comes up with this formula and gives us an outcome of. The probability of you ending up in the hospital within, I think it's six months.

Oh, okay. And what can we do to change that probability? So it could be your [00:07:00] medications. You're not taking them. You don't know what they are. You don't know where your parameters of your meds are. It looks at, again, the safety risk. Do we need to add some grab bars in the bathroom? Do we need to pick up that carpet that's been on the floor that now has a flipped corner?

are the steps too high getting into your house? Maybe we need to put a little ramp there. And even it looks at the type of walker that you're using. Is the walker getting through the door? Maybe we need to put the wheels on the inside instead of having them on the outside. definitely shouldn't have tennis balls.

Maybe adding some skis instead of tennis balls. But wait, what's a 

Robin Rountree: ski? 

Aubrie Depkin: A ski is exactly what it sounds like. It is a flat. Maybe two inch piece of plastic that you stick where you would stick the tennis balls instead, and it just helps you glide better rather than having the tennis balls that could get stuck on things and that [00:08:00] get thinner through time.

Robin Rountree: Okay, so they don't wear as quickly. Correct. Okay, so it's a walker ski? 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. 

Robin Rountree: Okay. So you kind of help them. Not only see the problems, but help them fix it as well. Correct? 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. And our goal isn't to go in and be like, oh, you need us 24 7. No, because there is a piece that talks about what is the family doing?

Can the family help with certain areas instead of, mom walking out to the mailbox or dragging out the trash can, could a family member stop by once a week and do it for them? And if not, then maybe. A helper can come in or a friend can come in and assist with that because maybe mom shouldn't be walking and dragging something while she has a walker.

just looking at these little things. Again, our goal is to keep them safe and independent and see what minor changes can be done. It could also be paying bills, maybe dad's [00:09:00] forgotten a couple of times to pay the electric bill and, is there a loved one that can take that over so that there's peace of mind on both parts that everybody is being taken care of.

Robin Rountree: So it's, if the family member, whether it's the daughter, the spouse, whatever, thinks that there is a need for care, you are the outside. People who can come in and see you might go, eh, no. They're pretty good. 

Aubrie Depkin: Correct? Yes, we are the person looking from the outside in. Sometimes you need that person to just be like, okay, this is what we're noticing.

And it helps having the life profile because it gives us the different areas that. We need to be looking at that you may not be thinking of like one of another area is quality of life, right? Mom used to enjoy gardening. Now you notice she's not gardening anymore. Is it because she doesn't feel safe going down to [00:10:00] the steps?

Or is it she can't bend down anymore, so maybe we need to have a raised garden. Yeah. or do something on the tables, things like that. So just being that outside person, being like making the suggestions, they don't have to lose their quality of doing the things that they enjoy just because.

There are just minor things that they can no longer do or that they don't feel safe doing. It could just be a fear. That they don't want to fall down the steps, so let's do something to change that so they don't lose the passion that they love doing. 

Robin Rountree: Amazing. I love that. Yeah. And, we talked that. During the pandemic that really had an influence on the price of home care. caregivers were putting themselves at risk Yes. Going into the home. so there was a little mini revolution, we'll call that, and prices did increase. So right now in the Central [00:11:00] Florida area, of course it varies.

Place to place about what does it cost per hour? Let's say during a four hour shift, what would one hour cost? 

Aubrie Depkin: it really depends on whether it's an agency or a registry, and we can get into those details later. But a four hour shift would typically cost you anywhere between 30 and 34 an hour.

Okay. And a one hour shift. It's rare that. Companies do one hour shifts. Mm-hmm. But it could cost you as high as 75 an hour. 

Robin Rountree: Okay. But if you just need help with the shower, that's the only thing you're worried about. You can possibly find a company to come in for that one hour and then leave. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes.

There are companies out there that do it. I can speak for senior helpers only. We do what's called concierge service for our communities and it's as little as 15 minutes. 

Robin Rountree: But that's if you're living in independent living Yes. And you just need that extra help, but you're not ready for [00:12:00] assistance.

Correct. Yes. Okay, that makes sense. So let's go into these levels. first I call it the Craigslist level. you just go on the worldwide web and look for some caregiver. The pros, it's probably gonna be your cheapest option. Yes. what are the cons? 

Aubrie Depkin: The cons is, you know, absolutely nothing about this person.

And yes, they can give you references, but how true are those references? the other thing is do they have a background check? Oh, that's so important. you don't realize. How much can be hidden by not having that background check. And, agencies and some registries do require us to have a background check.

It's a level two background check through AHCA. And it looks at everything to see if they are eligible to be a caregiver or not. so another con of hiring through ca Craigslist Would be, accountability. If they get [00:13:00] sick or they just decide they don't wanna go to work one day or they quit, you don't have that comfort of calling your company up and saying, Hey, where's my caregiver?

Or the caregiver called out, or the caregiver needs vacation and a backup is sent. You have, you don't have any. You don't have a backup system, right? It's on you. So if you have a full-time job as a loved one and they call out or don't show up, now it falls on you. Now it's affecting your job and you're, living basically.

Robin Rountree: Okay? 

Aubrie Depkin: Yeah. 

Robin Rountree: Alright, so then. Somebody goes, oh, no, no, I know a lady at the church or a lady down the street who took care of her mother, I'm gonna hire her. Okay, so you're a little more familiar with them, okay, cost is cheaper. Yes. But what can go wrong with that? 

Aubrie Depkin: in addition to all the other stuff mentioned, God forbid somebody gets hurt while at [00:14:00] your mom or dad's house or loved one and they get hurt.

It falls on you that if something were to happen, they hurt their back. They break. They break something, you're at risk for being sued by them because it happened on your property. When you go with an agency, and again, some registries, they are covered by liability and workers' comp, meaning that if anything were to happen, they fall, they break something, whether they break something on themselves or break something in the home, the company takes full responsibility for that.

Another example is the. Person that you hired, the neighbor, clogs the toilet, floods the house that's gonna fall on you. Ah, it's gonna be your responsibility to contact your homeowner's insurance and get somebody out there and your deductible. But if a caregiver does that, that you've [00:15:00] hired through a company, it falls on the company.

We take responsibility for our employees. 

Robin Rountree: Okay, so senior helpers is an agency? Correct. And you'll get the background check and the workers' comp and 

Aubrie Depkin: the liability. Liability, 

Robin Rountree: all that. But then there's a registry. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. 

Robin Rountree: And that's They may do the background check. They may have insurance. But those are 10 99 employees, right?

Aubrie Depkin: Correct. Yes. Every registry is different now. Some registries do. Supply the background check. and some may cover the employee under workers' comp, but majority of them, from my understanding is that the caregiver is responsible for holding their own workers' comp, and that is, you pay the caregiver directly and the company takes a percentage of that.

Again, this is just how I'm understanding it. Okay. Okay. From personal experience, but again, it, [00:16:00] there is the possibility that if that caregiver calls off or is sick or needs a vacation, that you may not be guaranteed a backup person. You may not be promised that they're gonna be able to fill that spot with a different caregiver.

another thing that an agency does is to make sure that there is training in between. So if the regular caregiver is taking off Then we're going to bring in the person that's covering to have an overlap to make sure that they are trained and know the activities of the day. 

Robin Rountree: Okay. Now, certainly the number you threw out didn't shock me because I'm used to it, but people are going, I'm sorry, $32 an hour.

It is a lot. So that's why people do look at these Craigslist and their friends, but I just want you to be aware. There is some risk with that. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes, absolutely. 

Robin Rountree: and there is a little bit of aid out there. I've got [00:17:00] two episodes to refer you to episode 60 of this podcast. We talk about some assistance from the VA for veterans, and then the new guide program is for people living with a dementia related illness.

And there is some care, there's some respite care that would be able to pay for a little bit of care. And that's in episode 77. It is a lot of money. It's not something everybody can afford, but it sure is great if you can afford it. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes, absolutely. 

Robin Rountree: Now, having worked in the industry, I know what can typically happen is, let's just say the daughter thinks mom and dad needs help in the home.

Mom and dad think they don't need help in the home. So what do you do with that? 

Aubrie Depkin: We approach it as, don't say I'm bringing in a caregiver. Avoid the word caregiver. We like to use the word I'm bringing in [00:18:00] a friend. I'm bringing in someone that will help me and give me peace of mind knowing that you guys are being taken care of and that you're doing things safely and.

to let me know if anything is needed. Again, we're not there to take away the inde. the independence, we're there to support them being independent. what we tell the loved ones is that if mom and dad are is resistant, say that you're bringing in a friend to help assist in things like that, and you're gonna get pushback no matter what.

and it starts with, just try it out a couple times. Mom and dad try it out one or two times and they're like, that's it. We're done. Yes. Which I'm sure everybody has experienced at some point if you've been a caregiver of in yourself. So what we say is it takes 30 days to form a habit. No matter what, [00:19:00] whether it's, getting care or something personal in your life, it takes 30 days to do something consistently and then 60 days to see the result of it.

So what we tell families is, give us 30 days. You're going to need the time for your parents to form that bond with the caregiver. And it could be that. The caregiver doesn't show up in a uniform, right? They don't have a name badge and a shirt that says the company, or wearing scrubs, things like that. It could be that they come in normal clothes, so that way they don't feel like they have a helper because maybe they live at a community and they don't want other people to know, oh my gosh, I have a caregiver now.

But they can introduce him as, this is my friend, this is my assistant. Things like that. 

Robin Rountree: Okay. So you don't wanna go mom and dad, you're old and frail and you're gonna fall down and die. 

Aubrie Depkin: Correct? That 

Robin Rountree: is not the way to sell it. Don't do that. Don't do that. [00:20:00] Say Mom and dad, I worry about you. and I can't always be here because of my job.

It would make me feel better if you accepted this help. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. 

Robin Rountree: Okay. Alright guys. And you know what, you don't really connect with somebody the first time you meet them. Correct? Sometimes you do. but sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get to know them and to be comfortable with accepting help.

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. And don't be afraid to voice that.the caregiver is just not a right fit. Sometimes people feel like, oh, if I say anything, then I'm not gonna find another caregiver. That's not true. Our goal is to pair people that work together, and again, we're not gonna get it. We may not get it right on the first try, and , there may not be that connection on the first try either, but don't be afraid to voice oh, we need a caregiver that's a little more softer spoken, or, A little or little louder. Louder, right? [00:21:00] Yes. Or a little louder.

Robin Rountree: Okay. And I remember we also talked episode 34, about AI coming into the home. 

Aubrie Depkin: Mm-hmm. 

Robin Rountree: Do people still get as freaked out? I'm getting a little bit better about ai. Hello Chat, GBT and Gemini? Yes. but.

It's taken a while to get there. So is that kind of the feeling like, I know you have artificial intelligence, but I'm not sure if I wanna hook that up in my home. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. So it, there are some people that are still very resistant to it. We automatically put what's called sensei in the homes, and what it does is it helps us monitor if there are any changes.

It's not recording any conversations. It's not, gonna put your information out into the world for people to Google and things like that. It's just helping us get ahead of things For example, let's say you're supposed to take your medications in the morning, and the norm is you take them between nine and 10:00 AM 

Robin Rountree: Right?

And so there's a certain [00:22:00] noise that would go with that, right? Correct. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. That's how it learns. The daily routine. it could just be the sound of, the bottle opening or things like that, and the system is catching that. You're not making the sound that it is typically a norm, right? So it's gonna notify us like, Hey, there may be some medication error going on here.

And what we would do is we would reach out to the family and say, Hey. There may be some concerns that mom's not taking her meds when she should be. we could look into it or you could go out there and look into it. another thing that it may track is you typically go to the bathroom by again, just by a sound.

The flushing toilet. The flushing toilet. Yes. Things like that. You were going to the bathroom maybe once a night and now you're getting up five to six times a night. oh. Which would flag in our system that there could be a [00:23:00] potential UTI 

Robin Rountree: and UTI in older adults is no. Joke. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. It is terrible. 

Robin Rountree: It really, and some so many people don't know this, it will affect behavior.

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. 

Robin Rountree: People can see hallucinations and it's just because of a UTI. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yeah. And that's why we say if there's been any changes overnight from one day to the next, get 'em tested for UTI. Immediately. It may not be that, but it definitely may be that also. And it could affect so much things. moods, like you said, hallucinations, they become more of a fall risk because they're more uneasy, things like that.

so again, just back to the sensei, it's. It's important to have it. I know it's still a little new, but I think AI is getting a name out there. hopefully not as scary. , but an example of the system for us is we had a client fall at [00:24:00] two 30 in the morning. lived alone, independent, and it notifies the office immediately within seconds of this noise happening, and we were able to call the community where they were at and say, Hey, we think your resident is on the floor.

Wow. And they hopped up. They hopped in there, they were able to, get her the assistance that she needed, and she wasn't laying on the floor until nobody saw her for breakfast. For hours, It is scary, but it is so beneficial also. 

Robin Rountree: Yeah. And you wouldn't wear your alert necklace to sleep in, right?

'cause you'd be worried about choking and you think, oh, I can just run to the restroom and be fine. And they probably have a pull cord in the restroom, but if it's across the bathroom, you can't get to it. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yeah. Or you fall in the hallway On your way to the bathroom, right? Yes. 

Robin Rountree: Yeah. I think it's amazing.

I get. The reluctance. Yeah. But [00:25:00] definitely think about it and it's so great to have that pair of ears. that helps cover, I can't think of many people who could afford 24 7 care in the home. But if the caregiver's there for four hours and you've got AI there listening for change, I think it's one way to control costs.

Aubrie Depkin: Yes, absolutely. It has made a world of difference for some people that, again, can't afford the 24 7 care. 

Robin Rountree: I'm a fan. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes. 

Robin Rountree: So if somebody is interested in getting home care from senior helpers, how do they reach out to you? 

Aubrie Depkin: You can call our office. our phone number is (407) 628-4357 and if you're not ready yet and you just want some more information, you could still call the office and just.

ask for an email or you could go to our website, which is www.seniorhelpers.com/orlando. 

Robin Rountree: Okay. And there are senior helpers all throughout America? Yes. We have the same kind of thing. 

Aubrie Depkin: We're in Canada, you name it. Okay. 

Robin Rountree: Alright, [00:26:00] so senior helpers.com if you're not in the central Florida area. 

Aubrie Depkin: Yes, absolutely.

Robin Rountree: Thank you so much for being here today. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast Informed Aging, tell your family and Friends about us if you'd like to support the work we do at the Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center, please go to adrc cares.org/donate.

You can find us on facebook.com/informed Aging. Today's episode was recorded at ARC's Podcast Studio. That's it for now. We're looking forward to our next visit.