First-time Home Care Package recipients Jack and Brenda were at the mercy of their previous home care provider’s unreliable scheduling and inadequate services—and then they found The CareSide. Here’s their story.
When his wife, Brenda, was awarded a Level 4 Home Care Package in February 2020, Jack L. was determined to do his research before he chose a provider.
Jack wasn’t happy with the provider they’d been using for home care, and with the level of services that Brenda needed, small missteps had the potential to make a big impact. Brenda required daily help with personal care, and the couple also needed weekly visits to help with house cleaning and maintenance that Jack wasn’t able to manage on his own.
When they’d first begun paying out of pocket for home care, Jack found a provider that seemed like a good option for their needs. But after a few months of care visits, things changed.
‘The service levels just dropped,’ Jack recalls.
Caregivers didn’t show up on time, or the provider would contact Jack and Brenda to cancel or change appointments at the last minute. Jack’s physical limitations made it difficult for him to help Brenda with basic daily tasks such as showering and getting dressed, so a late or cancelled carer visit meant changing their entire schedule for the day. Jack was also frustrated with the lack of consistency—it seemed to be a new, different caregiver showing up at their door every week, and they were never able to build relationships with caregivers who could grow to understand their individual preferences and needs.
After that frustrating experience, Jack took his time to shop around before choosing a new service. He called many different home care providers to discuss his wife’s needs and find the best fit.
Fees were one of Jack’s biggest concerns: he’d heard they were high, and he wanted to be certain their Home Care Package would be enough to cover all the care Brenda needed.
‘I just wanted someone who could provide all the services we required,’ Jack says, emphasising the couple’s desire for a provider who was completely reliable.
Since this was Jack and Brenda’s first time receiving a Home Care Package, they didn’t know what to expect regarding management fees or availability of funding. ‘I didn’t know what we could use the funding for,’ Jack remembers. He had a lot of questions about the flexibility of funds and the services that would be available to them.
When Jack finally chose The CareSide, he felt confident that he’d selected the correct provider for his and his wife’s needs—but he didn’t realise how quickly his decision would pay dividends.
With their previous provider, Jack and Brenda had grown accustomed to their caregivers’ schedules changing at the last minute. Soon, though, Jack and Brenda’s own routine underwent some unexpected shifts.
When Brenda experienced a health decline and was admitted to the hospital for several weeks, Jack was impressed with how easy The CareSide made it to place her care services on hold. And when he realised she would need more care visits after she was discharged, he was delighted with how quickly The CareSide was able to accommodate the change.
Jack could only give The CareSide short notice that Brenda was coming home and that she would now need a second daily visit for personal care. But he recalls, ‘They were very good about reinstating our services with little notice’ while seamlessly adding an additional daily visit to meet Brenda’s new care needs.
Jack was also pleased with how simple it was to make short-term changes in Brenda’s care when necessary. When he had to go to the hospital unexpectedly and wasn’t able to be with Brenda during the day for a few weeks, he was worried she wouldn’t get the care she needed. But a quick call to The CareSide eased his concerns with the scheduling of a third daily care visit while he was away.
With previous providers, Jack and Brenda felt like they were at the mercy of each provider’s schedule—including frequent unexpected changes they couldn’t control. Now with The CareSide, they have control over scheduling the care they need, precisely when they need it.
‘When we need to cancel at short notice or we need to make one-off changes,’ Jack says, ‘they just make it happen.’
