SHELBURNE FALLS — Visiting Angels Living Assistance Services, a 20-year-old business that specializes in home care, has just opened a satellite branch office in Shelburne Falls.
The office, located in the Bridge of Flowers Business Center, above McCusker’s Market, is set up to provide caregivers and home care services for the elderly and disabled, from Greenfield west to the Berkshires.
According to Client Care Coordinator Mariana Luz, the new office is part of Visiting Angels of the Berkshires, a franchise that serves Pittsfield and towns west of Franklin County. The Shelburne Falls office opened this spring and is looking both to hire more home care workers and to provide local nonmedical services to those who may need ADL (“assisted daily living”) help with light housekeeping, shopping, bathing, meal preparation and other needs.
They also offer information for prospective clients and their families on avoiding falls, recognizing symptoms of dementia, and on how to talk to loved ones who may need home care.
“People are aging, and it’s hard to ask for help,” says Luz. “Their (health) baseline changes a little at a time.” She said it’s hard for people to accept that these gradual changes may require them to ask for help. “We’re hoping we can help some people stay home and stay safe,” she said.
“We have all the advantages and resources of a big program, including training programs and marketing,” says Luz. “We have specialized programs, such as training to work with clients that have dementia, and a program that helps people in hospitals get ready to go home.”
Luz explained that about 20 percent of people released from hospitals are soon re-admitted, often because they didn’t maintain a hospital discharge plan. A nonmedical home-care worker can help them to stay on their discharge plan, or remind them when to take their medications, she said.
Home-care workers are thoroughly vetted and they are matched with clients. Luz said Visiting Angels will provide free in-home assessments, to make sure the home is safe for its residents and to make suggestions for safer access.
Before a home-care worker is assigned to a client, they may first visit, to see if they are compatible and that they can do the work needed by the client.
Visiting Angels can also provide respite care, for family members who need a break from their caregiving, and they can give non-medical hospice care.
Luz says Visiting Angels is hiring caregivers, and also hires certified nursing assistants and home health aides. Currently, the Shelburne Falls office has about six part-time and full-time workers, but is prepared to expand as its business grows.
Visiting Angels charges an hourly rate and accepts long-term care insurance and Veterans’ aid-and-assistance benefits. For more information, call Luz to make an appointment at 413-822-2177. The Pittsfield office phone is staffed round-the-clock, and those with immediate needs can call that phone number at 413-344-9281.