Empowering People to Live Their Best Lives

I was taking care of my father-in-law with dementia 24/7 for 2 months straight and I needed a break. I called several local memory care places but they all told me that a doctor’s evaluation was needed first. I tried calling several doctors but no appointments were available on short notice. I also wasn’t looking forward to the hassle of safely moving dad into and out of my car for another doctor visit. We visited my mother-in-law in the hospital and found out that a Bright Star Care home health aide was already providing supplemental help and companionship to her. I knew my mother-in-law was very particular about her care so I gave Bright Star Care a call and told them that I needed help. Within hours of my call, they sent a licensed nurse practitioner so that the required physical evaluation was completed without leaving his condo. The same day, only a few hours later, a certified home health aide arrived and took over almost all of the care including cooking, feeding, dispensing oral medications (from a pill box organizer that I prepared every week) bathing, toileting, operating the inhalation nebulizer, suctioning machine, oximeter, blood pressure machine, shower chair, eventually the Hoyer lift, as well as putting out the trash and recycling, etc. Some of the aides even did periodic house cleaning, picking up the mail and purchasing food and supplies. Occasionally, some activities required two aides at the same time. The care also eventually included my mother-in-law when she returned from the hospital. We opted for in-home rehab and 24/7 care which lasted continuously for more than 6 years. For the first few months a single aide lived in the condo and for the remaining years, aides alternated with 12 hour four day shifts. The aides put my in-laws on a daily schedule that included waking, getting dressed, exercising, reading, writing, drawing, conversation, etc. They hosted visiting doctors, nurses, specialists, therapists, friends and relatives and even organized the celebration of birthdays and holidays. The people from Bright Star Care became our friends and were as close as family. The aides were able to deal calmly with my mother-in-law’s frequent impatience. Of course, I still had to process mail, pay bills, schedule and keep doctor visits, maintain the condo, etc. When aides were not available for short periods of time, the management of Bright Star Care (e.g. CEO, nurse practitioner and other qualified personnel) came to stay with my in-laws until an aide was available. I can’t remember even once having to stay with my in-laws overnight since Bright Star Care aides arrived in 2017. Another convenient feature of Bright Star is that they have access to medical equipment (e.g. beds, wheelchairs, walkers, Hoyer lifts, etc.) that they loaned to us temporarily at no charge when we needed them. Of course, we could have saved money by putting my in-laws in a memory care home but most of these homes would have required us to move them to a skilled nursing (i.e. more expensive) facility once they were bed-ridden. We were very happy that our in-laws had 24/7 one-on-one care in their beautiful condo for the remainder of their lives. I highly recommend Bright Star Care.