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Aging & Diverse Home Healthcare on Making ‘Golden Years Golden’

Analysis  |  By Jasmyne Ray  
   June 08, 2023

With a recent investment, the agency plans to expand its caregiving services to include home health care.

Long before the current boom in aging services, Patricia McKinley and Theresa Williams predicted that the baby boom generation would need such services once they began developing health issues.

While completing her master's in business administration, McKinley began working for a home health care agency in quality assurance. It was there that she realized home care at that time left a lot to be desired.

"A lot of the clients who I spoke to were not happy. They were afraid to speak out. There were all kinds of issues," she said. "I decided I would like to do something to help people in that age group feel better about receiving services when they are incapacitated or needing service."

Together, McKinley and Williams started Around the Clock Home Healthcare Services in 1997, since renamed Aging & Diverse Home Healthcare. In their 25 years of business, the Philadelphia-based private duty agency has prided itself on being a community resource and employer.

Like other areas of healthcare, private duty agencies struggled to serve their clients during the pandemic. It was a rough time, Williams admitted, but they powered through.

"We consider ourselves to be a first responder, and for a lot of our clients, we could not stop servicing them," she said. "So, we made sure that we had as much protective equipment available as possible for our employees."

In addition to protective gear like masks, McKinley and Williams also educated their employees on the virus and provided transportation to and from clients’ homes. They also helped administer vaccinations at various locations around the city.

"A lot of people that came into our [office]; they were just ecstatic. They said, 'We need [this] here. We need a resource.' A lot of them, believe it or not, didn't know where to go or what to do," Williams said.

Though the COVID crisis has passed, it remains present, so McKinley and Williams are still taking precautions with their caregivers. For example, some clients don't want anyone in their home unless they've been vaccinated, so during the application process they request the applicants’ vaccination card.

McKinley also acknowledges that in the aftermath of COVID, and with the demand for caregiving services increasing, they've been struggling to hire caregivers. To help their efforts, they've increased their pay scale, but have still had to decline services to some clients.

"The majority of our aides give us an indication of what their availability is, whether they can do daytime or overnight," Williams explained. "By the nature of the work that we do, we tell people coming on board [that we have] a mandatory every-other-weekend policy, because we're a 365-day-a-year agency, and they understand that."

Branching into home health

Aging & Diverse Home Healthcare currently provides only private duty caregiving, but McKinley and Williams have plans to bring the agency fully into home health care. In April, the agency received a $250,000 investment from Exelon Corporation, the parent company of Philadelphia Electric Company, to assist their efforts.

"We have nurses and we have the skill set that is needed with our aides that are certified nursing assistants to take this to the next level," Williams said. "But it's a process with getting that accreditation."

"We're visible, we're active, and we're an employer and neighbors in the community. We employ people who primarily live in the area," McKinley added. "We're not a fly-by-night agency. We have longevity and a proven record."

Along with offering home health care services in the future, Williams and McKinley hope to work closer with hospitals and insurance companies and advocate for the needs and quality of life of the senior population.

"If we all live long enough, we're going to be experiencing some of the issues that our seniors are experiencing. After a certain age, you shouldn't have to worry about food or housing, or things that impact your life, and our seniors have those worries and concerns," Williams said.

"More has to be done for our seniors,” she said, “to make their golden years golden."

“We're not a fly-by-night agency. We have longevity and a proven record.”

Jasmyne Ray is the revenue cycle editor at HealthLeaders. 


KEY TAKEAWAYS

Aging & Diverse Home Healthcare has been in business for 25 years, establishing itself as a resource and employer to its community.

With the $250,000 grant from Exelon Corporation, the agency is beginning the process of expanding its service offerings from caregiving to home health care.


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