Choosing in-home care for a parent or spouse comes with a long list of questions, and most families are asking them for the first time under pressure. Below are the questions we hear most often from families in Melrose Park, Westchester, River Forest, and Oak Lawn, answered directly.
If you do not see your question here, call us at (708) 578-5663, and we will answer it in plain language.
Non-medical home care covers help with daily living: bathing, dressing, meals, medication reminders, errands, and companionship. Home health care is clinical, prescribed by a physician, and delivered by nurses or therapists. Assisting Hands provides non-medical home care, and we regularly work alongside a family’s home health agency, therapists, and pharmacy so nothing falls through the cracks.
Most families call after they notice a pattern rather than a single event. Common triggers include a recent fall, a hospital or rehab discharge, missed medications, unopened mail, weight loss, a decline in personal hygiene, or a spouse or adult child who has become the primary caregiver and is exhausted. If you are asking the question at all, a consultation is worth the time.
The first consultation is a free, no-obligation visit in your home, and it usually takes about an hour. A member of our care team sits down with you and your loved one to understand the daily routine, the health history, what is working and what has become difficult. We look at the home itself for fall risks and mobility concerns, talk through personal care and companion care needs, and answer every question you have about scheduling, caregivers, and cost.
You leave with a written, personalized care plan and a clear recommendation. There is no charge for the visit and no requirement to start service. If we believe your family would be better served by home health, a facility, or another resource, we will tell you that directly and point you toward it.
No. There is no long-term contract and no lock-in period. You sign a service agreement that outlines the care plan, the schedule and the rate, and you can adjust hours, pause service or stop entirely with reasonable advance notice.
Families often start with a few hours a week and increase from there, or scale back after a recovery period ends. Both are normal. Our service plan is formally reviewed every 90 days, or immediately when health needs shift, so the arrangement stays matched to what your family actually needs rather than what was true when you signed.
We build a dedicated care team around your family rather than assigning a single caregiver, so more than one qualified caregiver already knows your loved one’s routine before a call-off ever happens. When someone is out, backup coverage comes from a caregiver who is already familiar with the home, the preferences, and the care plan.
Your comfort comes first. If a caregiver does not match your expectations or personal preferences, we will respect your wishes and change the assignment. You do not need to justify the request, and there is no awkward conversation for you to have. Tell your Client Success Manager, and we handle it.
True consistency is built over time, and the most reliable way to get it is to establish fixed, regular weekly hours. A predictable schedule allows one primary caregiver to become a dependable part of your loved one’s week. Schedules that shift week to week make consistency much harder for any agency to deliver honestly.
Every caregiver is fully vetted through the Illinois Healthcare Worker Registry and meets IDPH standards. Beyond the registry check, our team handles supervision directly, including unannounced home visits, so the care plan is being followed when no one is expecting a review.
No. You do not supervise, schedule, discipline or manage staff. Our team handles supervision and oversight, and your Client Success Manager manages the schedule and monitors daily charting so you stay informed without becoming the employer.
No. We manage all wages, taxes and insurance, which means you carry none of the legal or financial liability that comes with hiring a caregiver privately. Families who hire independently often do not realize they have taken on household employer obligations until there is a problem.
Care is never static, so neither is the plan. Our Client Success Team conducts ongoing supervisory check-ins and formally reviews your service plan every 90 days, or immediately when health needs shift. Hours, services and daily activities are adjusted as your family’s situation changes.
You are assigned a Client Success Manager who knows your family by name. That person manages scheduling, monitors daily charting and is your single point of contact, so you are not re-explaining your situation to a different person every time you call.
Yes. Our local team answers live around the clock for emergency scheduling, staffing needs, or a sudden change in health. You reach a person, not a voicemail box that gets checked the next business day.
Two ways. Caregivers document daily charting that your Client Success Manager reviews, and our team conducts unannounced supervisory visits in the home. Oversight is our responsibility, not yours.
In most cases yes, and we act as your concierge through the process. We verify benefits, organize documentation and prepare the care histories your policy requires so reimbursement is not delayed by paperwork. Families do not have to interpret their policy alone.
Your rate includes flexible support that scales with daily needs, covering both personal care and companion care rather than billing them separately. It also includes the oversight, supervision, scheduling, and 24/7 availability that surround the caregiver hours.
Usually not. Medicare covers short-term skilled home health care ordered by a doctor, meaning nursing or therapy visits after a hospital stay. It does not cover non-medical home care such as bathing, dressing, meal preparation, or companionship, which is what most families need day to day. Most of our clients pay privately or use long-term care insurance, and some qualify for veterans benefits.
There is one important exception. If your loved one has a dementia diagnosis and Traditional Medicare Parts A and B, Medicare’s GUIDE program covers up to 76 hours of in-home respite care at no cost to your family. Medicare Advantage plans are not eligible. We are glad to help you check which plan your loved one has.
Yes. We work directly with hospital and rehab discharge planners, home health agencies, therapists and pharmacies. We also provide families with a Safe Discharge Planning Guide that captures the care team, medications, warning signs, follow-up appointments and mobility needs in one place so nothing is lost between the facility and the front door.
You do not have to figure it out alone. We connect families to a trusted network of community referral partners, including hospital discharge planners, VA social workers, elder law attorneys and local senior resource specialists. When the right answer is not home care, we will tell you that too.
The questions above cover what we hear most often, but every family’s situation is different, and yours probably has a wrinkle we did not anticipate. Call us at (708) 578-5663 and talk it through with someone local. No script, no pressure, and no obligation to start care.
If your question is really about whether home care is the right next step at all, that is worth a conversation too. Sometimes the honest answer is home health, a facility, or waiting a few months, and we will tell you that.
