80 EXECUTIVE COACHING THE CEO INTERVIEW www.ceotodaymagazine.com 80 Tell us about Premier Care – its story, mission and the key services it provides. Premier Care LLC is a fully bonded and insured, dedicated non-medical home care services provider licensed in Connecticut and New York. Premier Care was founded in October 2015 and has been successfully operating for the past 6 years. Our services are provided in homes, assisted leaving and senior facilities. Premier Care operates on the belief that with the right kind of assistance and support, individuals can remain safely in their own homes, where people feel the greatest sense of purpose and they are most comfortable and happy. We provide hourly, overnight and 24 –hour care, all of which is tailored to the needs of our clients. Our Mission Statement is to offer our clients personalised nonmedical support services in their homes, assisting the elderly, disabled and others needing assistance to maintain their quality of life. Our services support clients in a spirit of concern for their welfare, gaining satisfaction and a sense of pride for the value that we add to their lives. What were the challenges of providing in-home care during the pandemic? Home health and home care agencies provide essential medical and supportive services to elders and people with disabilities, enabling them to live at home. Home-based care is an important alternative to facility-based care, especially for infection prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the home care workforce is comprised of aides, who also are vulnerable to COVID-19. There are limited data on the COVID-19 experience of home care agencies, clients and aides. Employed aides who tested positive for COVID-19, were symptomatic, and/or quarantined. Most agencies (98.7%) experienced a decrease in demand for home visits, reflecting clients’ concern about infection, family members assuming care duties, and/ or aides being unavailable for work. Simultaneously, managers’ workloads increased to develop more extensive infection prevention policies, procedures and workforce training and sourcing scarce personal protective equipment (PPE). The pandemic imposed substantial new infection prevention responsibilities on home care agencies, clients, and aides. Specific home care needs for future pandemic planning include complete information on the infection status of clients; ready access to affordable PPE and disinfectants; and guidance, tools, and training tailored for the industry. Home health care should be incorporated more fully into comprehensive healthcare and public health pandemic planning. During the past 2 years most administrative work, appointments and interviews were done by Zoom calls or using online services. The world became digital during the pandemic, life felt different, isolated, but we adopted the new lifestyle very quickly and safely. However, despite all of the challenges, we were able to maintain a relatively healthy environment within our agency, taking all necessary measures to provide our clients and caregivers with safety and wellbeing. Home-based care is an important alternative to facility-based care, especially for infection prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. “ “
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk3Mzkz