A pair of registered nurses hope to help aging baby boomers remain in their homes.
John and Jackie Van Langen recently opened Retire-At-Home Services Red Deer, which provides private home care services to seniors and others in need of support.
They collaborate with Alberta Health Services to give clients the level of at-home care that they or their families desire.
“Basically, we provide anything the client asks for,” said Jackie. The resulting “customized packages” can include everything from periodic companionship to cooking and cleaning to 24-hour care. Retire-At-Home Services Red Deer currently employs about a dozen health care aides, with the Van Langens managing clients’ care and visiting them on a regular basis.
Both have worked in home care as well as in the public health care system in the past. Jackie said they’re able to ensure clients receive the support from Alberta Health Services that they’re entitled to, and then supplement these as required.
“We want to make sure that they have all the services in place that they can get that are paid for. That’s the very first thing that we assess.”
She anticipates that the need for home care will grow steadily as baby boomers age.
“By the year 2025, the estimate is that 25 per cent of the population will be seniors requiring care. That’s one in four people; that’s huge.”
Providing those people with services that allow them to stay in their own homes should enhance their quality of life and reduce the strain on public health care facilities.
A franchise of a for-profit company based in Ottawa, Retire-At-Home Services Red Deer is responsible for Central Alberta.
“We cover basically the entire central zone, as Alberta Health Services would call it,” said Jackie. “It’s kind of just south of Edmonton and then north of the Olds-Sundre area and almost stretching right to the west and east borders.”
Additional information about Retire-At-Home Services can be found online at www.retireathome.com.
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com