Company helps seniors find comfort at home

Families rest easier with services offered by Living Innovations

By Karen Dandurant
Herald Sunday, December 3, 2006

Owning a home is part of the American dream, but for some senior citizens that dream can be snatched away as they become less able to care for themselves and their home.

That's where Living Innovations comes in. The 10-year-old, Greenland-based business offers an array of services to meet the individual needs of elderly people so they can stay home. It has offices in New Hampshire and in Saco and Lewiston, Maine.

The mission statement of Living Innovations indicates a belief that all people can have lives of quality and dignity at home and in the community, including those who have disabilities or long-term illnesses.

Company President Neal Ouellett said there are always needs the state cannot provide.

"I came from working in service for people with disabilities," Ouellett said. "New Hampshire was the first state in the country to eliminate state care for people with disabilities and mental health issues. As for the elderly, 85 percent assisted by the state are in nursing homes."

"(More than) 20 percent of seniors leave for institutions because of medicine management, something easily handled," said community liaison Perry Blass. "They leave food on the burner. It's so simple to have someone bring them food."

Living Innovations offers services such as delivering meals and helping provide transportation. It also does much more.

"Our Home Share program offers a unique option," Blass said. "Say there's a person in (his/her) 40s with advanced multiple sclerosis, Blass said. "They do not want to be in a home with people in their 80s. They want to be home."

The Home Share program, started in 1981, brings in a live-in person to be a companion and possibly, a caregiver.

"It might be a licensed nurse looking to scale down or it could be a family member," Ouellett said.

Blass said Living Innovations currently manages 170 homes.

"We have home providers who have been with the same people for six to nine years," he said. "Often, the senior is integrated into the family, even accompanying (his/her) caregiver and family on trips."

Elizabeth, a resident of Maine, uses Living Innovations to provide services for her mother. To protect her mother's privacy, she preferred to use only her first name, but had nothing but praise for Living Innovations.

"I have used a number of agencies over the past several years and find this to be the best fit for her. They are very professional, reliable and reachable," she said. "I don't know what the laws are in New Hampshire, but in Maine there are no standards surrounding personal home care, so the professionalism of Living Innovations is very important to me. Otherwise, you are at the mercy of an agency's representation."

Elizabeth purchases personal care services for her mother, including companionship and assistance with daily living needs such as bathing, dressing and eating.

"The process they use to screen employees is very effective to make sure they have the appropriate person to go in," she said. "Think in terms of child care. You need to have an adult you can trust because the (seniors) may not be able to fend for themselves. They do ongoing training in health care and the employees are required to participate."

Elizabeth said another feature in which Living Innovations excels is finding coverage quickly when a caregiver leaves or calls in sick. That saves her from missing time at her job.

"Also, they are pleasant and they care about the patient," she said. "They want it to be a good fit for the long term and understand how important that is. The culture has changed. People want point-of-care services where they are and Living Innovations allows that."

Ouellett said there is a kinship model designed specifically to allow a family member to be the person sharing the home.

"The family member might want to stay, but they have to work," Ouellett said. "We can find ways, such as through insurance or reverse mortgages, to allow us to pay a family member to stay home and care for the senior."

Living Innovations is working locally with Beechstone Apartments to streamline services to the seniors living there.

"It will allow us to be much more flexible in services to those residents," Ouellett said.

Working with ADT home security services, Living Innovations offers Quiet Care, a home-monitoring system with a few twists.

"For frail elders who spend a lot of time alone, the device uses motion sensors that count clicks as the person passes and downloads it to a server." Blass said. "Five sensors are located in the bedroom, bathroom, refrigerator, where medicine is kept and outside the bathroom, and many homes can be monitored from one console."

Blass said the information lets family members know if the senior stops eating, isn't taking medicine and if he or she is too long in the bathroom.

"Most falls for the elderly happen in the bathroom," Blass said. "If mom is not out in 45 minutes, ADT starts calling people on her list."

If offers a medicine reader, an automated pill box that sets off alarms when it's time for a person to take medicine.

Blass said the organization tries to work with the adult children before the situation reaches crisis mode.

"Rather than starting when they're ready to leave the hospital, if we catch the senior sooner, maybe the crisis didn't need to happen at all," Blass said.