Typical Client Situations

The following client stories are perhaps the best way to illustrate how Living Innovations works with families and their loved ones to meet their needs.

Keeping the family together

Living Innovations provided support for an elderly gentleman and his blind mother for three years. Our services included menu planning, shopping and preparation of all meals, assistance with bathing and dressing, housekeeping, shopping, transportation, community outings, medication reminders, laundry, reading aloud and overnight companionship. When Randall passed away, his trust and will stipulated that his wife Bonnie and son Tom would receive whatever support they required to remain at home as long as possible. Living Innovations provided assistance until Bonnie's Alzheimer's disease reached a very advanced stage. We helped Tom (who has a disability) transition to a host family.

Sweet independence

Sarah was a well-educated, charming woman who lived alone at her lake house following the death of her husband a few years earlier. She was somewhat frail with a heart condition, failing eyesight and increasing memory loss. Living Innovations received the call from her daughter, a business owner from another state. Sarah had chosen our phone number from the Yellow Pages, hoping we would support her desire to stay at home. The daughter asked us to help her convince her mother that she needed to move to a nursing home for her own safety. Her concerns included: "Mom might not eat properly, she might forget her medications, she could fall in the shower and she would be lonely."

The meeting began with the daughter saying, "Mother needs to be in a nursing home," and Sarah replying, "Over my dead body." By the end of the second meeting, there was an agreement that Living Innovations would provide 15 hours of support each week, make daily calls for reminders about eating and taking medication, go shopping weekly with Sarah and spend an afternoon putting up a number of meals for the week. Grab bars were installed in the bathroom, a second railing was installed on the stairway and an electronic alert system was purchased. This support was provided successfully for almost two happy years. Sarah did use the medi-alert to call for help one afternoon, when she had a small stroke. We increased our staffing hours after that, and Sarah died a short time later of a stroke -- without ever having to move to a nursing home.

A light touch for a tough old soldier

Chet is a retired soldier with a Marine's rough demeanor and vocabulary. He was the only person who did not believe that he needed help to remain in his small apartment. Living Innovations tried out several staff members until we found one who could handle his rough style. He needed a very persuasive person to convince him that his place needed picking up, that he should eat a decent diet, and that it wouldn’t kill him to leave the four letter words out of every sentence. Living Innovations succeeded with Chet where many other agencies had failed, and he and his caregiver have a respectful and mutually rewarding relationship.

Passing on with dignity

Charlie is a 94 year old man who resided in a nursing home but whose last wish was to die in his own home. In collaboration with his family, an independent case manager and another home health agency, Living Innovations is providing 24 hour care and medical support. Our staff provides round the clock companionship to keep Charlie company -- reading, talking and watching TV with him, and comforting him when he wakes up at night. We do light housekeeping, prepare meals and assist Charlie on the toilet and in the shower.

Just married

Martin and Evelyn are newly married senior citizens. Because Evelyn's health is failing and Martin isn't the homemaker type, he contracted with Living Innovations to assist with the domestic duties his wife is unable to do -- mostly cleaning and cooking -- twice a week for a half day.