Frequently Asked Questions - Heritage Care Alaska

In-home care provides seniors with one-on-one assistance in the comfort of their own home, which enables them to live independently. Heritage Care Alaska helps seniors maintain their quality of life, and the personal attention they receive vastly improves their safety, health and happiness. Home care includes assistance with activities of daily living such as meal preparation, bathing, transportation, laundry, medication reminders, light housekeeping and companionship.

Convincing older adults that they need help at home can be challenging. While they balk at the thought of losing independence, the opposite is actually true. By having a little help, they are much more likely to retain independence because they remain in control of decisions affecting their lifestyle. Once a crisis occurs (a fall, dehydration, a severe UTI), decisions about their care will be in the hands of others. With professional home care, families can enjoy peace of mind knowing their loved ones are in safe and caring hands.

Ask your parents to try home care, at least temporarily. Once they meet their caregiver and see how nice it is to have an extra set of hands, “temporary” almost always becomes permanent.
Come up with another name for “caregiver.” Some of our clients are more receptive to having a personal assistant or a housekeeper/chef.
Ask your parents to do this for you …agree to a meeting with our owner. Once your parents meet our owner and understand that our company shares their goal of remaining at home, it’s a less threatening proposition.

The services offered by home care companies like ours are not covered by the government. The government typically only covers a limited number of visits by a nurse, physical therapist, or occupational therapist after a hospital stay or for homebound clients who have high medical needs.

Here are the reasons:

With a private caregiver, you need to do the proper screening and background checks. After you hire that person, you then become a supervisor, and it isn’t always easy! We have a very rigorous system for screening and interviewing caregivers, so we hire only the highest quality caregivers. Plus we handle all ongoing caregiver issues so the family never has to deal with it.
When your private caregiver calls in sick or must head out of town to take care of a sick family member, you’re stuck finding a replacement or taking care of your loved one yourself. When you use a company, there are always back-up caregivers available.
Our caregivers are our employees, which means we pay all of their taxes and Worker’s Compensation. Quite a few caregivers are injured on the job, and the Worker’s Compensation Bureau can come to your loved one looking for compensation if your caregiver files a claim.
Our caregivers work under a care plan developed by an expert in the field, and they have a team of supervisors who keep a close eye on the level of care being provided. It takes a lot more coordination than people think. And to get the best care, you should involve professionals.

Most important, however, is the fact that when you choose Heritage Care Alaska, you are hiring an entire team of people who care. We’re there for the journey!

One of the most important features of Heritage Care Alaska is our personalized approach to home care. We believe quality home care goes beyond basic supervision or housekeeping. Our caregivers provide compassionate, dependable support that helps clients maintain their comfort, independence, and quality of life. Through ongoing care coordination and communication, we work to ensure that each client receives consistent, high-quality care tailored to their individual needs.

We also specialize in live-in care, providing families with a supportive alternative to assisted living or skilled nursing facilities when appropriate. Our commitment to consistency, personalized care, thorough caregiver screening, and comprehensive training helps us maintain high standards across the services we provide. At Heritage Care Alaska, our goal is to give seniors and their families dependable care they can feel confident in, while helping clients live safe, meaningful, and fulfilling lives at home.

One of the reasons we are so successful is our ability to match clients and caregivers. After our initial meeting and assessment with you or your loved one, our Care Manager will have an excellent idea of the level of care needed and the type of personality that would be a good fit. At that point, our care team brainstorms on which of our employees would be a good fit. Nearly 100% of the time, we are right on target with our “matchmaking” skills. However, anytime during the relationship that the client wants to change caregivers — for any reason — we willingly do so.

No. While we have an agreement that spells out expectations, we do not require a long-term commitment to our services. We want you to use us only if you are 100% satisfied. As a matter of fact, we encourage older adults who are undecided about the value of home care to simply give us a try, even if it’s only for a month.

Our care goes wherever seniors need it. Our caregivers can even provide one-to-one services for seniors during hospital stays or after admission to an assisted living facility, ensuring that seniors maintain the high level of personal care and companionship they deserve. Our caregivers can even accompany seniors on vacation!

Caregivers stay in the home only for the duration of their assigned shift. Caregivers must maintain a separate residence and are not allowed to use the personal property of the senior without permission from the senior. They may not have visitors or invite family to the home while they are working.