Serenity Senior Care FAQ’s
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Q.1 What are "private duty" or "in-home care services?
Home care provides seniors with one-on-one assistance in the comfort of their own home. This enables them to live at home independently, helping seniors maintain their quality of life. The personal attention they receive vastly improves their safety, health and happiness. Get started now with a free assessment!
Q.2 How does Serenity Senior Care screen and hire caregivers?
Serenity Senior Care is selective about the employees we hire--very selective. Typically, we review applications and conduct interviews with about 25 caregivers for every one that makes the grade. In addition to the face to face interview process, each potential caregiver must take and pass an on-line, standardized, caregiver aptitude test. References are requested and carefully checked.
If an applicant successfully completes the first stage of the process, we then submit the candidate's name and other identifying information to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for a complete criminal background check. Our hiring standards exceed those required by law. We also check the applicant's driving record and verify eligibility for employment under all applicable laws.
If an applicant passes through to the next stage of the examination process, the candidate will then be sent for an extensive "9 Panel" pre-employment drug screen, administered through the Occupational Medicine group at the Wichita Clinic. The term "9 Panel" refers to the 9 types of substances for which we test: marijuana, cocaine, PCP, opiates, methamphetamine, methadone, amphetamines, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines. A confirmed positive test for any of these substances would result in termination of our pre-employment process.
Once ALL pre-employment testing and procedures have been followed, Serenity Senior Care caregivers are then TB tested, trained, bonded, insured and covered by workers compensation insurance.
Q.3 Why is Home Care Assistance good for seniors?
Our experienced caregivers offer seniors added safety, companionship and emotional support. Serenity caregivers can provide assistance with all of the activities of daily living. Proper nutrition, taking the correct medication in the right doses and at the right times....simple things such as these can make a tremendous difference in the ability of a senior to continue to live independently in his or her own home. Serenity caregivers are highly skilled and specially trained in emotional support, nutritional guidance, fall prevention---even brain-sharpening activities. We do our best to match each client with a caregiver for the long term, ensuring care consistency.
Q.4 Why is Serenity Senior Care good for seniors' family members?
Serenity Senior Care provides you with peace of mind. You can feel good knowing that your parent or family member is being cared for by the best, hand-picked caregivers available.
If your caregiver ever runs late or becomes ill or is unable to keep the scheduled visit, our pool of qualified employees means that we can provide a qualified substitute caregiver. Serenity reduces stress and worry for the whole family. Enjoy quality time with your loved one and leave the work to us. Isn't that what Serenity is all about?
Q.5 Do I have the option to change caregivers?
YES. Serenity strives to maintain excellent customer satisfaction. Our goal is to provide you with a well matched caregiver from the outset. Should you wish to change caregivers, we encourage you to contact our office right away.
Q.6 What if I need to make changes to my service?
At Serenity Senior Care we understand that client's needs change over time. Our service offerings are flexible, and we can adjust care schedules on short notice. We require cancellation/change notification within 24 hours of a scheduled visit.
Q.7 How quickly can Serenity Senior Care provide service?
Serenity Senior Care can generally provide service within 48 hours. If immediate care is desired please contact our office and we will make every effort to accommodate your request.
Q.8 What cities and towns does Serenity Senior Care serve?
Serenity Senior Care serves a wide variety of communities in and around the Wichita area. For a detailed list of areas served please click here.
Q.9 Will Medicare pay for my home care?
Medicare will cover certain services, provided by Medicare-certified providers (Serenity Home Health, a sister company, is a Medicare-certified Home Health Agency), as long as these criteria are met throughout your course of care:
-The service must be medically reasonable and necessary
-The Medicare recipient must be homebound, as defined by Medicare
-The care must be prescribed under physician orders
-Your care must require skilled services (SN, PT, ST) at the start of care
-The care must be intermittent or part-time
Medicare will consider coverage for these kinds of service visits:
-Skilled nursing care
-Physical Therapy services
-Occupational Therapy services
-Speech Therapy services
-Home Health Aide services
-Medical Social Service
Q.10 Who else pays for home care?
Home health care can be paid for in a variety of ways and may be paid by a combination of payers:
-Medicare
-Medical Assistance
-Governmental/Community Funding
-Most Health Care Insurance
-Liability or other insurance-paid coverage
-Workers' Compensation
-Long-term Care Insurance
-Self/Private Pay
-Veterans Administration Benefits and Triwest
-Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO)
-Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
Q.11 Why should I use Serenity Senior Care rather than someone out of the newspaper?
Safety, security, peace of mind. If you reviewed the information above regarding our rigorous screening and hiring process, you already understand why services provided by Serenity Senior Care should be your choice for elderly companionship and home care. All Serenity caregivers are KBI criminal background-checked, drug screened, trained, bonded and insured. Serenity caregivers are actual W-2 employees---you don't need to worry about figuring out and paying taxes on them. In addition, our pool of hand-selected employees ensures that the most compatible and reliable caregiver will be there for your family member or friend. In the event that a caregiver must miss an assignment, Serenity will have another excellent caregiver there to cover the assignment.
Q.12 How is the privacy of my personal information maintained?
In the event that any private or protected health information is divulged to Serenity Home Health, LLC or Serenity Senior Care, LLC, your information will never be sold to any third party for any purpose under circumstances. We operate on a strict "need to know" basis. Only office personnel and caregivers who are directly involved in your services will have access to information related to your care.
We adhere to all applicable federal and state guidelines related to privacy of personal and healthcare information. This starts from day one with the formal services agreement we execute prior to the delivery of homecare services. The written service agreement stipulates the exact restrictions on the use of your information, which clarifies that even unauthorized family members will not be given access to information without the client's or legally authorized representative's formal consent.
Q.13 Are you a franchise?
No! We are a locally owned and operated company caring for our friends and neighbors in Wichita and South-central Kansas.
Q.14 What kind of clients do you serve?
Most of our clients are older adults who want to remain healthy, active and independent in their homes as long as possible. If your loved one has a serious illness that requires a combination of skilled nursing care or therapy through home health, we have an experienced team of professionals that can help. If some assistance with the activities of daily living or companion care is all that is needed, we have the right caregivers to meet those needs as well. Give us a call and let us learn more about your situation. We can help.