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Quality of Life, Individualized Care & Unmatched Professionalism
Writer / Julie Yates
Photographer / Jason Graves
Heart and Soul Caring is a personal care service agency dedicated to providing home assistance for seniors as well as those facing medical challenges. Whether it’s for a few hours or round-the-clock, owner Lisa Ferguson and her staff, provide the same high level of help they would want their own families to receive. Since it began in 2014, the business has rapidly grown.
“Families don’t want their loved ones to go into a nursing home and individuals want to stay in their own homes,” Ferguson says. “The demand is so big that we have people on a waiting list. We have clients not only in Tipton, but also in Clinton, Hamilton, Howard and Madison Counties. All our caregivers are trained specifically for what each family and individual needs.”
Although many are seniors, the agency has clients of all ages who battle health problems such as cancer or dementia. While some receive services for a few hours a month, others see a caregiver daily and the continuum continues all the way to 24-hour care. When the skilled staff of Heart and Soul Caring perceive the time has come for hospice care, they inform the family. Communication continues between both agencies until the end of life.
“When we know an individual can qualify for hospice care, we let family know,” Ferguson says. “At that time, Medicare kicks in, a nurse is sent out, and scripts are written for equipment needed such as a hospital bed, air mattress and lifts. We help coordinate receiving shipments of protein drinks, briefs and pads. We do everything needed to make the client comfortable and if something pops up, we communicate right away with the hospice nurses.”
Heart and Home Caring offers practical services such as light housekeeping, but one of their biggest assets is the genuine companionship they provide. If needed they can get an individual’s morning started by bathing and dressing them. Later, meals can be prepared and staff even enjoys board or card games with clients. They provide various clothing and each Caregiver has access to equipment in order to provide specific needs for clients.
“We take care of people from the beginning of their journey to the end of life,” Ferguson adds. “It means so much to the family, so we are very particular about who we hire. Our employees go through national background checks and random drug screening through IU Health.
“Our employees care for each other as well,” Ferguson says. “It’s really like family. The staff are like sisters. They help and rally for each other. I could not run the business without the two ladies that help me in the office. Kayla Leyk is my administrative assistant and Emily McCollum is the scheduler. The minimum time a staff member is scheduled for is four hours. We maintain an on-call person seven days a week.”
Clients are varied but staff communicate with each other to make sure all needs are met. An individual needing care might be a single, middle-aged person with a terminal diagnosis who is living in the home of an elderly parent. Or, it could be a senior needing respite care while other family members leave town for a Disney vacation.
“We do anything the individual can no longer do such as laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping,” Ferguson says. “Likewise, we do tasks like bathing and dressing. We organize birthday parties if the family does not live close by. We are there to the end.
“It takes the whole Heart and Soul family to do what we do. The communication we have with each other is unparalleled. We are there for our clients and their families.”
Along with that, we are always looking to add to our Family of Caregivers, paying direct deposit weekly. As well as, HIPPA above APS and scheduling AP, so every staff member knows their schedule, weekly. H&SC also provides 24 hour assistance not only to our Clients but to our staff.
For more information, visit HeartandSoulcaring.com or call 765-860-2375.
