At Home Nursing Care named Best In Home care for 7th year in a row
At Home Nursing Care held a taco party to celebrate being named best in home care for the 7th year in a row by the Del Mar Times. Its an annual contest called Best in North Coast and features categories such as best dentist, restaurant, doctor and in home care provider.
The award, announced in September, seemed like a great reason for the homecare and home health agency to invite staff, clients and community partners to enjoy cake and tacos.
The party, held at 067 Eatery in Rancho Santa Fe, had a great turn out including community partners from hospice companies, senior centers, service organizations, community members, the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce, and more.
At Home Nursing Care first one best in home care in 2017, after clients and caregivers voted to name the agency number one. Staying on top as the best in home care company requires the effort of everyone from top managers to new hires. The agency, which began in 2010 after the owner’s experience hiring in home care for her own mother, has served more than 500 families in San Diego County and the west side, South Bay areas of Los Angeles since opening.
Owner Lauren Reynolds credits the multiple years of winning first place to working with community partners to improve care, taking a leadership role in advocacy groups such as CAHSAH, and partnering with staff to create the best working conditions possible. The best in home care agency also strides to provide top quality customer service to seniors and others who need in home care.
Happier employees equal happier clients, and so the agency focusses its efforts on helping direct care staff to learn and grow in their careers. This is a foundational value for Reynolds, who before opening At Home Nursing Care worked for 17 years as an anchor/reporter, 15 of those years at ABC 10 News. She first learned about in home care while her 58 year old mother battled terminal breast cancer, and Reynolds learned to view the caregivers and nurses who helped her mother as incredibly deserving of every opportunity for thanks.
For example, just this past month, employees of At Home Nursing Care earned $68,000 in bonuses on Visa Gift Cards just for completing 10 hours of training. The payments were based on a grant program supported by the State of California, and the home health agency spent $4,000 to purchase the software to enable their employees to earn the extra money.
The agency looks for grant opportunities because most seniors pay for in home care privately, meaning they pay out of pocket. Shift caregiving is not covered by Medicare and only a portion of seniors purchased long term care insurance, so most have to use life savings to cover the daily care that improves their quality of life at home. That’s why the agency must balance employee salaries with what the public can afford to pay, and so finding grant opportunities to bring in more pay for employees is often the best option.
The best in home care agency plans to continue to monitor grant opportunities for staff, along with their own scholarship program which allows employees to apply for reimbursement for tuition and exam costs to become a Certified Nursing Assistant or Home Health Aide. The scholarship program is run through the At Home Nursing Care Foundation, Inc. and its available to non-employees as well.
The agency has also donated or raised more than $88,000 for causes in the local community, including helping combat injured veterans through Operation Game On, those with cerebral palsy through the Beach and Country Guild, and supporting Make a Wish, the Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Association, among other causes.
At Home Nursing Care would like to thank the wonderful partners who joined At Home Nursing Care for the best in home care party including the Rancho Santa Fe Senior Center, Harmony Home Medical, Hospice of the North Coast, Hospice of the South Coast, Archer Health Inc., several local physicians, nurses and caregivers. We were especially proud to have a lovely client stop by with her caregiver.
