Should you suddenly find yourself in need of home care for an elder loved one, you’ll soon realize that it can be a daunting process. Where do you look? What questions do you ask? Who can you trust? What does it cost? And so on.

For home health care in the Denver, Colorado Metro Area, you can start by clicking on the following link to obtain the right questions to ask during your search:

Home Health Care | Denver, Colorado Metro Area

For related articles of interest, and more information on long term health care, click on the following link:

Long Term Health Care

To help determine your need for elder services, click on this link:

Need for Elder Services

Remember, you are welcome to call me anytime for a no-obligation, free consultation regarding in-home senior care for the Metro Denver Area.

Tom Barton

Owner, Barton Home Care

Direct: 303.660.5120

Caring for those with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia

Because of our aging population, some states have seen the need for a new system to help law enforcement agencies find elderly people who have wandered away. It is called the “Silver Alert” system. It is like the Amber Alert system which goes into action immediately when a child goes missing. If a senior citizen is reported missing and they are considered to have a serious health condition, such as Alzheimer’s or dementia, law enforcement will enter their information into the system, and all media will be immediately notified. Generally with senior citizens the first 48 hours are the most important, because they often have serious health issues.

Every state has an Amber Alert program, while only five states currently have a silver alert program. Three more states are presently working on adopting silver alert legislation. Oddly enough, Florida has no such law and has the highest population in the country of people over 65. In late February of 2008, an elderly woman signed herself out of the home for seniors where she lived in Key Largo, Florida. She planned to do some shopping. She had suffered from bouts of dementia in the past, but according to her daughter she had shown recent improvement and had made other similar short trips in the last month. Unfortunately, her body was found about a week later in Clearwater, Florida. Authorities and divers are looking for her car in the water nearby. This tragedy could possibly have been averted.

The Alzheimer’s Association affirms that six out of ten people with dementia will wander at least once. It is predicted that tracking the elderly will become a full-grown industry when 78 million baby boomers reach old age.

Gerri Tyber

Operations Manager, Barton Home Care

I don’t know about you, but my wife and I have grown weary of chain restaurants. We are tired of the predictability. It’s the Mom & Pop restaurants that we seek out and try to support. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s more and more about big business. Consolidation is a word often used. The good Mom & Pops are harder to find.

Virtually gone are the small hardware stores where you really got great service by friendly people. We all know what Wal Mart has done to the small family business.

Now you may say that it’s not all bad. Yes, you do get economies of scale from such companies and that usually does translate into saving money. And it’s reality so there’s not a lot of value in moaning about things you cannot change.

However, I have decided that there is something that I do have control over. That is my home care business.

Because of the changing demographics, more and more people are deciding to open a home health care business for seniors. They’re popping up like mushrooms on a rainy night. Some make it, but many do not. Currently in Colorado, home care is a Mom & Pop industry.

It’s just a matter of time before big business realizes the opportunity in the growing home care business. I can’t tell you when, but there will be “consolidation” in this industry. And whether or not that’s good is yet to be determined.

The challenge is that this is a people business. It’s all about one-on-one, personalized care for our vulnerable senior population. I have seen firsthand where “large” home care companies have dropped the ball on the vital care needed by an elder. Bigger is not always better — of that I am convinced.

We have decided that we will continue with our highly personalized, boutique approach to home care. We will perservere just like the Mom & Pop restaurants that truly provide value to their customers. I think more and more people are realizing that greatness can come in small packages.

Tom Barton

Owner, Barton Home Care