It was Tuesday afternoon, and I was preparing timecards for payroll Wednesday. Between the three girls in the office, I don’t always get a chance to answer the phone. I happened to pick up when Miss Mary called. Mary called to see If I could help her with home care for her parents in a town halfway between Fort Leonard Wood and Saint Louis. This is too far from our office in Springfield to manage, but I had a former caregiver in the Saint Louis area that I thought might be able to help with home care recommendations😊. I told Mary I would contact Faith and do some research myself and call her the next day.

I called the two agencies that Faith currently works for, and they also don’t service the area. So now it was my turn to be in the shopper’s seat.

I, of course look at google reviews myself, but often companies boost them with fake reviews (5 stars with no comments), or they have a bunch of employees that they have get on their page and review them. To each their own….

I called the first three agencies that were in a smaller town to see if we could get Mary some help. One of the agencies didn’t have enough staff to help- which I appreciated their honesty. Another agency said they needed to see if we would be a good fit for them and no one ever called back. The third agency, I left a message and still have not heard back.

I called Mary back the next day to talk about the agencies and what her options were. It seems in rural communities you must get creative on how to hire caregivers and ways to go about it. I offered Mary a plan and to call me if she thought she wanted to move forward, she needed to discuss all options with her siblings.

She didn’t call me but sent me a sweet card thanking me for helping her and working with her even though she wasn’t using our agency.

I appreciated the opportunity to speak with other agencies and learn how we can improve our process and better understand the frustrations all families go through.

I always want to offer a solution, even if it isn’t with our services. We have a huge network of different types of agencies that can help with services in the home; home health, hospice, palliative care, transportation, yard work, medical devices, specialty pharmacies, pharmacies that deliver- you name it-OUR GOAL IS TO HELP YOU. Even if it means you don’t use our agency.

Brooke Sutton, RN