It's no secret, most of us would like to stay in our own home as we age. Yet, sometimes our loved ones just need a little extra help to remain comfortable at home. That's where Always Best Care can help....we are dedicated to exceeding expectations....always
They say that your golden years are the best years of your life. For most older Americans, that's how it should be - a time to relax, reflect, and live life in a familiar place. After all, senior citizens in the U.S. have worked tirelessly to build a better economy, serve their communities, and raise families.
Unfortunately, many older Americans aren't able to rely on their adult children for help. The reality in today's world is that family members do not have the skills or time to dedicate to caring for their parents. That's where Always Best Care Senior Services comes in.
Our in-home care services are for people who prefer to stay at home as they grow older but need ongoing care that family or friends cannot provide. More and more older adults prefer to live far away from long-term, institutionalized facilities and closer to the place where they feel most comfortable - their home. Home care in Colfax, IA is a safe, effective way to give your loved ones the care they need when they need it the most.
Home Care Services
Service AreasSince 1996, Always Best Care has provided non-medical in-home care for seniors to help them maintain a healthy lifestyle as they get older. We are proud to have helped more than 25,000 seniors maintain higher levels of dignity and respect. We focus on providing seniors with the highest level of in-home care available so that they may live happily and independently.
Unlike some senior care companies, we genuinely want to be included in our clients' lives. We believe that personalized care is always the better option over a "one size fits all" approach. To make sure our senior clients receive the best care possible, we pair them with compassionate caregivers who understand their unique needs. That way, they may provide care accordingly without compromising their wellbeing.
The Always Best Care difference lies in life's little moments - where compassionate care and trustworthy experience come together to help seniors live a fruitful, healthy life. Whether you are an aging adult that can't quite keep up with life's daily tasks or the child of a senior who needs regular in-home services, Always Best Care is here to help.
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“Always best care provided excellent caregivers to us. I am really happy with the care and support they provided to my father. Highly recommended to all!”
“On behalf of my family, I would like to thank Always Best care for all the support your caregivers have provided to my mother. She was very pleased with the care she received. I confidently recommend Always Best Care to all.”
“Always Best Care in Cedar Valley IA realy helps me a lot. They have Reliable Caregivers who helped me to take care of my loved one for several years. They are highly trained and managed well the daily routines and activities like bathing and dressing. Caregivers of always best care is dependable and passionate to their work. I am satisfied and so glad that I chose their service. Highly recommend whoever needs their caregiving service!”
Home is where the heart is. While that saying can sound a tad cliche, it is especially true for many seniors living in America. When given a choice, older adults most often prefer to grow older at home. An AARP study found that three out of four adults over the age of 50 want to stay in their homes and communities as they age.
When you begin to think about why, it makes sense. Home offers a sense of security, comfort, and familiarity.
The truth is, as we age, we begin to rely on others for help. When a family is too busy or lives too far away to fulfill this role, in-home senior care is often the best solution. Home care services allow seniors to enjoy personal independence while also receiving trustworthy assistance from a trained caregiver.
At Always Best Care, we offer a comprehensive range of home care services to help seniors stay healthy while they get the help they need to remain independent. As your senior loved one gets older, giving them the gift of senior care is one of the best ways to show your love, even if you live far away.
To give our senior clients the best care possible, we offer a full spectrum of in-home care services:
If your senior loved one has specific care needs, our personal care services are a great choice to consider. Personal care includes the standard caregiving duties associated with companion care and includes help with tasks such as dressing and grooming. Personal care can also help individuals with chronic conditions like diabetes.
Common personal care services include assistance with:
Sometimes, seniors need helpful reminders to maintain a high quality of life at home. If you or your senior has trouble with everyday tasks like cooking, our home helper services will be very beneficial.
Common home helper care services include assistance with:
Using this kind of care is a fantastic way to make life easier for you or your senior loved one. At Always Best Care, our talented caregivers often fill the role of a companion for seniors.
Common companionship services include:
According to AARP, more than 53 million adults living in the U.S. provide care to someone over 50 years old. Unfortunately, these caregivers experience stress, exhaustion, and even depression. Our respite care services help family caregivers address urgent obligations, spend time with their children, and enjoy nearby activities. Perhaps more importantly, respite care gives family members time to recharge and regroup. Taking personal time to de-stress reduces the risk of caregiver burnout. Doing so is great for both you and your loved one.
At the end of the day, our goal is to become a valuable part of your senior's daily routine. That way, we may help give them the highest quality of life possible. We know that staying at home is important for your loved one, and we are here to help make sure that is possible.
If you have been on the fence about non-medical home care, there has never been a better time than now to give your senior the care, assistance, and companionship they deserve.
Always Best Care in-home services are for older adults who prefer to stay at home but need ongoing care that friends and family cannot provide. In-home care is a safe, effective way for seniors to age gracefully in a familiar place and live independent, non-institutionalized lives. The benefits of non-medical home care are numerous. Here are just a few reasons to consider senior care services from Always Best Care:
According to AARP, 9 out of 10 seniors prefer to age in place within the comfort of their own home. With in-home care, seniors have a way to stay at home, receive the care they need, and maintain a sense of independence, improving overall wellness.
If you or a member of your family have assumed the role of caregiver for your senior loved one, you know how stressful the job can be. Between caregiver burnout and constant worry, being a family caregiver is hard. In-home care relieves your burden and gives you peace of mind knowing that your older family member is in expert hands.
Unlike nursing homes, where the staff and residents rotate frequently, seniors can foster new friendships and build bonds with their caregiver. Seniors who socialize on a regular basis are often happier, which fosters positivity and leads to increased wellbeing.
No two seniors need the same kind of in-home care assistance. That is why each of our Care Plans is tailored to meet our client's individual needs. We offer plans that cover everything from light housekeeping to more involved duties like transportation to doctor's appointments. Our Care Coordinators will work closely with you to develop a personalized plan to ensure your senior's needs are exceeded.
Always Best Care offers a full array of care options for patients at all levels of health. With our trusted elderly care services, your loved one will receive the level of care necessary for them to enjoy the highest possible quality of life.
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While it's true that some seniors have complicated medical needs that prevent them from staying at home, aging in place is often the best arrangement for seniors and their families. With a trusted caregiver, seniors have the opportunity to live with a sense of dignity and do so as they see fit - something that is unavailable to many older people today.
In-home care makes it possible for millions of seniors to age in place every year. Rather than moving to a strange nursing home, seniors have the chance to stay at home where they feel the happiest and most comfortable.
How much does a senior's home truly mean to them?
A study published by the American Society on Aging found that more than half of seniors say their home's emotional value means more than how much their home is worth in monetary value. It stands to reason, then, that a senior's home is where they want to grow old.
With the help of elderly care in Colfax, IA, seniors don't have to age in a sterilized care facility. Instead, they can age gracefully in the place they want to be most: their home. In contrast, seniors who move to a long-term care facility must adapt to new environments, new people, and new systems that the facility implements. At this stage in life, this kind of drastic change can be more harmful than helpful.
Institutional care facilities like nursing homes often put large groups of people together to live in one location. On any given day, dozens of staff members and caregivers run in and out of these facilities. Being around so many new people in a relatively small living environment can be dangerous for a seniors' health and wellbeing. When you consider that thousands of seniors passed away in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, opting for in-home care is often a safer, healthier choice for seniors.
Aging in place has been shown to improve seniors' quality of life, which helps boost physical health and also helps insulate them from viral and bacterial risks found in elderly living facilities.
For many seniors, the ability to live independently with assistance from a caregiver is a priceless option. With in-home care, seniors experience a higher level of independence and freedom - much more so than in other settings like a nursing home. When a senior has the chance to age in place, they get to live life on their own terms, inside the house that they helped make into a home. More independence means more control over their personal lives, too, which leads to increased levels of fulfillment, happiness, and personal gratification. Over time, these positive feelings can manifest into a healthier, longer life.
More independence, a healthier life, and increased comfort are only a few benefits of aging in place. You have to take into consideration the role of cost and convenience. Simply put, it's usually easier and more affordable to help seniors age in place than it is to move them into an institutional care facility. According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, seniors who age in the comfort of their homes can save thousands of dollars per month.
In-home care services from Always Best Care, for instance, are often less expensive than long-term solutions, which can cost upwards of six figures per year. To make matters worse, many residential care facilities are reluctant to accept long-term care insurance and other types of payment assistance.
With Always Best Care's home care services, seniors and their families have a greater level of control over their care plans. In-home care gives seniors the chance to form a bond with a trusted caregiver and also receive unmatched care that is catered to their needs. In long-term care facilities, seniors and their loved ones have much less control over their care plan and have less of a say in who provides their care.
In-home care is a valuable resource that empowers seniors to age in place on their own terms. However, a big concern for many families and their loved ones is how much in-home care costs. If you're worried that in-home care is too expensive, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that it is one of the most affordable senior care arrangements available.
Typically, hiring an Always Best Care in-home caregiver for a few hours a week is more affordable than sending your loved one to a long-term care facility. This is true even for seniors with more complex care needs.
At Always Best Care, we will work closely with you and your family to develop a Care Plan that not only meets your care needs, but your budget requirements, too. Once we discover the level of care that you or your senior need, we develop an in-home care plan that you can afford.
In addition to our flexible care options, families should also consider the following resources to help offset potential home care costs:
When you or your senior loved one needs assistance managing daily tasks at home, finding a qualified caregiver can be challenging. It takes a special kind of person to provide reliable care for your senior loved one. However, a caregiver's role involves more than meal preparation and medication reminders. Many seniors rely on their caregivers for companionship, too.
Our companion care services give seniors the chance to socialize in a safe environment and engage in activities at home. These important efforts boost morale and provide much-needed relief from repetitive daily routines. A one-on-one, engaging conversation can sharpen seniors' minds and give them something in which to be excited.
At Always Best Care, we only hire care providers that we would trust to care for our own loved ones. Our senior caregivers in Colfax, IA understand how important it is to listen and communicate with their seniors. A seemingly small interaction, like a short hug goodbye, can make a major difference in a senior's day. Instead of battling against feelings of isolation, seniors begin to look forward to seeing their caregiver each week.
Understanding the nuances of senior care is just one of the reasons why our care providers are so great at their job.
Unlike some senior care companies, our caregivers must undergo extensive training before they work for Always Best Care. In addition, our caregivers receive ongoing training throughout the year. This training ensures that their standard of care matches up to the high standards we've come to expect. During this training, they will brush up on their communication skills, safety awareness, and symptom spotting. That way, your loved one receives the highest level of non-medical home care from day one.
While it's true that many seniors prefer to age at home, sometimes in-home care isn't the best fit. For those seniors and their families, choosing an assisted living facility makes more sense. Unfortunately, finding the optimal care facility is easier said than done in today's day and age. That's when Always Best Care's assisted living referral services begin to make a lot of sense.
Assisted living is a form of housing intended for seniors who require varying degrees of medical and personal attention. Accommodations may include single rooms, apartments, or shared living arrangements. Assisted living communities are typically designed to resemble a home-like environment and are physically constructed to encourage the independence of residents.
At assisted living communities, seniors receive help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and eating. They may also benefit from coordination of services with outside healthcare providers, and monitoring of resident activities to ensure their health, safety, and well-being. Caregivers who work at assisted living communities can also provide medication administration and personal care services for older adults.
Other services offered within assisted living communities can include some or all of the following:
At Always Best Care, our representatives can match your senior's emotional, physical, and financial needs with viable assisted living communities nearby. Results are based on comparative data, so you can select the best choice for you or your loved one.
Always Best Care works closely with local senior living communities to gain valuable knowledge that we then use to help seniors and their loved ones make informed decisions. This information can include basic care and rent, resident availability, and services provided. Because Always Best Care is compensated by these communities, we provide senior living referral services at no extra cost to you.
For many seniors, moving into a senior living community revolves around how and when they want to make a transition to more involved care. Some seniors are more proactive about transitioning to independent living. Others choose to remain home until their care needs or other requirements are satisfied. Remember - our staff is here to help. Contact our office today to learn more about assisted living communities and how we can find a facility that exceeds your expectations.
The first step in getting quality in-home care starts with a personal consultation with an experienced Always Best Care Care Coordinator. This initial consultation is crucial for our team to learn more about you or your elderly loved one to discover the level of care required. Topics of this consultation typically include:
A discussion of your needs and how our trained caregivers can offer assistance in the most effective way
A draft of your care plan, which includes highly detailed notes and a framework for the care that you or your senior will receive
Discuss payment options and help coordinate billing with your insurance provider
Our caregivers are trained to spot changes that clients exhibit, like mental and physical decline. As your trusted senior care company, we will constantly assess and update your Care Plan to meet any new emotional, intellectual, physical, and emotional needs.
If you have never considered in-home care before, we understand that you and your family may have concerns about your Care Plan and its Care Coordinator. To help give you peace of mind, know that every team member and caregiver must undergo comprehensive training before being assigned to a Care Plan.
At the end of the day, we only hire the best of the best at Always Best Care. Whether you need home care in Colfax, IA 24-hours a day or only need a respite for a couple of hours, we are here to serve you.
When you're ready, we encourage you to contact your local Always Best Care representative to set up a Care Consultation. Our Care Coordinators would be happy to meet with you in person to get to know you better, discuss your needs, and help put together a personalized Care Plan specific to your needs.
Click here for important updates to our privacy policy.BUSINESSDes Moines RegisterA state grant program has awarded...
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Des Moines Register
A state grant program has awarded $14 million to a total of 13 different recipients to create 874 new child care slots around the state.
The grants were announced Monday by Gov. Kim Reynolds and ranged from as much as $2.1 million in Dubuque to $79,200 in New Albin.
The Child Care Business Incentive Grant provides financial support for projects by employers that require new infrastructure for child care centers in their communities, either on site or in partnership with other local providers, according to a news release from Iowa Workforce Development.
“Our strategy for retaining the best workers must include creative ways to meet their childcare needs,” Reynolds said in the news release. “Today’s awards represent Iowa’s commitment to that strategy, and I’m excited to see what these organizations do to provide solutions for their individual communities.”Child care has long been recognized as a significant need in Iowa. Data from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services show that 75% of families with children under the age of 6 have all parents working.
While the creation of more than 800 slots is a welcome development, Iowa still has a significant deficit in available day care. HHS statistics it has a shortage of nearly 48,000 slots beyond the 115,535 available — a more than 40% gap.
The HHS data also shows that only four of Iowa’s 99 counties — Winnebago, Lyon, Harrison and Montgomery — have a surplus of available day care.
Projects that were prioritized include those that are located in high-demand areas for child care, those planning to increase capacity with additional slots across multiple age groups, or those building on-site child care centers, according to the news release.
One of the recipients in the recent round of grants was the Colfax Economic Development Corp., which will receive over $1.7 million to build a new day care on the local elementary school campus and provide care for more than 100 children from there and surrounding counties.
Jasper County, where Colfax is located, has demand for more than 1,800 daycare slots but only 646 available, according to HHS data.
Lack of affordable and accessible child care has an estimated $1.1 billion impact on Iowa’s economy through lost earnings and tax revenue, according to a 2023 Kids Count Report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Data from IWD in 2023 indicated that an estimated 53,000 women had left the workforce since 2020, in large part because of the lack of child care options.
“This childcare grant is an outstanding example of how strong partnerships between employers and communities lead to innovative ideas to solving local childcare issues,” Beth Townsend, executive director of Iowa Workforce Development, said in the news release. “We hope these awards inspire other employers to seek out new collaborations in their community as well as to think outside the box in developing workable childcare solutions for their employees.”
In an interview with the Register, Joe Murphy, president of the Iowa Business Council, an organization representing Iowa’s largest employers, said expanding child care options is a critical issue among his members, who already are experiencing a tight workforce supply.
“We continue to see that as a as a need, particularly in rural parts of the state. We have done a really great job in this state under the governor’s leadership on creating a lot of slots based on brick and mortar," Murphy said. "We invested in the infrastructure. Now we need to really focus on the workforce side of the child care equation.”
He said it is important to get more people into child care work so that capacity can be expanded and the proper caregivers-to-children ratios can be maintained.
IWD had 308 openings listed under the child care category on Monday.
Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected].
Miss Peggy Bennett had a surprise for her first-grade class in 1993.She passed out pencils with colorful designs as Christmas gifts to her students in Albert Lea, Minnesota. The gesture turned a holiday present into a lifelong passion of collecting pencils for her former student Aaron Bartholmey."It's one of those things that kind of kept growing and growing,&q...
Miss Peggy Bennett had a surprise for her first-grade class in 1993.
She passed out pencils with colorful designs as Christmas gifts to her students in Albert Lea, Minnesota. The gesture turned a holiday present into a lifelong passion of collecting pencils for her former student Aaron Bartholmey.
"It's one of those things that kind of kept growing and growing," Bartholmey, now 37, told the Register.
This fall, the Colfax man claimed the Guinness World Records title for largest collection of pencils.
Throughout his childhood, Bartholmey visited flea markets and antique shows with his grandfather. From there, he started searching for pencils — something cheap and small to collect — at the markets while his grandpa perused for items.
Bartholmey continued his collection and began connecting with others who did the same, including members of the American Pencil Collectors Society. Eventually, his stock grew to more than 70,000 pencils.
He later taught in southwest Iowa before teaching for 10 years in central Iowa.
The Wartburg College graduate stores his pencils in metal card catalog cabinets in his garage and drawers, containers and cigar boxes in his basement.
"I love the ones that are the most unique and unusual," Bartholmey said, noting that it's hard to pick a favorite when you have 70,000 of something.
His collection includes pencils from presidential campaigns that span back to the 1920s, several from World War eras when "extreme patriotism" was at its peak, he said, and one from 1915 that advertised for converting gravel roads.
On July 1, a mid-summer Saturday, dozens poured into the Colfax Historical Society about 25 minutes outside of downtown Des Moines. The flock of folks were present to watch a count, which began at 8 a.m., for the could-be largest collection of pencils.
Members of the American Pencil Collectors Society were present to count the collection, as well as non-interested parties who counted every last one, per Guinness World Records rules.
The two non-interested counters, with no ties to pencils or Bartholmey, counted throughout the day. One counter would go high on one box and the other would count lower on another box. They totaled the lowest number available.
"I was fine with that because I knew that would still mean that I would break the previous record," Bartholmey said.
The final count totaled 69,255 pencils. Then, the wait began. Bartholomy had to pause for 12 weeks to find out if he would be certified as the newest Guinness World Records holder in his category.
It's been 30 years since Bartholmey received those colorful pencils for Christmas.
The pencils from his childhood were not included in the world record count. They are still boxed up at his parent's house in Minnesota. But this summer, he dug through.
Then, Bartholmey unboxed those original pencils from Miss Bennett.
"It's a lot of memories and connections that I've made with different pencils," he said.
And when summer became fall, Bartholmey was named a Guinness Worlds Records holder on Oct. 9.
Jay Stahl is an entertainment reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow him on Instagram or reach out at [email protected].
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