Hudson Valley Home Care Poughkeepsie, NY

Linsie

The review guidelines would not come up when clicked on, so I will try to stay as close to the question of what I would have liked to have known and would like other caregivers to know. I gave this agency four stars and not five because I got off to a rough start with them only because I didn't ask the right questions for my particular scenario and because at first coordination lagged a little. I think the agencies assume you know more about how they work than most of us do. As far as the staff of people sent to oversee and care for my mother (who is 92 with moderate to severe dementia) they were very professional and get five stars. They included a nurse and a pysical therapist along with a social worker or counsellor if needed. However, I was not aware at first that the in-home aide was hired out from an in-home care program in the area. I didn't understand that to rearrange aide time in and out I had to first check with Hudson Valley and not the number the aide gave me. Other problems ensued because of this. Also, Hudson Valley was being paid through a state program (medicaid) and partly personal pay, and it is so important to understand how this is coordinated. Though I did get a letter from the state, it did not address how it was done when an outside program was being used, and Hudson Valley spent little time going over this for me beforhand. I was later educated by the fellow in charge of billing at Hudson Valley and he was very helpful in clearing things up. Also, the Dept of Social Service assumed I knew that I could have been using their program for the care, and I had no idea that they had a program for home care. I was contacted by Hudson Valley to ask if I needed longterm care for my mother at the request of an adult day care center who knew of us by our using their services. So what I should have done was spent more time sitting face to face with the County's Medicaid Dept (application was done thru mail) and with the manager/coordinator of the health care company with a thorough list of questions before starting the programs. After initial bumps in the road I was very happy with the level of care and their availability and response to my concerns. May I say that I wonder how many stars they would give me if they were doing the review! I would recommend this agency for in home care and would use them again if needed.