We at Paradigm are so excited to announce that we are now a registered service provider for the Client Directed Home Care Invoicing program (CDHCI), a collaboration between AHS, Blue Cross and community agencies!  Now you can choose to age at home independently with services/supports local to your community that also fit your budget!

CDHCI is a program for Home and Community Care clients to manage their own care.  In a nutshell, you choose an agency. Home Care assesses the specific supports and number of hours required, and the agency submits directly to Blue Cross.

Services covered by CDHC include personal care, homemaking and respite.

Personal care supports include assistance with care tasks that can be scheduled such as personal hygiene, dressing, toileting, mobilization and transferring, home exercises, nutrition, medication assistance, and respiratory care.

Homemaking services include tasks that are essential to keeping you in your home, such as cleaning bathrooms, cleaning mobility equipment, incontinence laundry, and removing garbage. It is important to note that homemaking tasks must be related to health maintenance and are not stand-alone services. You must explore other service agencies and options for homemaking tasks before homemaking services are included in CDHCI.

Respite Care supports provide your informal caregivers a break when you are unable to safely be left alone, as determined by your AHS Case Manager.

Services are determined by your Home and Community Care assessment.  Ask your case manager if CDHCI is a suitable model for your care needs!

We invite you to call the South Zone number 1-866-388-6380 for more information or to request home care services.  Family, friends, neighbours or health professionals can call on your behalf as well!

Let's begin with a familiar scenario, one you might be in or a friend has experienced recently:  your mom is getting on in age and is living alone in her own home. Certain things are slipping- simple things like forgetting about a visit or appointment to that one time the stove was left on.  Now that was a bit of a scare!

It appears that generally speaking, mom is enjoying living in a familiar place and has expressed a desire to stay there as long as possible. Your first concern is her safety, and avoiding things like isolation or inability to access the larger community and ensuring the house is maintained.  

It's a scenario that is faced by many seniors living in Canada. Stats show in 2016 that there were 5,935,635 seniors in Canada, and that "93.2% of seniors lived in private dwellings (house, apartment or moveable dwelling) while 6.8% lived in collective dwellings, such as residences for senior citizens, long-term care (LTC) facilities or health care related facilities." With our aging population, the total amount of seniors is even higher now and will increase until 2036.

The choice of whether mom should remain at home or make plans to transfer to an assisted-living situation will be made by family, and additionally there may be recommendations based on medical/home care assessments. This is when Paradigm Home Health Services can help navigate the options for mom.  

As an agency we can be a source of information.  JoAnne is available for a chat to explain some of the recommendations, and offer options that may not be immediately apparent. We can help by putting some of those options (companion care for isolation or community access, appointment companionship, assisting with daily living) into place to address the recommendations.  

The options that allow mom to stay living in her home are part of the movement called "Aging in Place", and we all will likely hear that term more and more. While it is a new-ish term for a situation that seniors have faced for decades, it also can be thought of as a innovative campaign, one where Alberta's society can focus on and develop new services to empower a senior to live independently in their home and community much longer.

While Lethbridge has a robust assisted and communal senior-focused facility scene, many have wait-lists and often families choose the first one available. It isn't always ideal yet it remains a viable and necessary option for many. But aging in place is becoming more of a feasible solution, with individualized supports chosen so mom can do the 70% of what she used to, is assisted where needed and her quality of life improves.

Paradigm will share any new developments and announcements within the aging in place movement and we are available to discuss if mom living at home is and will be viable in the future. While we can't offer all the supports that might be necessary and it's likely the health care system will need to be involved, it could be where your mom's future looks almost like the present and past:  happily living at home.

We invite you to call us at 403-394-1614 anytime during business hours!

This service involves matching a carefully selected Companion with a Client who is living with issues related to movement and functionality. Sometimes the “small stuff” in life can become very difficult for seniors, as abilities such as standing up, holding and gripping, or reaching and stretching have become less easy to accomplish. By working in conjunction with other professionals such as Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Speech Pathologists, and/or Recreational Therapists, specific programs can be carried out in the Client's home, care facility, local gym, or even outdoors. This service may also include walking assistance or mobility supports, and balanced exercises relating to pre- or post-operative recuperation. Paradigm Home Health Services will work towards the goals of you and your loved one, whatever they may be, and will support you every step of the way.

Here are some real-life examples of Paradigm’s Recover & Rehabilitation Service:

· Blaine, who was recovering from a serious brain injury, would often go with his Paradigm Companion to the YMCA to use the weights and cardio equipment in the exercise room as part of his rehabilitation.

· Helga was regularly assisted by her Companion in staying motivated. Through encouragement, friendship and “counting reps”, Helga was able to achieve a fuller range of body motion while staying active in between her regular appointments with her physiotherapist.

Family caregivers are among the most caring, loving and generous people in today’s world.  But even the most dedicated caregiver has their personal limitations. After long periods of time, caregivers can find that they are neglecting their own physical, emotional and material needs at the expense of another. This can lead to feelings of stress and strain, feeling torn between the needs of their own needs and those of their loved one.

Though family members and friends may often be able to lend a hand, assisting with even a few routine tasks can still take time and effort. For many families, these initial tasks can sometime become more time consuming as their senior family member’s needs increase with age. Paradigm’s Respite for Care Providers Service can minimize the burden on caregivers while also extending or increasing a senior’s independence.

In this service, a qualified and caring Companion is matched with a senior so that the caregiver can have some much-needed time for to tend to their own personal responsibilities or relationships, business matters or appointments. This service is provided at times selected as convenient by the primary caregiver.

Here are some real-life examples of Paradigm’s Respite for Care Providers Service:

· One Client regularly makes use of her matched Companion two times each month, allowing her daughter to visit her hairdresser and spend extra time with her grandchildren.

· A Paradigm Companion named Christian takes his Client shopping once a month, so that the Client’s own mother does not need to take him that week. This gives his mother one “longer weekend” each month.

This service involves a carefully matched companion visiting on a regular basis to provide "quality of life" services that can truly make all the difference.

A Paradigm staff member initiates a relationship, then assists or supports their Client in achieving meaningful goals as determined by each Client or their family members. Companion care can be as simple as taking a Client out for supper or to a show once a week, or as involved as seeing a Client everyday like a true friend.

...achieving meaningful goals as determined by each Client or their family members

This service is often provided in age care facilities of varying supports, but it can also be provided to seniors still living privately in the community. This Companion care may also include End of Life care, in that the Companion provides comfort measures even in the final months of life.

Here are some real-life examples of Paradigm’s Companion Care Service:

• Dan, a senior citizen in a long-term care facility, used to be an award-winning billiards player. He and his Companion often played billiards in the facility’s Games Room.
• Paradigm staff member Christine often went for walks outside with her Client Devin, who is developmentally disabled. They especially enjoyed watching local wildlife.
• Brent’s Companion would regularly pick up items for him from the public library and would often make runs to local restaurants to bring Brent meals of his choosing.
• Rose and her Companion recently went for a drive in the country to see the old farm & homestead on which Rose was raised.
• A Companion named Suzy and her elderly Client Camilla liked to go browsing at local thrift stores and antique shops.
• Marcy, a Client who lives in a care facility, is visited each week by her Companion. Together they enjoy playing rummy, dominoes and going on occasional trips to Dairy Queen for ice cream.