Direct care providers play key role in the health care process

It is easy to remember the prominent people in healthcare: the surgeon who removes the tumor; the nurse who provides the hospital care; the therapist who brings movement back to the body. But ask most patients about the people they established relationships with after an illness or accident, and you may be surprised to learn that it’s often a direct care provider who helped them through trying times.

“It is the nature of the business,” says Ryan Boulez, a New York attorney who specializes in setting up planned care for clients. “When someone has a direct connection with another person every day, whether that relationship lasts a few intense weeks, several months or in some cases, numerous years, that person is bound to be the most important spoke in the wheel. He or she becomes the person

the patient relies on most.”

Helping hands

Direct care is the process of providing assistance to individuals who need help with daily living skills, such as preparing meals, getting ready for the day, engaging in social or wellness activities or visiting doctors, dentists, therapists and other health-related personnel. Direct caregivers also engage in activities aimed at building life skills, including job coaching, activity development and training in social interaction. While Boulez says some of the tasks seem mundane, the responsibilities are often enormous.

“These are the people we entrust to take care of our partners, parents, children or ourselves when life becomes difficult,” says Toni Gomez, a Chicago resident who had to provide 24-hour care for her father after he suffered a stroke in May at his home in Florida. “My father

moved to Florida several years ago when he remarried. His wife died last year but he decided to stay down there because he

had made so many new friends and quite frankly, he is sick and tired of Chicago winters.”

Gomez, 57, is one of three children. “We assumed he would move in with one of us if something ever happened to him but when that actually became a reality, we realized we would need a lot of modifications to our home, and they were expensive modifications,” Gomez says. “When we started looking at 24-hour care, we found that the prices in Florida were much more reasonable than they were here, and luckily my father paid for his Miami condo in cash, so he still has money in savings and his pension from the Chicago Police Department.”

The Gomez siblings decided it would be easier and less costly for their father to stay in Florida – which their father supported – but wanted to make sure he would be surrounded by the right people.

Taking it personally

“Families try to find direct care providers who have a similar temperament to their own,” says Nicole Black, a retired nurse in Rockford who does part-time work as a visiting nurse. “I spend about four hours a week with five different patients these days and each family has made it a point to tell me about the personalities of their parents.

I listen, tell them I’ve seen it all, and then assure them I have every intention of taking care of their mom or dad as peacefully as possible, for their sake and for mine.”

Gomez understands, to a point. “I want someone who can be compassionate with my dad but I also want someone who can tell him what needs to be done,” she says.