Profile
Home Instead
Help that Enables Independence
In addition to helping with the physical needs of
life, Home Instead’s caregivers provide treasured
companionship. Kari says, “To us, it’s personal.” Staff
take genuine interest in clients. Especially with longterm
clients with set schedules, the same companions
visit week after week, providing familiarity and
becoming true friends.
And Mom or Dad need never be alone during a
hospital stay again! The signature purple and blue
polo shirts and purple Converse shoes of Home
Instead staff frequent hospital halls and rehabilitation
facilities. Wherever a client needs help, there you will
find Home Instead!
Many of Home Instead’s clients engage staff for
less than 12 hours of help a week. Considering that
clients’ homes are often debt-free, staying in the
home and bringing in help for a few hours a week
is often the most economical way of maintaining a
great quality of life.
Sometimes changes in medical conditions require a
move from one living environment to another. Home
Instead can not only help a family discover options,
but assist in the transition, easing clients into a new
situation and continuing to serve them there.
Home Instead strives to provide care tailored to the
preferences of their clients. Families can interact with
staff through a “family room” section on the website.
Family members are constantly informed through
daily family room posts including caregiver’s photo
ID, schedules, and documentation while leaving
What do you do when Mom or Dad needs help? Not a
full-time skilled nurse –but help with things they used
to do for themselves? Your parents want to remain as
independent as possible—but transportation, chores,
even basic grooming are difficult now. Perhaps your
parents live with you, but you worry about their safety
during the hours you are away at work. Maybe Mom’s
balance isn’t great, or Dad has dementia and tends
to wander away.
Your local Home Instead may well be the answer!
Kari Ann Gomez owns the west Polk County branch,
and she explains to families that “everything you
usually do for yourself, we can help with that!” Her
staff of 141 trained caregivers provide personal care
for clients living in their own homes, their family’s
homes, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and
memory care facilities. As Kari says, “our caregivers
go wherever our clients are calling home at that
moment.” Her caregivers help clients with essential
tasks of daily living like bathing, dressing, toileting,
transfers, and medication reminders. If a client is
bedbound, they assist
with incontinence and
dressing issues. They
also work with clients
with memory issues,
ensuring that clients
remain safe within
their family’s homes or
providing one-on-one
outings when a client
resides at a memory
care facility.
Kari Ann Gomez, owner &
operator
46 www.PolkElderCare.com
/www.PolkElderCare.com