For families
You have probably never done this before.
Almost nobody arranging home care has arranged home care before. They are doing it in a hurry, often after something went wrong, usually while working a full-time job in another time zone. This page is the whole process written down in advance, so you can read it at 11pm without calling anyone.
Step one
How to start
One phone call. There is no form to fill in first, no portal to register for, and no assessment fee. Here is exactly what happens and what to have nearby.
The first call takes about fifteen minutes
A staff member answers — not a call centre. They will ask what is happening now, not your insurance details. By the end of the call you will know whether we are the right agency, roughly what it will cost, and when we could start.
Useful to have nearby, but not required
- A rough idea of which days and times worry you most
- The list of medications, if you happen to have it
- Whether there are stairs, and whether there is a shower or a tub
- Any recent hospital or rehab discharge paperwork
- Whether there is long-term care insurance, VA eligibility, or Medicaid
What we will ask
- What a bad day looks like, in detail
- Who else is helping right now, and how they are holding up
- What the person themselves wants — this matters more than anything else on the call
- Whether anyone has fallen, and whether anyone else knows about it
Then we come to the house
A supervisor visits, usually within two business days, and spends about an hour. They meet the person, look at the bathroom and the walking paths, and write the care plan from what they see rather than from a template. There is no charge for this visit and no obligation after it.
If it is urgent, say so on the first call
We hold capacity for hospital and rehab discharges. Same-day starts happen. The one thing that slows a start down is finding out about the urgency on day three.
What to expect
What the first week looks like
The first week is when you find out whether an agency is any good. Here is what ours does, day by day, so you know what should be happening and can tell us when it is not.
- Day 1
Introduction, then work
The caregiver arrives with the care plan already read. A supervisor comes for the first fifteen minutes to make the introduction in person — nobody should be opening the door to a stranger with a badge. Then the supervisor leaves, because hovering makes the first day worse.
- Day 1
You get a call that evening
Someone from the office calls you the first evening. Not a survey link — a person asking how it went, in the twelve hours when you are most likely to be second-guessing the decision.
- Days 2–3
The plan meets reality
The care plan is always slightly wrong on paper. The shower bench is the wrong height, the medication reminder needs to be an hour earlier, they will not eat before ten. The caregiver reports these and we change the plan, not the person.
- Day 4
Consistency starts
By the fourth visit it should be the same caregiver, arriving in the same window, doing things in the same order. If you have seen three different faces by day four, that is a scheduling failure and you should call us about it.
- Day 7
Supervisor check-in
A supervisor visits again at the end of the first week, with the caregiver's notes in hand. This is where hours get adjusted up or down honestly — including recommending fewer hours if the first week showed you booked too many.
- Week 2
It gets boring, which is the goal
Good home care is uneventful. The visits stop being an event, the person stops being on their best behaviour, and you stop thinking about it every hour. That is what you are paying for.
The care plan
What a care plan is, and how it changes
The care plan is the written document that says exactly what the caregiver does, when, and how the person likes it done. It is not paperwork for our file — it is the reason a substitute caregiver can walk in on a Tuesday and get the coffee right.
What is in it
- Every task, by visit, in the order it is meant to happen
- How the person prefers each thing done — the specific chair, the specific brand, the right side first
- Mobility and transfer instructions, including what equipment is in the house
- Diet, textures, allergies, and what they will actually eat
- Medication reminder times, with a note that we remind and never administer
- Names and numbers: family, physician, pharmacy, and who to call in what order
- What to do in specific foreseeable situations, written before they happen
- The things that are not tasks — the dog's name, the show at four, the topics to avoid
How it changes
Any time you ask
Call the office and it is updated the same day. You do not need a reason and you do not need to wait for a scheduled review.
When the caregiver reports a change
Caregivers are required to report changes in skin, appetite, mood, continence, steadiness, or confusion the same day they see them. That report triggers a plan review.
After any hospital stay
The plan is rewritten, not amended, after an admission. Discharge instructions change too many things to patch.
On a schedule regardless
A supervisor reviews the plan in the home on a set cycle even when nothing has changed, because decline is gradual and nobody notices it from inside the house.
The plan belongs to the person receiving care. They sign it, they get a copy, and they can refuse any part of it. If they have a guardian or an agent under a power of attorney, that person signs alongside them — not instead of them.
Contacts
Who to call, and when
The most common complaint about home care agencies is not knowing who to call. So: one number, and the reason you are calling tells us where it goes.
- A medical emergency, a fall with injury, chest pain, or someone unresponsiveCall 911 first. Call us second. The caregiver will already have called both.
- The caregiver has not arrived and it is fifteen minutes past the startCall the office. Coverage is our problem to solve, and we would rather hear about it early.
- You want to change the schedule, the hours, or the tasksCall the office during business hours. Same-day changes are usually possible.
- Something feels off about the care and you cannot name it yetCall and say exactly that. Vague concerns are still worth raising and we will not make you justify it.
- You want a different caregiverCall and ask. No explanation required, and we handle the conversation with the caregiver.
- Something happened that you think is seriousCall immediately, any hour. Use the after-hours line if the office is closed. Do not wait for morning.
- A billing question or an insurance formCall the office. Ask for billing, and ask for it in writing if it matters.
Office hours
Monday–Friday, 8am–6pm · Saturday and Sunday, 9am–4pm
After hours
The same number reaches the on-call phone. Urgent calls are answered live; everything else is returned within 24 hours.
Your rights
What the person receiving care is entitled to
Every person we serve gets these in writing at admission and signs to say they were explained. They are not aspirations, they are requirements, and they hold whether or not anyone asks for them.
To be treated with dignity
Including privacy during personal care, being addressed by the name they prefer, and having their home treated as their home rather than a workplace.
To know who is coming and when
The name of the caregiver, the times of the visit, and advance notice of any change we can foresee.
To refuse
Any task, any caregiver, any time — including a shower today. Refusal is recorded, and it is never used as grounds to discharge someone from service.
To take part in their own care plan
To be present when it is written, to disagree with parts of it, to have those parts changed, and to keep a copy in the house.
To privacy of their information
We share what we know only with the people they have authorised, in writing, by name. Family access is not automatic — including for adult children.
To raise a concern without consequence
Complaining changes nothing about the care they receive, except the thing they complained about. Retaliation of any kind is a fireable offence here.
To know what things cost
The rate in writing before care starts, an itemised bill, and notice before any rate change.
To be free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation
Financial, physical, verbal, and emotional. Every caregiver is a mandatory reporter and is trained on exactly what to do.
To end services
At any time, for any reason, without penalty and without a notice period they have to serve out.
Raising a concern
How to tell us something is wrong
Most families sit on a concern for weeks because they do not want to make trouble for a caregiver they otherwise like. Please do not. Small things are cheap to fix early and expensive to fix late.
01
Tell us, however you like
Phone, email, or in person to the supervisor. You can raise it about a specific person or leave the name out. You can ask that the caregiver not be told it came from you.
02
We write it down the same day
Every concern is logged with the date, what was said, and who took it. The record is permanent and cannot be edited afterwards — corrections are added, never substituted.
03
You hear back within one business day
Not a resolution necessarily, but an acknowledgement from a named person, telling you who is handling it and what happens next.
04
It gets resolved and closed in writing
You get told what we found, what we changed, and what happens if it comes back. If we disagree with you, we tell you that plainly rather than going quiet.
If we do not fix it
You can take a complaint about a licensed Colorado home care agency directly to the state, at any point, whether or not you have raised it with us first. You do not need our permission and we do not have to be told.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment · Health Facilities Division
303-692-2800Nobody's care changes because they complained. If anyone ever suggests otherwise, that is itself a reportable event and we want to hear about it immediately.
Family portal
Seeing what happened, without phoning to ask
Approved family members can sign in to see visit notes, the current care plan, and the schedule for the week ahead. It exists so you do not have to interrogate your parent about whether the caregiver came.
How access works
- Access is granted by an administrator after identity is verified — not by clicking a link in an email
- Each account is scoped to one person's record and shows nothing about anyone else
- The person receiving care decides who gets access, and can withdraw it at any time
- Access ends automatically when services end
- Notifications are off unless you switch them on
- Every view is logged, so it is always possible to see who looked at what
If you have not been given access yet, call 720-507-7778 and we will verify you over the phone.