FirstLight HomeCare provides professional in-home service

FirstLight HomeCare provides professional in-home service

By Carole Robinson, Staff Writer
crobinson@williamsonherald.com

Local financial advisor and syndicated talk show host Dave Ramsey often talks about new businesses that have the courage to start up during a down economy. Scotty and Jason Falk may one day be one of Dave’s topics. A couple of months ago they opened FirstLight HomeCare, a professional, non-medical, in-home care service for senior citizens and others who need assistance on a temporary or permanent basis.

FirstLight HomeCare provides two levels of assistance, depending on the need. The first level includes daily activities such as light housekeeping, laundry, meal prep or running errands.

The second level is more hands on and may include bathing, personal hygiene, grooming, toileting and transfer posture positions, Scotty said.

Services can be used during recovery from surgery or illness, to provide a full-time caregiver a break or allow them to go back to work.

“People want to remain in their home where they have some independence and are more comfortable,” Jason said. “We provide personalized attention when they can still move around and want to stay at home.”

The caregivers work alongside Hospice in the home, assisted living facility or nursing homes.

According to Scotty, often medical assistance comes to the home for a couple of hours or every couple of days, FirstLight HomeCare fills in the rest of the time.

“We want to allow primary caregivers to remain independent in their own lives,” Scotty said.

She understands from her own experience when her grandmother moved in with her mother.

“If mom could have utilized non-medical care, she would have been able to retain some of her own life,” she said. “She lost her independence.”

However, “We are not sitters,” Scotty cautioned.

FirstLight HomeCare providers develop relationships, establish routines and offer assistance; wash dishes, help make the bed, become an extra set of eyes, ears and hands for those whose eyes, ears and hands are failing.

“For some clients we just assist and remind them to turn off the stove or take their medications,” Scotty said. “Some just need a companion or transportation to the doctor, the grocery store or help to clean up around the house.”

Some clients are recuperating from a stroke and need a temporary caregiver while some have dementia and other ailments and need a permanent live-in caregiver. FirstLight caregivers can live up to four days in the home providing consistency for the client.

“We can even take care of moms with new babies,” Scotty said.

For a couple of years the Falks had been looking for jobs they could do together. Among the jobs he has held, Jason spent 13 years working for General Electric in sales, marketing, operations and quality control while working on his MBA. He also worked in cemetery preplanning where he discovered he had a good rapport with seniors, but he was anxious to fully utilize his business training.

Scotty was a middle school teacher but wanted to be a nurse. A couple of years in nursing school helped her realize she really didn’t want to be a nurse, but she did want to help others.

It took her experience while interning in a nursing home to realize how much she also enjoyed working with senior citizens.

“Now I’m an advocate for seniors in their homes,” she said.

People are living longer and more parents are moving in with their children resulting in the sandwich generation – adult children who find themselves caring for their parents and their children.

“People need help – we’re able to help,” Jason said.

FirstLight caregivers go through extensive background checks and ongoing training to provide services. Caregivers are matched with clients and there is always a registered nurse on call to review care plans and to advise the FirstLight caregiver.

“A bond is created between the caregiver and the client,” Jason said. “We want to make sure everybody stays happy.”

Jason and Scotty still have openings for caregivers. They can be reached at 615-549-0070.