Palos Heights is New Focus for Home Care Services
To give a helping hand to family caregivers in Palos Heights, Assisting Hands® Home Care is recruiting franchise owners. According to the National Institute on Aging, by the year 2015, 25 million U.S. residents will be between the age of 65 and 74. As the baby boomer generation continues to age, the need for cost-effective, in-home caregivers is expected to grow.
There are 4,500 franchised home care entities in the U.S., making it one of the fastest growing businesses in the franchise industry. One of the most successful is Naperville's in-home caregiving business, Assisting Hands Home Care, which also operates in Hinsdale.
“Data from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which noted that in 2009, the home healthcare market reached $72.2 billion,” said Richard Ueberfluss, a physical therapist and president of Assisting Hands-Naperville, who has successfully franchised his home care business in the Chicago area.
Assisting Hands is a niche player in the home care industry, staffing its operation with private duty professional caregivers who work in the home. In addition to Illinois licensing standards, caregivers can include nurses, therapists, nursing aides, homemakers, and companions. They must become Certified Nursing Assistants and complete an 8-week certification program. Illinois requires 8 hours of initial training, which includes training in Home Safety Evaluation, Fall Prevention, CPR, First Aid, Dementia/Alzheimer’s care and Hospice.
“As the government and the healthcare industry seek ways to reduce healthcare costs, home care becomes a viable option because it is an alternative to lengthy hospital stays, nursing homes and other in-patient treatments. At least 70 percent of people older than 65 will require some long-term care, and most of today’s seniors would prefer home care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” according to Ueberfluss. “So franchising a home care business reflects changing demographic patterns and changes in health management.”
To learn more, call 630-305-9100 or visit www.AssistingHands.com/naperville