Quality Care, Real-World Challenges: What It Takes to Run a Home Care Agency

Quality Care, Real-World Challenges: What It Takes to Run a Home Care Agency

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Hello and welcome to CareSmartz360 On Air. I’m Dennis Gill, Senior Sales Consultant at CareSmartz360. Today we’re joined by Chelsea Jani, Director of Care at Longevity Care in Calgary, Alberta. As a registered nurse, experienced care leader, and former home care agency owner, Chelsea brings a valuable perspective on what it takes to deliver quality care while managing the day-to-day realities of running an agency. Providing compassionate care is at the heart of home care. But turning that commitment into consistent experiences

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for clients and families requires thoughtful decisions, strong caregiver support, and effective operational management. In this episode, we’ll explore how home care leaders can maintain care standards, build trust with families, support caregiver consistency, and navigate changing client needs without ever losing sight of what matters most. We’ll also look ahead at the trends and challenges that could shape the home care industry. So welcome to the podcast, Chelsea. >> Thanks, Dennis.

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uh we are really thankful that you were able to take out the time today for our listeners, and we hope this is a fruitful session for all the listeners from wherever they are listening all over the world. Thank you for that. Okay, so without wasting any time I’ll straight away put in my first question for you. So Chelsea, how was your experience in agency ownership? Did it change your understanding of the gap between the quality care in principle and in practice? >> Yeah, I really like that question. It

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took me a while to really think about it, and I think what it was is it came down to, especially as a registered nurse. I mean, you set up a care plan; you have, like, you know, an excellent one. You work hard at making sure that it’s a detailed care plan and that everything’s set up. You got skilled caregivers for all of those things, and then all of a sudden, you go and you put in you have this beautiful care plan, you have an excellent-trained caregiver, and you put them in the home, and it’s not a

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good match and it’s not going, and then you’re like, “Oh, there’s something there.” “So then you have to revisit it, and then you start to realize that every situation, every family, is unique. Every time you’re dealing with real people here. It’s not just a care plan on a piece of paper or just the caregiver and their skills. And so then you’re evaluating it, and you’re going, “Okay, who is it? It’s a lot about playing into that caregiver matching and who’s a good fit and the practicality of, um, yeah, putting that

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truly into practice and being in the home and seeing who they are as a person and as a client and even a caregiver and their personality and then figuring out that balance and that creates the most success. >> That creates the most success. And as an agency grows, how can owners recognize when growth starts to compromise care quality according to you? >> Yeah. Um, you can’t measure success by the number of care hours that you’re providing. So, you have to look at the infrastructure behind that. Um,

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I’d say we’ve grown a lot the past couple of years, and some of those things, as you add on new team members, little things can slip through the cracks. Um, basically growth shouldn’t outpace your ability to deliver that quality care. So our reputation—what? When it started with just me, it was just me providing that care, making sure you’re talking to clients. And so something that I’ve really had to build on is, um, making sure of the whole culture of the whole organization. Everybody within here

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knows who the clients are, from HR recruitment to scheduling to care managers. We all know what’s happening, and we have regular team meetings, and we just have to be able to stay on top of all of that and that everybody has, um, the same understanding of what that client quality care is, and so we just have to make sure that that is spread throughout the culture of everybody on the team. >> Okay. And just continuing with this thought, beyond skills and availability, what makes a strong caregiver client

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match, and how should agencies respond when it isn’t working? >> Yeah, typically there’s a lot of care and attention that goes into matching up clients and caregivers. I mean, you have these set protocols and lists and things that you look for. And again, like I mentioned before, sometimes you put a caregiver who has the right tasks. They’ve been a caregiver for 10 years, and they’re awesome, and you put them in the home, and then it doesn’t fit. So, we look beyond that. I always talk to

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clients in the consultation. I say, you know, is it someone that you’re looking for who’s really outgoing and chatty? Maybe that dementia client. Um, there are things about their past and their history. Maybe they were farmers. Maybe they like art. Maybe they there’s so many factors that we try to create that success and that matching up. So, it takes a lot of, um, responsibility to listen to family, listen to the client, and be fair to the caregivers as well and kind of match

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up the most success I always say and when both are happy. So, if caregivers are doing what they love as well as the clients, and then it’s a good match, it’s successful. >> Correct. And do you use AI for that thing for caregiver-client matching, or is it all the person >> caregiver-client matching? Um, you know, it’s interesting because the way that things are trending, there are a lot more AI capabilities with that. At this time, we don’t use it, I’d say, as much.

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It’s starting to be little bits and pieces that we’re starting to integrate a little bit. >>> Um, I can see it coming down the road, though; that will definitely be a big part of that matching up. >> Great. Great. Right. And how can agencies earn families trust? It’s a very important thing, especially when expectations differ or the concerns rise. Yeah. Um, I’d say again, going back to when it was just me, that’s part of the agency, and growth is making sure

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your whole team knows that it’s just being truthful. It’s setting clear expectations right off the bat with families. No saying, “Oh yeah, you know, we can cover that. We can do that.” It’s clear and outlining the challenges within home care. Setting out, you know, a clear idea of this is what it takes to match a caregiver. This is what it takes. These are some of the tasks that you have. They might be challenging, but being open and honest and having a conversation with the family and all the

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parties involved saying, “Um, they’re overwhelmed, they’re exhausted, and they’re like, basically, you know, they can’t do all the care themselves.” So we’re coming into that sensitive environment, and so how can we build that trust? And so it’s being honest, being reliable, and being consistent, and it’s just showing up, and when they call, we answer. Those are some of the big things that our team. Yeah, that’s the big thing. Yeah, that’s the big thing. >> Yeah, you can be compassionate and still

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have boundaries and so better boundaries lead to better care. >> Correct. Correct. Rightly said. And when a client’s needs become more complex, how can agencies balance safety and independence while making difficult care decisions? >> Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good one as well because especially my nursing background um kind of affects how I approach some of this a little bit because we want our seniors to stay in the home as long as possible. Want them to maintain independence and dignity. Um, it must

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be balanced, though. Sometimes something that started 6 months ago changes, right? So our responsibility is to recognize those changes and work collaboratively with the family as a team. So, we can’t remove every risk in the home of a family or the life of a client, but it’s about supporting that independence and, um, managing it responsibly. >> Yeah. >> Staying on top of the care plans and yeah, >> staying on top of it. And finally, the last thing for you, looking ahead to the

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next year, 2027, what will be the biggest challenge for homecare agencies, and what should owners do now to prepare for that? Yeah, I’d say a few key points. There’s recruitment, which is important. Um, but that’s what we know as all agency owners. That’s difficult, but I’d say retention is even more important. So, are you making them feel successful within their roles for those caregivers? So, providing extra training. Um, we have an open office policy. We’re very… The culture here is when caregivers call and

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they have concerns; we answer quickly. We talked to them. We talked to the family. We don’t let them feel like they’re alone out there. Um, increasing complexity of clients and their care. That’s a huge thing that we’ve seen. Like it went from a lot of companion type clients to now like medically involved, like, higher-need clients. So staying on top of those care plans, making sure those quality, you know, those quality assessments are being done every few months. Really talking to families, talking to the caregivers,

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reading the caregiver notes. And then a big one for all agency owners is financial sustainability, the sub-sustainability of private home care. So like wages, recruitment training, administrative staffing, and operating costs—all of that is something that we know as agency owners; that’s like a big thing. Um, and then embracing technology like we talked about AI—how do we integrate it? How do we bring that in? Is it recruitment? Is it like scheduling? Um, being able to look at ways like CareSmartz360, like

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how are we integrating that into our care plans and matching up and all of that? And so, I’d say being on top of some of those AI trends and, um, being informed with all of that. >> Yeah, rightly said because as you are aware, AI is becoming a part of our daily things now. Everything AI is being used a lot, and in this home care industry, as I have also been for the seven years, I’ve been presenting my system from where we started and where it is now, so many features have been added where the

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agencies—they do love it, like, uh, firstly, the AI thinks about how to match a client and a caregiver, then about the scheduling. There are more and more features coming up, and obviously, as you were saying, agency owners have to be on top of that. >> > All right, so thank you. Thank you, Chelsea, for all these wonderful answers that you gave and all the inputs that we had from your side, and I hope it really does help our listeners about this topic that we discussed today, and we hope to have more and more

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discussions with you in the future about other topics, and uh, it was nice talking to you. >> Yeah, thanks, Dennis. Those are great questions. I enjoyed researching that. So, thanks so much for having me today. >> Thank you. And thank you, everyone. Uh, this is Dennis Gill. I’m signing off, and I’ll be back shortly with you.