Greater Hazleton’s Business & Arts Magazine
on top of what’s going on, this gives
the agency a lot of confidence to
utilize Comfort Keepers. Previously,
they relied on a lot more outside
coordination from the company, where
we can provide that internally.
HABC: So you have a fairly
sophisticated approach to how
you generate business.
Marlin Duncan: Yes.
HABC: You described the
services you provide as
“coordinated in-home care.”
Expand on how this fits with
other health care providers,
specifically, hospitals/doctors
and home health agencies.
Marlin Duncan: The hospital
obviously is providing medical
care, and I would say that a certain
percentage of our clients come to us
when they’re being discharged from
the hospital. So, at least that’s one
of the situations where the family is
in a sense of emergency and needs
immediate help. The hospitals are more
and more caring about what’s going on
in the home.
That step is a two-step process.
One is home health. Most home
health agencies really don’t want to
be involved with the smaller details
because they’re involved with the
medical aspect of things. They want
to do physical therapy, occupational
therapy, wound care therapy, different
treatments that can be done in the
home. But they’re normally going to
be in the home, maybe, six hours a
week at most. In the meantime, if the
family’s not there, somebody needs
to provide the incidental ADLs—the
HABC
July 1, 2014
activities of daily living. Incidentals,
we’re talking about making sure the
medicine’s taken, make sure they
don’t fall, make sure the house is
safe, and make sure they have food,
they have heat, they have clothing,
and everything is clean and neat to
help save them over here. But those
three legs—hospitals/doctors, home
health, home care—all need to have
coordination between them. The
hospital, home health, and home
care such as Comfort Keepers
have to have a conduit where we
communicate. If we don’t, there’s a
breakdown in what’s going on inside
of that home. Comfort Keepers can
be that link, that orchestration.
HABC: What is your typical client?
Marlin Duncan: Well, actually, it’s
interesting. Thirty-five percent of our
clients are under sixty. Most people
wouldn’t expect that.
HABC: What levels of care
are required by your younger
clientele?
Marlin Duncan: You’re talking about
diabetes, morbid obesity, multiple
sclerosis, traumatic brain injury,
muscular dystrophy, ALS, Lupus.
HABC: Is the alternative to
home care for these individuals
institutional care?
Marlin Duncan: Yes, in many cases.
We have a very good program under
the office of long-term living here in
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