Photo Provided In-home care is more important than ever for seniors and others during the coronavirus pandemic.

WHEELING — The Ohio Valley has embraced the concept of in-home care whenever possible to serve the elderly and physically challenged. However that, too, has experienced a few hiccups with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that has touched every state in the country.

Tate Blanchard, spokesman for IC Care, a locally owned and operated in-home care business founded in 2011, said only a few clients of the company have expressed concerns and reduced their hours of care during this time of social distancing.

He said IC Care has instituted proper protocols for visiting clients in their homes and keeping them safe. Blanchard said in-home care can still occur with precautions in place. In-home service providers also can help clients “visit” with their physicians through telemedicine.

“We can help them facilitate when it comes to telemedicine and walk them through video conferencing with their doctors,” Blanchard commented.

He refers to this as “old school health care with a modern twist.” With a smart device, a WIFI connection and the push of a button, a doctor can now appear in a patient’s home without leaving their offices. If a patient has had a stay in the hospital, it is the priority of the patient, the hospital and the insurance companies to get the patient back home as quickly as possible, Blanchard noted.

Blanchard said until recently, most people thought house calls made by doctors and other medical professionals were a thing of the past, however, the current health crisis in the country has led to the resurgence of house calls, if only via telemedicine.

When a patient is discharged from a hospital but needs to continue physical or occupational therapy, that often can be accomplished at home. In-home care workers also provide simple services such as meal preparation and other activities of daily living including bathing, toileting, changings, light homemaking, reminding patients to take their medications, safety monitoring, transportation and more.

Having a team made up of home health or hospice, paired with home care, sets the patient and their families up for optimal success. The home health or hospice can fulfill the patient’s medical needs and home care can help with everything else that is necessary for a person to stay at home.

For more information about aging in place, visit the website for the National Institute on Aging https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/aging-place-growing-older-home. For specific questions about home care, call IC Care at 304-905-8160 or visit iccare.com.