Can You Really Get Professional Care at Home? Home Care Owner Answers! | Repair The Roof Podcast

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Mike Moyer, owner of First Light Home Care, shares his path from construction to caregiving, highlighting the services his team provides, the vital role of caregivers, industry challenges, and the payment options available to families. He underscores the rewarding nature of caregiving and First Light’s dedication to delivering compassionate, high-quality care for seniors and others in need.

“Can We Really Keep Mom at Home?” What Families in Greater Dayton Need to Know About Non-Medical Home Care

You’ve probably heard friends talk about assisted living or skilled nursing—but far fewer people realize that you can bring high-quality help directly into the place your loved one already calls home. If you’re weighing whether home care is realistic, affordable, and safe, this guide gives you the straight answers most families wish they had sooner.

Key Takeaways:

  • Mike transitioned from construction to home care in 2018.
  • First Light Home Care serves a diverse clientele, including seniors and college students.
  • Caregivers are trained in various areas, including dementia care and companionship.
  • Home care allows clients to stay in their own homes while receiving assistance.
  • The company has a centralized office and recruits local caregivers.
  • First Light has no minimum hours for service, making it flexible for clients.
  • They work closely with home health agencies for medical needs.
  • Hiring and retaining quality caregivers is a significant challenge in the industry.
  • The company has a good relationship with the VA for referrals.
  • Client care coordinators assess needs and match caregivers accordingly.

Below, you’ll learn what non-medical home care actually covers, what it costs in our region, who pays, how caregivers are vetted and trained, and how the process works from the first phone call to the first visit. We’ll use FirstLight Home Care of Greater Dayton as the case study—an established, locally owned provider led by Michael (Mike) Moyer—so you can see how a reputable agency operates day to day.

Why this matters now

  • Families want to stay home. Most of our clients prefer home to a facility, but they worry whether help at home is even possible.

  • The system is confusing. “Home care,” “home health,” “hospice,” and “Medicaid waivers” sound alike but do very different things.

  • Timing is critical. Delaying a first call often turns a manageable situation into a crisis. Knowing the path ahead lets you act early and confidently.

Meet the provider: A locally owned, caregiver-first agency

Mike Moyer did not start in health care. He grew up in a construction family and later helped his parents open FirstLight Home Care back in 2010. In 2018 he bought the business and refocused it around one core idea: take exceptional care of caregivers so they can take exceptional care of clients.

Today, FirstLight Greater Dayton:

  • Operates a centralized office in Clayton with satellite support in Centerville and Springfield.

  • Covers four territories along the I-70/I-75 corridors—north to Sidney, south toward West Chester, and west from Brookville/Eaton over to the east side of Springfield.

  • Employs around 65 caregivers and serves roughly 80 clients at any time.

  • Answers the phone 24/7 with a live person and calls back from the local office within minutes after hours.

Why this backstory matters to you: home care is personal work. Ownership stability, caregiver retention, and local coverage are strong predictors of continuity and reliability for your family.

Home care vs. home health vs. hospice—what’s the difference?

Here’s the plain-English framework families use to decide “who does what” at home:

  • Home care (non-medical): Hourly, daily, or 24/7 support for daily living. Think bathing, dressing, toileting, mobility, meal prep, light housekeeping, transportation, companionship, dementia support, and incontinence care. It does not include wound care, injections, or medication administration.

  • Home health (medical): Short-term, clinical services ordered by a doctor—nursing visits, therapy, wound care, and medication management.

  • Hospice (medical + comfort): Specialized, interdisciplinary care for serious illness focused on comfort and quality of life, often alongside non-medical home care.

A strong agency will coordinate with home health and hospice so your loved one gets the right team at the right time. FirstLight has its own RN to help coordinate and partners closely with local home health and hospice providers, which keeps everyone on the same page.

What home care actually looks like day to day

If you’re picturing a revolving door of strangers, that’s not the goal. Good agencies start with a careful match, orient caregivers to your household routines, and measure what happens during every visit.

Typical services include:

  • Morning/evening routines: getting up, bathing or showering, dressing, oral care, toileting.

  • Mobility and safety: supervised walks, transfers, fall-prevention habits.

  • Household help: meal prep, light housekeeping, linens, trash, dishes, pet help.

  • Community and appointments: rides to the doctor, pharmacy, hair appointments, or faith services.

  • Cognitive support: dementia-aware communication, calming redirection, structured activities.

  • Overnight presence: “awake” care so someone is there if your loved one gets up at night.

Edge cases: When needs are highly skilled and constant (complex wound care, ventilators, IVs), a facility may be the better fit. But even then, non-medical home care often supports everything around the medical tasks—especially for clients on hospice or recovering with home health.

What you’ll pay—and how billing works

Money questions are often the hardest to ask. Here’s the transparent, local snapshot Mike shared for Greater Dayton:

  • One-hour visit (often a bathing visit): roughly $45–$55/hour.

  • Two-hour visit: about $45/hour.

  • Three hours or more: typically $30–$35/hour for ongoing care, including 24/7 schedules.

  • Minimums: FirstLight does not impose minimum hours, but very short shifts are priced higher because travel and orientation time are the same.

  • Billing: Weekly invoice, paid by ACH, check, or credit card. No deposit or upfront retainer. Cancel or adjust schedules as needs change.

Curiosity gap: Most families are surprised to learn that one strategically placed two-hour visit each morning can preserve a loved one’s independence for months—sometimes avoiding a costly move to assisted living.

Who pays: Private pay, Medicaid waivers, and VA programs

Home care is a mix of private and public funding:

  • Private pay: About 60% of FirstLight’s current clients pay directly. Families like the control—choosing days, times, and tasks.

  • Medicaid (Ohio PASSPORT): Area Agency on Aging authorizes hours for eligible clients. The agency receives referrals directly and coordinates your schedule with you.

  • Veterans Affairs (often via physician orders): VA determines authorized hours; FirstLight bills the VA directly once services are approved.

Important nuance: “Aid & Attendance” benefits can expand what veterans can afford at home, but eligibility is complex. Families often work with an elder-law firm (like ours) to assess and apply correctly and to coordinate with Medicaid planning when appropriate.

Safety and accountability: How caregivers are screened and supervised

Inviting someone into your home requires trust. Here’s the oversight structure you should expect from a professional agency:

  • Hiring filters: fingerprint background checks, reference checks, and drug screening. Certain criminal offenses trigger exclusionary periods that prevent hiring until the timeframe lapses—protecting clients and households.

  • Training and orientation: a dedicated six-hour orientation in a hands-on training space that mirrors real-home environments. Dementia and Alzheimer’s training are emphasized.

  • Experience at the helm: FirstLight’s coordinator, scheduler, trainer, and community liaison all started as caregivers and hold or held STNAs (State Tested Nursing Assistants). That frontline experience helps with better matching and problem-solving.

  • Visit verification: EVV (Electronic Visit Verification) logs the exact start/stop times via a secure app, documenting that the scheduled services were delivered.

  • First visit “warm hand-off”: An “elite caregiver” introduces the first assigned caregiver, remains during the initial run-through, and confirms tasks and fit.

Curiosity gap: Many families assume “overnight” care means the caregiver sleeps. In professional 24/7 arrangements, the caregiver is scheduled awake for night shifts so they can respond immediately when needed.

Matching matters: Personalities, preferences, and routines

Competence is essential; compatibility is what makes care sustainable. A good match process should ask about:

  • Daily rhythms (early riser or slow mornings)

  • Bathing preferences (shower vs. sponge bath, gender preferences)

  • Mobility equipment and transfer needs

  • Pet considerations and household layout

  • Conversation style and hobbies (card games, faith community, sports)

  • Family dynamics (point person, backup decision-maker, emergency plan)

The office team then pulls schedules and skills, looks for the best fit, and confirms with you before the first shift. If it’s not right, you can request changes. Agencies that prioritize caregiver experience tend to have deeper benches and higher success rates with matching.

How the first week unfolds

  1. Inquiry call (24/7 live answer): You describe needs, urgency, and budget. The team gathers basics and routes your case to a client care coordinator.

  2. In-home assessment (30–60 minutes): Safety walkthrough, goals, medical context, and a priority checklist for tasks.

  3. Care plan & schedule: You choose days and times; the office proposes caregivers with the right skills and availability.

  4. First visit introduction: The elite caregiver provides the warm hand-off and confirms the day’s routine.

  5. Feedback loop: You get a quick check-in after visit one and at regular intervals. Adjustments are easy—more hours, fewer hours, different time of day—as needs evolve.

Expect clear paperwork that outlines responsibilities on both sides and confirms that you direct the schedule. Keep a family “point person” designated so communication is fast and consistent.

When home care is—and isn’t—the right fit

Home care is often ideal when:

  • Your loved one needs help with personal care, mobility, or supervision but not continuous clinical interventions.

  • Dementia symptoms are emerging and routines/redirecting can stabilize the day.

  • Family caregivers need respite to rest, work, or manage their own households.

  • Transportation or social engagement has become a barrier to well-being.

A facility may be more appropriate when:

  • Skilled medical tasks are constant and complex, or an RN must be present around the clock.

  • Frequent hospital-level monitoring is necessary.

  • The home can’t be made safe (e.g., narrow stairs with no lift, severe hoarding, or immediate fire hazards).

In many cases, families use a hybrid approach—home care for activities of daily living, home health for short-term medical needs, and hospice for comfort support—so the right professional is doing the right task at the right time.

Three insights families rarely hear early enough

  1. Start small to stay strong. A single two-hour morning block—bath, breakfast, meds set out by family, and a safety check—can prevent falls, dehydration, and ER visits. Early, light support often costs less over time than waiting for a crisis.

  2. Consistency beats intensity. The best outcomes come from consistent caregivers who know your routines, not sporadic marathons. Continuity builds trust and reduces agitation, especially with dementia.

  3. Caregiver care is client care. Agencies that invest in caregiver training, scheduling support, and recognition tend to retain their teams. Retention directly translates into fewer last-minute changes for your family.

What families ask us most

“Can we afford this?”
 Start with your top two risks (falls and hygiene are common) and target those hours. Layer in public benefits if eligible. Weekly billing with no deposit helps you ramp up or down as you learn what’s truly needed.

“Is it safe to have someone at home?”
 With background checks, exclusionary hiring rules, verified arrivals/departures, and a warm hand-off, home care is designed for safety and accountability. You retain control of the schedule and the right to request changes.

“What if Mom won’t accept help?”
 Begin with a “trial” caregiver for one or two small tasks. Introduce the helper as part of the household team (“our Tuesday helper”) rather than a permanent identity. Familiarity often melts resistance within weeks.

“What happens at 2 a.m.?”
 For awake overnights, the caregiver is alert and available. If your loved one wakes for the bathroom or becomes disoriented, help is immediate. For 24/7 care, shifts are structured so someone is always on duty and rested.

Red flags when you’re evaluating agencies

  • Vague pricing or pressure to commit to long minimums.

  • Limited training or no hands-on orientation.

  • Slow or inconsistent phone response—especially after hours.

  • No visit verification system.

  • Poorly defined first-visit process or no “fit” check.

A good agency should welcome your due diligence and provide references when asked.

The moment that changes everything

Mike tells the story of covering a shift himself and providing intimate personal care he originally thought he “couldn’t do.” He left that home with a different understanding of the work—how dignity, skill, and compassion combine to turn a hard moment into a meaningful one. That mindset filters through hiring, training, and scheduling. And for families, it’s the difference between feeling like you’re “getting through the day” and feeling like you have a partner.

Your action plan

  1. List your non-negotiables. Safety risks, daily pain points, and the times of day help is most needed.

  2. Call early—even if you’re “just exploring.” You’ll get realistic pricing and can schedule a no-pressure in-home assessment.

  3. Coordinate benefits. If Medicaid or VA support might apply, get an eligibility review and ensure your legal and financial planning dovetail with care needs.

  4. Trial a starter schedule. Two to three visits per week can make an outsized difference. Adjust as you learn.

One clear next step

Book a 20-minute Care Options Call with our team. We’ll help you compare home care, home health, hospice, Medicaid planning, and VA benefits for your situation—and introduce you to vetted local providers like FirstLight when home care fits. No obligation, just clarity.

Conclusion: Home is possible—with the right plan

Home care isn’t a luxury; it’s a practical, flexible way to deliver the right help at the right time—without uprooting the person you love. In Greater Dayton, agencies like FirstLight Home Care pair caregiver-first culture with rigorous training, live 24/7 response, verified visits, and transparent pricing. Whether you begin with a single two-hour visit or build to round-the-clock coverage, starting early lets you preserve independence, protect safety, and buy time to plan bigger decisions thoughtfully.

If you’re asking, “Can we really keep Mom at home?”, the answer is: very often, yes—and now you know what that looks like, what it costs, and how to begin.

Transcript: Prefer to Read — Click to Open

Ted Gudorf (00:48.002)

Good morning everyone, welcome to our podcast. We have a special guest today from right here in Clayton, Ohio. I’d like to introduce to all of you Mike Moyer, the owner of First Light Home Care. Welcome Mike. Hey Mike, your company has been around for quite a while. I’ve worked with you and your assistants for many years. Tell us a little bit about your personal background first. How did you manage to get into the home care business?

Michael Moyer (01:00.035)

Well, thank you, Ted.

Michael Moyer (01:18.479)

Oh, that’s a great question, an interesting one. I was in construction all my life. My grandfather was in the asphalt business and I did that with my family. Pretty much they say I was born with an asphalt lute in my hand and I did that throughout most of my life. in 2009, we were approached as a family about an opportunity in the home care industry. And so as a family, we kind of went and started exploring it and I was really excited

about it at the time in 2009, 2010. And my father and I went and took our certified senior advisor and I got back from that really excited about it. And then I was like, Ooh, I’m, don’t know much about the home care industry and I’m really comfortable in the construction industry. So in 2010, I stayed back, but my mother and father opened First Light Home Care and I believe September of 2010. And I stayed in the construction industry. Fast forward to about 2017,

2018 I was going through a period in my life that that I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and I remembered how how touching it was in 2009 2010 to learn more about that industry so I and my parents were kind of on their way out of first light home care and the senior industry so I came over and started doing some consulting with the with the Caregivers and the operations manager at the time and I fell in love with what we do

caregivers started walking through the door and I was like found out what they did and how they supported the senior community and anybody that needed help at home and I just fell in love with it so I approached my parents in 2008 and asked if I could buy the company off of them and lo and behold two months later they came back to me and said that they would do that and so I bought the company in 2018 and couldn’t be happier every day I love waking up and coming in here and trying to trying to really

I would say trying to take care of the seniors, but for me, it’s more about the caregivers and their experience and what they do. And they’re some of the neatest people that I’ve ever met and I love engaging with them every day.

Ted Gudorf (03:31.02)

Great story. Your parents still with us today?

Michael Moyer (03:34.553)

They’re still with us today. They’re retired, enjoying retirement. They’re out on the road. They bought an RV and they go out on the road and pop in every now and again and check on their boys. My brother still runs the construction end and I run the home care industry now.

Ted Gudorf (03:49.954)

Well let’s talk about First Light then. Tell me, you you’ve had a great history, you’ve been around a while. Let’s talk about today. What does First Light look like? Who do they serve? Where do they serve? Talk to me about that.

Michael Moyer (04:04.343)

Yeah, well First Light in general is a franchise. They’re located out of Cincinnati, Ohio. I personally own four territories from Sydney in the north to about Westchester in the south on the 75 corridor and then from Brookville, Eaton on the

west side all the way over to the east side of Springfield on the 70 corridor. So greater Dayton is what we call it. Serve the senior, we typically serve the senior population, but really anybody over 18 that needs help. I know we have a college student that needs help kind of getting ready for her day. We serve her all the way up to 101 year old in that territory.

Ted Gudorf (04:46.186)

And in terms of the company itself, you say you’ve got four territories. How does the territory part of a franchise, how does that impact the clients you serve?

Michael Moyer (04:58.991)

tell me a little bit more Ted.

Ted Gudorf (05:02.094)

So, do you have four separate offices or is it all a coordinated effort out of one location? Talk to me a little bit about how somebody would communicate with First Light if they’re in say Sydney versus if they’re in Mesa.

Michael Moyer (05:19.585)

Okay, yeah, yeah, we have a centralized office here in Clayton, Ohio, and then we have satellite offices that we operate out of. We have one down in the Centerville area. We co-op with somebody in Springfield that we can do, but we operate out of basically a central location here in Clayton, and then we recruit caregivers in the local cities throughout all four of our territories so that they don’t have far to travel to get there.

Ted Gudorf (05:44.408)

Gotcha. So what does the company look like? How many employees you got? How many caregivers you got? How many people are you serving these days?

Michael Moyer (05:52.355)

We have about 65 caregivers currently. Every Tuesday we do an orientation and typically those look like three to five caregivers that we hire.

We serve about 80 clients right now and we serve veterans. We serve Medicaid and we serve private clients that just call us. We have a community relations specialist that is out there in the community talking to people and letting them know kind of what we do and we get the referrals that way.

Ted Gudorf (06:23.096)

So does the community relations specialist, that’s the person who kind of interacts with somebody like me or my clients to advise them on what you offer and what are the rules of the road so to speak and what the costs are.

Michael Moyer (06:37.753)

Correct, yep, she’s out in the community meeting with people like yourself, some of the facilities that are out there. She has a lot of places to hit, pretty much everybody. That’s, cause that’s been one of the challenges in our industry is that there’s a lot of people that don’t even know what home care is. know, everybody knows.

Ted Gudorf (06:55.628)

Well, let’s talk about that. Yeah. Why don’t you explain that?

Michael Moyer (06:59.567)

Yeah, it’s, you know, the facilities, all the assisted living facilities, independent living facilities, you know, most people know those are out there. They’ve been around for a really long time. They’re great facilities. They work well for a lot of people. Home care, it’s not necessarily new, but it’s new enough that people don’t understand that where they’ve lived their entire lives, they can stay there and have somebody come in and help them through, do the same things that they’ve been doing.

in their home, in the place that they call home. Whether that is a facility or whether it’s an apartment or a house, anywhere that they call home, we can come in and help them.

Ted Gudorf (07:39.938)

So what are the kinds of things that your caregivers help people with?

Michael Moyer (07:44.867)

Yeah, we train them on everything. Dementia care is a really big one right now. Any clients with dementia or Alzheimer’s, there’s a lot that comes with that. But mostly helping them get up and out of bed and ready for their day, get dressed for the day, help them to the restroom if they need it, help them bathe or shower. Mobility, we take them for walks, we play games with them. Some companionship.

We can do some transport to and from, air and running, incontinence care. Yeah, pretty much anything to stay independent. Now it is, because we are home care, is non-medical. It’s considered non-medical. So anything that really breaks the skin or medications, we do not do that.

Ted Gudorf (08:36.536)

So if somebody is at home and does need help with medication but they want to stay home and they want to bring in somebody to help them care, how does that medication piece of it handle?

Michael Moyer (08:49.123)

We work really closely with a couple of different agencies. They’re called home health agencies and they are the medical side of it. So we can get them. We do have an RN on staff that can help coordinate those things as well. But we work closely with home health agencies so we can contact a home health agency and have that nurse come in and work with us. And we work really close with hospice as well. So all of the industries within the senior in home care, home health, we are considered home care and hospice.

work really closely together and complement each other really well.

Ted Gudorf (09:23.16)

So what are the circumstances or situations that are not appropriate for home care?

Michael Moyer (09:31.307)

If it’s high medical, if they have wounds, but we, I say that, but we do still have a lot of clients that have wounds and we help them with all the other stuff. really Ted, don’t think there is a circumstance where home care wouldn’t be appropriate.

Ted Gudorf (09:48.654)

I guess in those circumstances where somebody needs more extensive skilled type care, would that be something that probably is not suitable for home care?

Michael Moyer (10:00.685)

Yes, yeah, that’s a good point. If it’s very intensive, skilled type care, they would be better off probably in a facility where they can get that immediate attention. Now we do have 24-7 care. We have, I believe three clients right now that receive around the clock care where we have a caregiver there all the time. Typically in those situations, they are also working with hospice so they can take care of some of those skilled things.

But yeah, if it’s very, very high need, then we’re probably not appropriate.

Ted Gudorf (10:33.688)

Gotcha. Well that makes sense. Talk to me a little bit about your caregivers. You said that’s kind of your focus and I certainly am very appreciative of the fact that the owner of the company would focus in on the caregivers because they are the most important piece of what you do. How do you go about selecting them to make sure that they are appropriate appropriately trained and educated?

to be able to provide this level of care.

Michael Moyer (11:07.747)

Well, it starts with, I believe it starts with our office personnel, our client care coordinator who kind of goes out and does a start of care with the clients and tries to match the caregivers up. She was a caregiver at a facility for years, had her STNA. Our scheduler was a caregiver for years, has her STNA. Our community relations manager is a caregiver for years. So we try to elevate the people that we’ve had and they know what to look for in the care.

we’re hiring, when we’re interviewing, when we’re hiring, that they know what to look for, what to ask, and how to talk about that. And then our orientation specialist, the person that does the orientation and the training, was a caregiver for us for about four years. you know, on time we got great compliments from the clients, so we elevated her to the trainer. So she has her STNA, which is a state tested nursing assistant, and she takes them over. We have a great training facility with all the things that

you might find in a home and we do about a six hour orientation. We do fingerprint background checks, reference checks, drug screening, and go through the whole process before we ever put them in a home.

Ted Gudorf (12:19.884)

Sounds like there’s an extensive background check on the individuals you hire.

Michael Moyer (12:24.739)

There is, there is, and there are very stringent requirements that if anything is on there, then there are exclusionary periods that if you have, if something comes up on your record, there might be a five-year exclusionary that we can’t hire you. So we just let you know, hey, this is happening, come back in five years and we’ll maybe give it another shot. But yes, there are definitely requirements that we have to make sure that these people are safe in the seniors home.

Ted Gudorf (12:52.44)

Do you have any circumstances or situations in which a caregiver is spending the night at a house? You indicated you have three cases where you’re doing 24-7 care. I suspect they have to sleep at some point.

Michael Moyer (13:06.303)

Technically they’re not supposed to sleep. There are some circumstances. I’ve been out on a case before where the, there was a 24 seven and I fill in for shifts and she said, no, I’m going to bed. You go to bed. Like I don’t need you. Like she just wanted companionship over the night. So in that instance, I, you know, I sat at the kitchen table and just tried to stay awake, but every once in while I’d lay my head down. But yeah, no, they’re, they stay awake. So we try to schedule them for just a night shift. They’re supposed to sleep in the morning and it’s like a third, third shift.

they stay awake because a lot of those people that are the 24 sevens, know, they woke it up in the middle of night and need to go to the restroom or need to do something. So we’re there to to assist with that when they wake up.

Ted Gudorf (13:48.536)

Well know everybody wants to talk about cost so let’s talk about private pay first. What is the range of what somebody’s looking like in terms of cost? Are there minimum costs or the minimum hours? Talk to me a little bit about that.

Michael Moyer (14:05.123)

Yeah, we have no minimum hours at First Light Home Care. Some agencies do have minimum hours, which makes a lot of sense. when we say we don’t have minimum hours because we don’t, but if you want a one hour, oftentimes that’s a bathroom. You need to just bathe the person or shower them. So we’ll come in and give them a quick bath or shower. That ranges from 45 to $55 an hour. It’s just a one hour quick thing. If you want two hours, it’s $45 an hour in our industry. It’s about anything

three hours and up is anywhere from $30 to $35 an hour. And that goes from three hours all the way up to that 24-7.

Ted Gudorf (14:42.902)

And how are people billed? Is there an upfront charge? Is there a deposit? Do you bill them weekly, monthly? How does that work?

Michael Moyer (14:51.513)

Currently there is no deposit. There’s no upfront. would come in, our client care coordinator would come in and explain all the rules, go over all the paperwork, your responsibilities, my responsibilities, get that paperwork signed. And then from there, there is no obligation, right? If you don’t, if you decide that you don’t need anything, you don’t get it, you can schedule us a month out. You can schedule us Monday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. every Monday or whatever you want. And then we bill you weekly.

It’s a simple invoice that goes out. can do ACH or we can do a check or credit card, whatever the most convenient is for the client.

Ted Gudorf (15:30.338)

Now there are some government benefits out here. Let’s talk briefly about those. You know, my firm helps people qualify for Medicaid benefits and for VA aid and attendance benefits. I’m assuming you work with those programs as well.

Michael Moyer (15:46.232)

We do.

We do. Yeah, we have a very good relationship with the VA here in Dayton. They send us referrals over the facts. We get all their information. We call them and schedule the visit. My RN handles all of the VA and she’ll go out there and do a start of care with the VA and then we bill the VA. There’s nothing on the client at that point. They get a certain amount of set hours within the VA that the VA decides and we send the caregiver out to meet that need. And within our scheduling software, there’s

what’s called EVV in this industry, it’s electronic visit verification. So the caregivers clock in on an app and it shows up at their exact clock in time and they clock out when they’re done and that’s to ensure that they’re getting the care that they need. And then Medicaid, yeah, the Area Agency on Aging and Dayton is who handles that and it works the same way. The agency sends us referrals, we reach out to the client, so it’s…

What’s really nice about all of those programs and the private pay is it’s very client directed. They can say, are the hours that I want, these are the days I want. Nobody tells you when we’re going to be there. It’s all up to the client.

Ted Gudorf (16:55.598)

Is the Medicaid assistance program that you primarily work with at home, is it the passport program? Yeah. And on the VA side, is it almost always the aid and attendance benefit that you’re shooting for?

Michael Moyer (17:02.775)

It is the passport program, yes sir.

Michael Moyer (17:12.781)

Not at this point. At this point, it’s all coming from the doctors. The aid and attendance is something that we try to, like you and your firm, we try to ask the appropriate questions and see if it’s an extra benefit that they could qualify for. But right now it’s directed by doctor’s orders.

Ted Gudorf (17:29.912)

So in terms of the current caseload that you have, the 80 folks you talked about, what would your guess be in terms of the number of those that are straight private pay?

Michael Moyer (17:42.447)

Straight private pay, I believe right now I would say about 60 % of all of our clients are straight private pay.

Ted Gudorf (17:50.668)

Okay, very good. at the, something else I want to talk about. In terms of home care, what are the issues, the tough issues that a firm like yours is dealing with? Where are the real hot button issues that we should talk a little bit about?

Michael Moyer (18:14.063)

Real hot button issues right now, Ted, as I think a lot of industries are with is just hiring great caregivers, the good help at the bottom and getting people to recognize, know, this is a, and it’s not recognized, I should take that back. This is a very specific industry and I had to learn that really quickly about who.

who it takes as a human to be a caregiver. It’s all hard. I mean, you have to, it’s a difficult job. mean, like I said, when I started, you know, I told all my, all my, scheduler and everybody like, Hey, I’m happy to go out and care for somebody, but I can’t do personal care. can’t do that incontinence care, helping change the pens, give them showers and stuff. And, and I went to a few clients and eventually that happened to me, honestly. So sorry to go back and talk about myself, but I went to a client’s house and, and it

we had an instance that where I had to step up. And I’ll tell you, Ted, after I did that job.

It was actually one of the more rewarding things in my life to leave there knowing that that we did it together, me and the client with integrity and and that’s what they needed. It’s hard to get past that hurdle in your head that that you’re helping somebody like that. So to find people with that mindset and that heart to really help people in need is a surprisingly difficult, difficult thing. The other thing is with that generation and with the senior

generation right now, I think to help them understand that it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay to have a stranger in your home because they won’t be a stranger very long. The people, that’s why I said when I started meeting these caregivers, I mean they’re not strangers. They are just some of the most compassionate people you’ll ever meet and that’s a hurdle to get the elderly to understand that they won’t be a stranger long and they’re just there to help you.

Ted Gudorf (20:07.97)

Fascinating. Well, if somebody wants to contact First Light and what’s the process? Who do they call? Who do they meet with? How do they evaluate your company and whether it’s appropriate for them?

Michael Moyer (20:29.145)

Yeah, great question. So again, with our, with our community relations manager, they can, they can call, we have a website that they can go to that has a corporate number. And now the website is www.nwdaten.firstlighthomecare.com. It’s a little bit long. Yeah, it’s www.nwdaten.

Ted Gudorf (20:40.578)

What’s the website?

Ted Gudorf (20:50.542)

Could you give me that one more time?

Michael Moyer (20:57.187)

dot first light home care dot com.

or they can call our office at 937-836-9624. Everybody that answers the phone here, we do answer our phone live 24-7. After hours, somebody live will call. Now that one goes to a call center, but it is immediately, we are on call 24-7, and you’ll get a call back within about 10 minutes from somebody in our office. Everybody here is trained to do an intake and ask the proper questions. The way we’ve set it up here too is to be a resource.

not just a company that serves you. You know, we will spend the time to find what you do need. If we’re not appropriate for you and you do need that skilled care, we work closely with a few. We’ll give you a few of those numbers. If you need to go into a facility, there’s a few of them that we can recommend. But we also recommend you do a lot of due diligence in this from a home care agency to a facility to anybody else. But everybody in the office is skilled to do an intake. So we would ask all the questions. How’d you hear about us?

need, who’s calling, who’s the service for, because

As you probably know, a lot times it is the son or daughter that is dealing with this. And sometimes it’s a crisis. You know, they don’t, they don’t know that they’ve needed this until they know that they needed it. So it’s pretty immediate. And then that always goes to our client care coordinator. Her name is Emma Line and she will contact the client and come out to your house. Usually takes about half an hour to an hour to do the assessment. They do a safety assessment of your home. And really at that point is when we make sure that it’s

Michael Moyer (22:35.203)

right for you, that you have a clear understanding of what it is that you’re signing up for and if you truly want to do it. And what I’ve found is that it brings a lot of peace of mind to a lot of people to stay in the place that they’ve known for so many years.

And then we, yeah, we let them know that they sign up for the services, let us know exactly what they want. That all goes back to our scheduler. Our scheduler starts, talks to our client care coordinators, see what exactly they need. We kind of go through all of our caregivers and see who has availability and who has the skills and the kind of personality to match up. Because I’m sure as you know, there’s a lot of personalities in the senior industry. So we try to find the right personality to kind of be able to handle whoever it is.

and then we get them on the schedule, call the client and make sure they’re good with the schedule, let them know who’s coming out. We do an introduction. Our elite caregiver, we call her, goes out and introduces the first caregiver to the client to make sure that it is a good match, stays there for about half an hour, makes sure that everything is getting done properly, and then it goes on from there.

Ted Gudorf (23:44.729)

Boy, that’s all good information, Mike. I really appreciate you being with us today. We’ve run out of time, but boy, great conversation. I know most of my clients would much prefer to stay at home. The issue is whether they can have the help that they need in order to be able to do that. It sounds like your company is able to accomplish that and do it very well. Thanks for being with us today.

Michael Moyer (24:02.989)

Yes.

Michael Moyer (24:09.465)

Thanks so much, Ted. I appreciate the conversation. Have a great day.

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