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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
- 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.
- In-home assessment (30–60 minutes): Safety walkthrough, goals, medical context, and a priority checklist for tasks.
- Care plan & schedule: You choose days and times; the office proposes caregivers with the right skills and availability.
- First visit introduction: The elite caregiver provides the warm hand-off and confirms the day’s routine.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- List your non-negotiables. Safety risks, daily pain points, and the times of day help is most needed.
- Call early—even if you’re “just exploring.” You’ll get realistic pricing and can schedule a no-pressure in-home assessment.
- Coordinate benefits. If Medicaid or VA support might apply, get an eligibility review and ensure your legal and financial planning dovetail with care needs.
- 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.