Eldercare Services

One of the toughest decisions our family has ever had to make was to enter our sweet and loving grandmother into Hospice Care. I had heard nothing but great things about Elder Care Services and knew that our special lady was in good hands. (Her overly protective grand-​daughter was going to make sure of it!).
During this extremely tough and emotional time we met some of the most thoughtful and compassionate care-​givers who not only provided our grandma with excellent care, but went above and beyond wanting to get to know our «Midge» — even if they were only going to spend one 12-​hour shift with her.
When I reflect back on her final days with us, I cannot imagine what they would’ve been like without Elder Care Services and Gillian as our care manager. Christy, Veronica, Susan, Carolyn, Judy, Kathy, Monique, Faaoso and Kina, who graciously helped us through the final moments with her beautiful calm presence. Our family will be forever grateful.

What an incredible organization for the full spectrum of assistance in caring for seniors. If you are searching for an organization that can assist in navigating the maze of senior services, this is the company for you! From care-​giving to case management and everything in between, Eldercare is there to help you understand the ever-​changing information that we need to work through as our parents and loved ones need more. For over 30 years, Eldercare Services has been consummate professionals assisting families of elders in need of guidance and support. They are incredible.
Anne Sanabria and Cheryl Martin

That’s correct, «As good as it gets.»
Eldercare Services has been providing home care for my 91 year old «cantankerous», otherwise known as hard-​headed, mother for 9 months and what a great help they’ve been.
Being responsible for mom’s well-​being, she’s diagnosed with dementia, I’m her legal conservator, is a challenge. I’m anything but an expert in geriatric care. I’ve learned a lot from the Care Givers and Care Manager. They provide the «heavy lifting» for working with my mom and I’m able to relax and enjoy my time with her.
The Care Givers are AWESOME. They are women who care, care and continue to care about mom. They are my eyes and ears so I learn what’s going on with mom from them. They take mom to all of her appointments and activities. The do exercises, prescribed by her Dr, with her. They go for a ¾ mi walk virtually everyday. They prepare wonderful, healthy meals for her lunch and dinner. They bath her and make sure she’s looking her best. They do some light house work and water the annuals and vegetables I plant. My mom likes them a lot and speaks fondly of them to me.
Here’s an example of helping mom over come a health related problem. Mom had a problem with elevated creatinine levels most likely because didn’t have enough water in her system. She complained that she didn’t want to go to the bathroom. I think she was experiencing «accidents» by not going to bathroom quick enough. The Care Givers solved this problem. There is a glass of water in every room of mom’s house. They remind mom to drink some water regularly AND they «make» her go to the bathroom every 2 hours. My mom does all of this on her own now and her creatinine levels have decreased a little bit!
The Care Manager is a great coordinator of mom’s care with me, the Care Givers and other resources such as Doctors and the programs she has gotten mom involved with. The programs get mom out of the house, alleviating her boredom and increasing her socialization. The Care Givers take her to those programs and take care of chores, like shopping, during the time mom is in the group.
We work closely on improving mon’s care and well-​being. The Care Manager is a wealth of knowledge and has provided suggestions on numerous issues I faced managing mom’s well-​being. The Care Manager’s training as an RN has helped with mom’s medical needs when she was exhibiting symptoms of possible health related problems. We, the Care Givers, Care Manager and myself are a great team and as such are improving the quality of life for mom. Mom’s well-​being is BETTER than when she was living on her own!

We have used Eldercare Services Care Mgt Services for over a year now and are extremely satisfied. We work with Chris Rose-​Franks, an extremely competent and insightful care manager, and have found the other care managers who have filled in for Chris when she’s on vacation to be of high quality as well.
We are a family where it has not been easy coordinating care for our father with advanced Parkinsons, with two of the four family members distant or out of state with the resulting difficult family dynamics. Beside managing our father’s immediate needs Chris is extremely sensitive to the family dynamics, and has handled those dynamics deftly.
These professional services are not cheap, but I can’t say how much time and angst Chris has saved us from. That has been well worth the price. I’m not sure where these few negative reviews come from. There have been no surprises on our bills and Chris has kept a sharp pencil on our behalf. Eldercare Services has exceeded our expectations and I recommend them without reservation.

Eldercare has been helping take care of my elderly mom for almost a year now. Their service and employees are wonderful. For about the first six months while my mom was living alone, in Rossmoor, a caregiver would come to her apartment 2 twice a week. The caregivers, particularly Silvia were extremely kind and helpful. Silvia and my mom always looked forward to their visits and they became friends. Silvia was always helpful getting my mom to the grocery store, taking her shopping etc. In April, because of her deteriorating mental and physical health, my mom moved into a managed care facility in Moraga. Silvia has continued to see her twice a week and my mom enjoys her visits. Sylvia is able to take on outings to coffee shops, etc, that my mom would probably not otherwise enjoy. Silvia is always very warm and reliable and helpful. After my mom’s move to the managed care facility, I’ve also been having one of their Care Managers, Katie, help me with managing all my mom’s medical appointments, pharmacy refills, etc. and in general lining up all her outside medical care. This additional service is rather pricey, but you get what you pay for. Katie has been outstanding in her professionalism, knowledge, and attention to detail and communication. I don’t know how I would have managed to keep track of all my mom’s medical as well as financial affairs without her. I’m the only family my mom has in the Bay Area, and don’t have any help besides Eldercare in managing her outside affairs. I found Eldercare through a recommendation from one of my own doctors who utilized their Case Management service (although it was someone besides Katie) and was equally pleased. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. Their caregiver hourly rates are less than $ 30 which seems quite in line with other companies (we tried one other but they weren’t nearly as good). The Case Worker service is more of a consultant role who and not hands on patient care, with rates to match (well over $ 100/​hour) but as I said, you get what you pay for. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone faced with a similar situation of having to care for an elderly relative and not having much additional family to help out.
–Ed
Walnut Creek, CA

Our family has used Eldercare services multiple times in the last few years. The care was fantastic!
The last time was a nightmare. My review is based on our last experience. My father was dying, he wanted a woman caregiver. Our family called Eldercare many times with high expectations seeking a woman’s care for my father. They could not provide my father’s final wish. They only sent male caregivers out. It cost nearly $ 5,000 to care for my dad, with a caregiver he did not want. It makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it.

Outstanding Results! As a Financial Planner I get involved with my clients far beyond investments and planning. It is very important for me to have a strong network of professionals outside of my skill set.
I have a client that has sole responsibility for caring for his adult disabled sister. Her cancer had just returned and at the same time he was told she could no longer stay at her current care facility as her mental care needs have now exceeded their limits.
I had been following her circumstances and frequently called (call him Bob) my client to see how she was doing. One day Bob, who is in his 60’salled me and was very distraught. He didn’t know where to turn. His sister’s care needs had reached his capacity. He needed to arrange her surgery, post surgery care and arrange transportation for her follow up radiation. At the same time her care facility was demanding she move.
I insisted he call Lori Luckenbach at Eldercare Services. I told Bob to follow her instructions and meet with the people she lines up.
A week later, a totally different, and tearful call from Bob: Kirk, they can do everything.
All the things I’ve worried about for years, they can handle for me.
Beyond that there is extra security around Bob’s biggest fear. If he were to pass before his sister there will be a team that knows his sister and can continue oversight in his absence.
Keep up the great work. I will continue to recommend your services.
Kirk Dobson CFP

*Review written with over 3 years experience of using Eldercare Services* To make the long story short… I reached out to Eldercare Services in 2011, when my best friends passed away tragically in an accident, leaving their 21 year old autistic son (Leo), in my care. For the past 3+ years, Eldercare services has not only been a lifesaver (literally), but they have become a part of our family. They have helped enable Leo to be self sufficient, extended their helping hand with daily chores, cooking, cleaning, and overall true friendship and companionship. They report back to me how he is doing, when he is having good days, bad days, allowing me to peacefully work and live my life, knowing he is in great hands. Without their service, I am afraid of where Leo and myself would be and how he would develop. I am so very grateful for all they have done, and continue to do for our family. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you Eldercare Services for what you do.

Its never easy to make that decision to hire a care giver. Luckily for me and my family we found Eldercare Services. They put all of our concerns at ease and their staff is extremely friendly and professional.
With our busy schedule it’s difficult to give grandma the help and attention she needs. Thankfully that isn’t an issue any longer.
The communication has been great since we signed up back in June and I would highly recommend them to anybody who is looking for similar services.

Finding a good company to ensure your loved ones are well taken care of is one of the most important choices you’ll make in life. I think we made the right choice with Eldercare services for my aunt Emilia. Ever since her husband passed she has had no one to turn to for anything (since all our family is located in So CAL), so it was between relocating her to so cal (which she adamantly refused to do) or finding a good company we could trust. It wasn’t an easy task as we tried out another company that unfortunately did not work out.
The biggest obstacle after our last company was finding the right match for my aunty. Being that I live in LA I couldn’t take a week off work to go up and interview all the different services. Thank goodness a good friend of mine recommended Eldercare, and when I contacted them they were incredibly kind, articulate and prepared to answer all my questions on the spot. We have been with Eldercare Services for over a year now and my aunty is very pleased, which makes us all very happy. I have gone to visit her several times in the last year and she has nothing but great things to say about her caregiver. She does everything with her, and I am happy to know she has a companion to share stories with, play games, go on walks, and she even takes her grocery shopping. Care and attention like this is priceless.
Ultimately, you have to be very careful when hiring a company that will be pretty mich taking care of an elder, It’s almost like hiring a babysitter. I have high expectations and zero tolerance for unprofessional or unfriendly behavior especially when it comes to the treatment of an elder member in our family. After a year with this company I can confidently say I highly recommend Eldercare services. A+ business, A+ professionalism and A++ on the care they provide to their clients.

We engaged Eldercare to help our 95 year old father care for his wife who is declining with serious dementia and many physical problems. Overall we have been very pleased both with the home care providers and the Geriatric Care Manager. The care givers have been patient and helpful; the only complaint is that there has been more turnover than would have been ideal but the coverage was always reliable. The Care Manager volunteered to accompany them on several medical appointments, which was useful because Dad is hard of hearing and his wife is quite confused. We also received helpful information from her on hospital billing, medical transport and respite care. Eldercare is not cheap but the integration and quality of the service is worth the cost. They have been a real life safer this past year.

We have had nothing but wonderful experiences with Eldercare Services. We have found that Eldercare’s home care services (for my grandma) are reliable and their caregivers are professional, kind and very supportive. The caregiver support group helps my family to process things and it brings us comfort during sometimes difficult and/​or sad times. I would definitely recommend their services. The peace of mind is worth every penny!

Hmmm… For some reason, my wife’s review also disappeared. I wanted to repost what she had to say as a warning to others. We hired Eldercare to provide in home services to my mother in law, who was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. The home health workers helped themselves to a significant amount of food. One of them accepted a «gift» from my mother-​in-​law of jewelry, which I had concerns about because she was not in a right state of mind. One would think the company would have policies against this sort of thing. One of them referred to my mother-​in-​law as «crazy» — not a very professional communications style. I would recommend choosing a different service to care for your elderly relative, as I feel this company is not trustworthy, in a business where they need to be above reproach.
In response to Linda F’s comment below: I appreciate the fact that you are now concerned about this. Perhaps you now better screen your employees and perhaps you now have firm policies against employees accepting gifts. However, I stand by the facts as I lay them out above. My situation arose three years ago, so perhaps things have improved, but caveat emptor.

These people do a pretty good job, but, the big caveat is that you have to pay and pay, and pay — so watch out! It is like hiring a lawyer and they charge for their advice by the hour, approx $ 130 per hour so in phone calls this can add up real fast! Try ombudsman services first, and other county or Kaiser social service agencies first. I you live out of town, have an elderly parent who needs care, and you have lots and lots of money, then hire these people.
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