Home Care Questions and Answers

Home care is hands-on help with daily life at home, such as bathing, dressing, meals and companionship, so a person can keep living there. In New Jersey, agencies that place caregivers in the homes of seniors and people with a disability are called Health Care Service Firms and must register with the state. View the care we offer.

Home care provides help with daily living, while home health care is skilled medical care for an illness or injury. Medicare describes home health as services such as part-time or intermittent skilled nursing and therapy, and covers aide help only alongside that skilled care. Home care covers the everyday support that home health usually does not, such as bathing and dressing when that is the only help needed.

Award Homecare provides home care, and a registered nurse oversees every care plan. We do not provide skilled nursing or medical care, but we can connect families with a wound care doctor or other providers.

It may be time to consider care when tasks such as bathing, dressing, cooking or moving around the house have become difficult for your loved one to manage alone. The National Institute on Aging lists personal care, meals and housework among the kinds of help older adults may need. Any change in health should be discussed with your loved one's physician, and our free in-home assessment can help determine which support would fit.

Our in-home assessment is free of charge. We meet with you and your loved one at home to discuss the help needed and a workable schedule. To arrange a visit, call 732-994-0309 or request an assessment online.

Care can often start within 24 hours, and at times the same day. If care must begin by a particular date, mention it when you call so we can confirm what is possible. From our office in Toms River, we serve families across Ocean County and Monmouth County.

Our caregivers are background-checked as part of a screening process that also includes references, a certification check, health or TB screening, an interview and training. Award Homecare caregivers are rigorously selected, thoroughly vetted and continuously trained. Families are welcome to ask about our screening before deciding, and to ask the state to verify any nurse or aide license or certification.

A registered nurse oversees every care plan, and each family has a dedicated case manager. Your case manager is your point of contact for any question or concern about care. About Award Homecare.

Certification is a specific state credential, and New Jersey offers a way to check it. A Certified Homemaker-Home Health Aide is an aide certified by the State Board of Nursing. Families may ask the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs to verify whether the nurses or aides an agency sends are licensed or certified. We check certifications as part of our screening, and we are glad to tell you whether the caregiver assigned to your loved one holds one.

For urgent matters, a member of our team will return your call at any time. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 7 PM. Call 732-994-0309 or email info@awardhomecare.com. Our office is at 2214 Route 37 East, Suite 9, Toms River.

Award Homecare LLC holds New Jersey License #HP0314200, a Health Care Service Firm license from the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs. We are also CHAP accredited, and we have been BBB accredited since September 24, 2024, with an A+ rating. The answers below explain how to verify it.

A Health Care Service Firm is a business that places, or arranges the placement of, workers who provide companion, health care or personal care services in the home of a person with a disability or a senior age 60 or older. It is New Jersey's legal term for this kind of agency, and each firm must register with the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs. Under a 2019 state law, accreditation from a state-recognized body is also a condition of registration.

Registration can be checked with the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs, which registers Health Care Service Firms. In a 2016 release, the state advised families to contact the Division to confirm that a firm is registered and whether it has drawn complaints, and to ask the Division to verify whether the nurses or aides the firm sends are licensed or certified. That release lists 1-800-242-5846 (toll free within New Jersey).

The Division also offers an online Regulated Business License/Registration Search with fields for license number and business name. Award Homecare's license number is HP0314200. Our Ocean County page outlines additional checks and local resources.

Award Homecare is insured and bonded, and carries workers' compensation. Our office can provide details of our coverage on request.

Choose an agency whose registration, accreditation, caregiver screening, supervision and pricing you can confirm. At Award Homecare, our team will walk you through each of these, along with minimum hours and who responds when a problem arises, and our state registration can be confirmed with the Division of Consumer Affairs. The Better Business Bureau, where we hold an A+ rating, gives a further view. The National Institute on Aging also publishes questions to ask before hiring a care provider. NIA: services for older adults living at home.

No single agency is the right choice for every family, because the right fit depends on your loved one's needs, schedule, budget and town. A practical approach is to compare agencies on the same checklist: license, accreditation, caregiver screening, nurse oversight and a written price. Our live Google reviews show what clients say, so families can measure Award Homecare against their own list.