Most families put off a free in-home assessment for months, and cost is rarely the reason: they simply don't know what they'd be agreeing to. Here's what actually happens: one person visits for about an hour, asks how your parent's days and nights really go, looks around the home, and leaves you with a specific recommendation and a specific price, with nothing to sign.
Nothing Is Signed
There's no contract at an assessment, no deposit and no obligation. Letting us in the door doesn't commit you to starting care.
Plenty of families have an assessment and decide to wait, and that's a perfectly good outcome. They know what help would look like and what it would cost, and they can come back to it when the time is right. Many people find that simply knowing the answer takes some of the pressure off.
Who Comes, and for How Long
One person from our team visits, and it usually takes about an hour. We'll come at a time that suits you.
Two things make the hour more useful. It helps if the family member who knows the day-to-day is there, the one who does the drives and takes the calls. And include your parent. It's her home and her life, and the conversation goes better when she's part of it rather than talked around.
What You'll Be Asked
Most of the hour is a conversation about ordinary days. What time does she get up, and is getting up hard? How do washing and dressing go? What did she eat yesterday? An honest answer to that one tells us more than a general "she eats fine." How are the nights?
We'll also ask what she still does for herself and is proud of. A good plan protects those things instead of taking them over, and they're often what keeps someone going.
Then come the practical details: her medications and when she takes them, any recent falls or near misses, any hospital stays, and who else is involved, whether that's neighbors, a day program or other relatives. If she's recently come home after a hospital stay, our article on home care after hospital discharge explains what those first weeks tend to look like.
What the Family Is Already Covering
We'll ask about you, too. Who drives over, and how often? Who makes the calls and takes them? Who has used a day off work this month?
What the family is already carrying shapes the plan as much as anything about your parent. Care should take real weight off you, so we need to know where that weight sits right now.
A Look Around the Home
We'll walk through the house with you and look at the stairs, the bathroom, the lighting, any loose rugs, and the route from bed to bathroom at night, since that's when many falls happen.
This isn't an inspection, and nobody's grading your housekeeping. We're looking for the handful of changes that would make the biggest difference, and some of them cost almost nothing.
What You Get at the End
You'll get a specific recommendation (how many hours, on which days, and what the caregiver would help with) and a specific figure for what it costs. You won't get a range or an "it depends." If the plan needs to change later, you'll know exactly where you started. If around-the-clock help is on the table, our overview of 24-hour home care services is worth reading beforehand.
Questions Worth Asking Us
The assessment goes both ways. These questions tell you a lot about any home care agency:
- Who employs the caregiver? At Golden Years, caregivers are our own W-2 employees, never contractors.
- What happens when the regular caregiver is sick or on vacation?
- How do you match caregivers to clients?
- Can we change caregivers if it isn't working?
- Can the hours flex as needs change?
If you're told your parent needs less help than you expected, take that as a good sign. An agency that recommends fewer hours than you were braced for is giving you an honest answer.
What Happens Afterward
If you want care to start, it can usually begin within a day or two. If you don't, nothing happens. The recommendation is yours to keep, and you can come back to it whenever you're ready.
How Golden Years Helps
Golden Years is a family-owned agency that has supported California families since 1996. After an assessment we can arrange personal home care for help with bathing and dressing, companion care for company, meals and errands, or 24-hour live-in care when someone needs to be there around the clock. A care manager oversees every care plan.
When you're ready, schedule your free in-home assessment. Whether your family is weighing a few hours a week, dementia care, Alzheimer's care at home or full 24 hour home care, you'll leave with a clear plan and a clear price. Licensed Home Care Organization #344700040.
