The SILK home care answer desk
Frequently Asked Questions About In-Home Care
Clear answers about services, caregivers, scheduling, Medicaid/PASSPORT, private pay, personal care, dementia support, rural availability, overnight care, and what happens after you contact SILK.
- What kind of help can a caregiver provide?
- How much will care cost?
- Does SILK accept Medicaid/PASSPORT?
- How are caregivers screened?
- Can care begin quickly?
- What happens when a caregiver calls off?
- Can I speak directly with the owners?
Find the answer faster
Choose the category that matches your question.
This page is specifically about hiring and working with SILK. For public programs, transportation, meals, veterans resources, Adult Protective Services, and broader care decisions, use the Southern Ohio Senior Care Resource Hub.
Getting Started
Fit, first call, timing, preparation, and resistance to care.
Jump to answers →Services & Boundaries
Personal care, homemaking, medication reminders, discharge, hospice, and home health.
Jump to answers →Payment & Coverage
Medicaid/PASSPORT, private pay, costs, minimums, Medicare, and service areas.
Jump to answers →Caregivers & Scheduling
Screening, matching, consistency, call-offs, overnight care, and concerns.
Jump to answers →Have these details ready
- The exact service address
- What changed and when
- The help needed during a normal visit
- Requested days, times, and shift length
- Mobility, memory, pets, smoking, and home conditions
- Medicaid/PASSPORT authorization or private-pay plan
- The family’s timing and biggest concern
Before you call
A few details help us give you a better answer.
You do not need a formal care plan or perfect program vocabulary. Start with the address, what is becoming difficult, when help is needed, and how the family expects to pay for care.
A town name or ZIP code may hide a long rural drive. Medicaid authorization may approve a service without creating an available caregiver. A hospital discharge tomorrow requires different planning than care needed next month.
Getting started
Before care begins.
How to decide whether care may fit, what the first conversation covers, and what happens when the person needing help is uncertain or resistant.
How do I know whether in-home care is right for my loved one?
Home care may fit when a person wants to remain at home but needs help with bathing, dressing, toileting, mobility, meals, laundry, housekeeping, companionship, reminders, supervision, errands, or caregiver relief. It may also help after hospitalization or when dementia changes daily routines.
Home care is not automatically the right answer when the person needs emergency treatment, continuous clinical monitoring, unsafe transfers that available caregivers cannot complete, or a level of supervision the home cannot sustain.
What happens when I first contact SILK?
Susan or Ehren will ask what changed, where care is needed, what the person can and cannot do, the requested days and hours, the expected payment source, and the family’s timing. The next step may be a longer care conversation, an assessment, verification of authorization, schedule review, or a referral to another resource.
The first call is a fit-and-next-step conversation—not a promise that care can begin before the details are reviewed.
What information should I have ready before calling?
Have the exact service address, requested schedule, main care needs, mobility status, memory or behavioral concerns, pets or smoking in the home, relevant household conditions, payment source, current authorization if applicable, and the desired start timeframe. A brief description of a typical morning or evening is often more useful than a diagnosis alone.
How quickly can care begin?
The timeline depends on the exact address, urgency, requested hours, shift length, care needs, payment source, authorization requirements, caregiver availability, required onboarding or matching, travel, and whether the plan can be staffed responsibly. SILK does not promise a start date until those details are confirmed.
What if my parent or spouse refuses to accept a caregiver?
Resistance is common, especially when the person fears losing independence, feels embarrassed, has dementia, or does not believe help is necessary. Families often have better results when they begin with a specific practical need, offer choices, avoid arguing, and introduce help gradually.
A caregiver should not force non-emergency care. When a client refuses a task, the caregiver can try a calm approach, document and report the refusal, contact the supervisor when appropriate, and seek emergency help if immediate danger develops. The conversation guide can help families prepare.
Services and boundaries
What SILK can—and cannot—do.
Clear boundaries protect the client, caregiver, family, and care plan. SILK provides non-medical home care rather than skilled clinical treatment.
What types of home care does SILK provide?
SILK provides non-medical support that may include personal care, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, mobility assistance, homemaking, laundry, light housekeeping, meal preparation, companionship, errands, reminders, respite, dementia support, post-hospital help, and overnight or extended schedules when available.
The exact tasks depend on the person’s needs, care plan, authorization, safety, caregiver training, household conditions, and SILK policy.
Is SILK a medical home health agency?
No. SILK provides non-medical in-home care. Caregivers support activities of daily living and household routines but do not replace skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, physician-directed treatment, or emergency medical care.
A person may receive non-medical home care from SILK while also receiving skilled home health, hospice, therapy, or other clinical services from separate providers.
Can SILK caregivers help with medications?
Caregivers may provide reminders or other medication-related assistance permitted by the person’s care plan, authorization, caregiver role, applicable requirements, and SILK policy. They do not independently prescribe medication, change dosages, diagnose side effects, or make clinical decisions.
Medication setup, administration, injections, clinical assessment, and delegated tasks must follow the appropriate professional, regulatory, and care-plan requirements. Learn more on the medication reminder page.
Can SILK help after a hospital or rehabilitation discharge?
Yes. Non-medical support may include bathing, dressing, mobility assistance consistent with the care plan, meals, laundry, light housekeeping, companionship, errands, reminders, and help re-establishing a safer daily routine. SILK does not replace discharge instructions, skilled nursing, therapy, or follow-up medical care.
Families should contact SILK before discharge whenever possible so the address, timing, schedule, equipment, household needs, and staffing can be reviewed. See post-hospital support.
Can SILK work alongside hospice or skilled home health?
Yes. Non-medical caregivers can support daily living and household needs while hospice, home health, nurses, therapists, or physicians manage clinical services. Each provider has a separate role. SILK caregivers follow the SILK care plan and supervisory process rather than accepting new clinical instructions directly from family members or another provider without appropriate review.
Payment and coverage
Who pays—and who decides.
Medicaid/PASSPORT, Medicare, private pay, and provider availability are separate parts of the decision. Approval does not automatically create staffing.
Which counties does SILK serve through Medicaid or PASSPORT?
SILK’s core Medicaid/PASSPORT service counties are Ross, Jackson, Gallia, Pike, and Vinton Counties. Eligibility, enrollment, authorized services, and approved hours are determined by the appropriate administering agencies—not by SILK.
Service also depends on the exact address, care needs, requested schedule, authorization, caregiver availability, travel, and caregiver fit. Use the service-area hub or the Ohio PASSPORT guide for more detail.
Is private-pay home care available?
Yes. SILK provides private-pay care in its core counties and evaluates requests in additional Southern Ohio communities. Private pay allows the family and SILK to arrange services directly without waiting for Medicaid program authorization.
Availability still depends on the exact address, requested schedule, care needs, travel, caregiver availability, and whether the plan can be staffed responsibly.
How much does home care cost, and are there minimum hours?
Rates, minimum shift requirements, and scheduling terms can vary based on the service arrangement, location, care needs, requested hours, and current operating conditions. SILK will provide current pricing and applicable minimums after understanding the request.
Do not rely on an old website price, social-media post, or another agency’s rate. Call for the current SILK terms that apply to the actual schedule.
Does Medicare pay for ongoing non-medical home care?
Medicare generally does not pay for ongoing custodial personal care—such as bathing, dressing, toileting, homemaking, or meal support—when that is the only care needed. Medicare may cover qualifying skilled home health services under specific requirements.
Families should verify coverage with Medicare or their plan. For broader guidance, visit the Southern Ohio Senior Care Resource Hub.
Caregivers and scheduling
The people and reliability questions.
Families are not only hiring tasks. They are allowing someone into a private home, often during vulnerable routines. Fit, communication, supervision, and schedule realism matter.
How are SILK caregivers screened and prepared?
SILK caregivers complete required application, screening, background-check, onboarding, orientation, policy, and role-appropriate training or competency steps before assignment. The exact requirements depend on the caregiver’s role, authorized tasks, applicable program rules, and the needs of the client.
Screening reduces risk but cannot predict every future action. Ongoing supervision, reporting, communication, and prompt response to concerns remain important.
Can we meet the caregiver, and will we always have the same person?
SILK considers care needs, location, schedule, personality, household conditions, caregiver skills, travel, and availability when matching. When timing permits, the start process can include an introduction and review of the care plan.
Consistency is preferred because trust and familiarity matter, but the same caregiver cannot be guaranteed for every visit. Illness, time off, turnover, emergencies, authorization changes, and schedule changes may require another qualified caregiver.
What happens if a caregiver calls off or the schedule changes?
SILK communicates with the client or designated family contact and attempts to arrange appropriate coverage when available. Immediate replacement cannot be guaranteed for every call-off, especially in rural areas, short shifts, overnight schedules, severe weather, or highly specific care situations.
Families should maintain an emergency backup plan for essential needs. SILK should be notified as early as possible when the client’s schedule, location, hospitalization status, or care needs change.
Does SILK offer overnight or 24-hour care?
Overnight and extended schedules may be available when the address, care needs, requested hours, payment source, authorization, staffing, travel, and caregiver fit align. A continuous 24-hour plan normally requires multiple caregivers working separate shifts; it is not one caregiver working continuously.
SILK does not make a blanket promise that every around-the-clock request can be staffed. See overnight and 24-hour care.
Can SILK communicate with adult children who live out of town?
Yes, when the client or authorized decision-maker permits it and communication follows applicable privacy, consent, and care-plan requirements. The family should identify the primary contact, backup contact, decision-maker, preferred communication method, and which changes should trigger a call.
How are concerns or complaints handled, and can I speak with the owners?
Yes. Families can speak directly with SILK co-owners Susan or Ehren. Concerns should be reported promptly with the date, time, caregiver, task, and what occurred. SILK can review the situation, speak with the appropriate people, document the concern, determine next steps, and adjust the plan or assignment when appropriate.
Call 911 for immediate danger or a medical emergency. Suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation may also require a report to the appropriate public authority.
What our answer should sound like
Honest planning includes what we will not promise.
Trust is built by explaining what is known, what still needs verified, and what would make a plan unsafe or unreliable.
Give the family a direct, realistic answer.
- Listen to what changed before recommending a service.
- Explain non-medical care versus clinical care.
- Review address, schedule, needs, payment, and staffing.
- Clarify what SILK controls and what another agency decides.
- Communicate concerns, limits, and next steps plainly.
- Protect dignity, privacy, and remaining independence.
Availability or outcomes that are not verified.
- A start date before authorization, route, and staffing are confirmed.
- The same caregiver for every visit without exception.
- Immediate replacement coverage for every call-off.
- Medicaid eligibility, approved hours, or Medicare coverage.
- Clinical services outside SILK’s non-medical role.
- A 24-hour schedule that cannot be staffed responsibly.