By Benjamin Goodin
Certainly, we all have plans for our retirement years. After a lifetime of working, saving, raising the kids, and scratching out a living and a legacy in the best way we each know how, finally the time for rest and leisure has come. Time to enjoy the freedom you earned for your retirement — except for when life intercedes. Sometimes, your health and your body have different plans for your later life, plans that may hinder your dreams for your “golden” years.
Things may have changed — maybe getting up and down stairs has become more challenging and unsafe. Perhaps driving is restricted by doctor’s orders. Possibly, even getting around the kitchen and reaching to high cabinets to make a meal is proving troublesome or even impossible. Perhaps you now struggle to perform simple tasks like taking your medication, bathing, and possibly even dressing. Everyday things that were so routine in youth may have you reconsidering living life out in your well-loved home, but it’s not time to forfeit the dream quite yet.
Seniors facing a possible deferment of retirement plans is no surprise to Donna Albert, founder and owner of Golden Dreams Homecare, LLC, “Coming from a family of caregivers, caregiving has been a part of my life since I can remember.” Being well acquainted with the struggles of the elderly and those with health challenges, Donna knows exactly how to help when it comes to concerns of staying independent while aging in place. Mostly, it seems, they just need to be made to feel comfortable and safe, the rest is just details for her caregiving staff at Golden Dreams Homecare.
The first step is an open ear. A professional consultant with Golden Dreams Homecare can visit with individuals or families for no charge, right in their home to listen to concerns and to assess the needs and physical surroundings of a person. After the initial consultation, the staff works to arrange the appropriate services for you or your family member, personalizing your selected services. You can arrange for as little or as much in-home care as you desire, and the professional staff of Golden Dreams Homecare may suggest a few services to help you live your best independently — they may even be able to arrange for assistance you didn’t know was available. Even when your needs change or something urgent happens outside of your regularly scheduled services, Golden Dreams’ staff is available and willing to adapt with just a phone call.
No matter how little or how much care you require or desire, you only receive the services you are comfortable with, that includes your caregiver as well. Golden Dreams works hard to ensure its employees are credentialed to offer you caregiving expertise, but they also understand that a large part of providing quality care is feeling safe and comfortable with who you invite into your home and trust with sometimes very personal needs. All of their caregiving staff is devoted to excellent service, but Donna and the Golden Dreams administrative team will work their hardest to ensure your caregiver is a match for your personality as well.
Once you’ve scheduled services for care, you can rest easy. Golden Dreams caregivers are carefully selected, bonded, and insured for your protection. Each potential candidate undergoes rigorous initial and ongoing training to make sure that they are always abreast of industry best practices. Your challenges may be similar to others in your position, but you are not. The Golden Dreams Homecare staff is more than just experienced professionals, they’re compassionate, concerned people with a genuine interest in your wellbeing. Just as Donna founded the company with sympathy towards those in need of in-home assistance, her caregivers are similarly motivated to do more than minister to your needs — they treat you with the kindness and understanding that all humans deserve. You’re not just a client; you’re family.
The altruistic spirit innate in the company culture of Golden Dreams Homecare reaches beyond the home as well. Staff and management alike can be found active in the community, supporting and volunteering their time to local charities and parallel organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association and even The Child Care Resource Center.
They are also a licensed homecare agency providing services for the Department of Veteran Affairs, and a Medicaid provider for the state of Iowa. Serving Iowa, Illinois, and the Quad Cities and surrounding areas, this trusted homecare agency reaches as far as the Clinton and Muscatine communities as well. Golden Dreams Homecare is also partnered with Genesis Hospital as one of their preferred providers.
Golden Dreams Homecare’s wholehearted devotion to genuine compassion and integrity recently earned the company the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Ethics for 2018.
Sometimes, unexpected challenges stand in the way of our goals, but those obstacles aren’t impassible barriers barring you from your dreams for your golden years. When an obstruction to your independence interferes in your journey, reach out to Golden Dreams Homecare. To them, helping you overcome challenges is more than their specialty; it is their privilege to assist.
List of services
3 to 24-hour personal and assisted care
Respite care for family
Post-hospital care
Transportation (shopping / errands)
Appointments
Housekeeping / laundry
Medication reminders
Meal planning and preparation
Personal care (bathing / dressing)
Fall prevention
Assistance with exercise and physical therapy
Companionship
Scheduling of appointments and monetary management
Other activities of daily living
Facility staffing
Our services include long-term or short-term care, be it in assisted or independent living, your personal residence, a nursing home, or while in the hospital.
Funding sources
Medicaid
Managed care insurance
Veterans administration
Private pay
Long-term care insurance
Workers compensation
State agencies
*Funding sources vary from state to state
Locally owned and operated, Golden Dreams was founded in 2003 and serves the entire Quad Cities and surrounding communities.
Offering a wide range of affordable and dependable home care services, Golden Dreams Homecare provides professional care
to you or your loved one wherever you call home.
For more information, visit goldendreamshomecare.com, or call 309-764-4653 in Illinois and 563-386-6246 in Iowa.1930 Grant St., Bettendorf, IA 52722.