Services · Sidney area · Ohio
Home care services in Sidney, Ohio
You can book three types of service on Elaine: personal care, companionship and homemaking. Personal care is hands-on help with the body, companionship is presence and engagement, homemaking is the upkeep of the home. Any of them can be requested on demand or scheduled, and a single visit can combine them.
Overview
The three services compared
What each service covers, side by side.
| Personal care | Companionship | Homemaking | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hands-on help with the body | Presence and engagement | Upkeep of the home |
| Typical tasks | Bathing · dressing · grooming · toileting · feeding · transfers | Conversation · games · walks · errands · appointments · check-ins | Cleaning · laundry · meals · dishes · groceries · pet care |
| Who it is for | Someone who needs help with activities of daily living | Someone living alone, isolated, or needing supervision | Someone whose home is harder to keep than they are to care for |
| Physical contact | Yes | No | No |
| Relative cost | Highest of the three | Lower | Lower |
Personal care
What is personal care?
Personal care is hands-on help with the activities of daily living: the everyday tasks that keep someone clean, safe and comfortable at home. It is the service families ask for when a parent can still live at home but can no longer manage their own body without help, and it is the one that most often follows a fall, a hospital discharge or a new diagnosis.
Personal care visits on Elaine are performed by caregivers who hold a current Ohio STNA or CNA certification, verified against the state registry, because the work involves touching, lifting and supporting another person safely.
What a visit can include
- Bathing, showering, grooming and skin care
- Dressing and undressing
- Mobility, transfers and fall prevention
- Toileting and continence support
- Feeding and help with eating
- Medication reminders, not administration
What it does not include
- Injections, wound care or any skilled nursing
- Administering medication
- Physical therapy or clinical treatment
Personal care is not home health. Home health is skilled, clinical care ordered by a physician.
Where it is available · personal care is available in the Sidney area wherever certified caregivers have joined. See areas served.
Companionship
What is companionship?
Companionship is social and emotional support: a reliable person who spends time with your loved one, keeps them engaged, and checks that all is well. It is the service families choose when the problem is not the body but the hours alone — and it is often the first care a parent will accept, because it does not feel like care.
Companionship does not require an STNA or CNA, though every caregiver on Elaine is still identity-verified and background-checked. Each visit ends with a note to the family describing how it went.
What a visit can include
- Conversation and company
- Games, hobbies and activities
- Accompaniment on walks or errands
- A ride to a clinic or pharmacy, and staying through the appointment
- A regular check-in and a set of extra eyes at home
- Reminders and light encouragement through the day
What it does not include
- Hands-on personal care such as bathing or toileting
- Any medical or clinical task
If the caregiver would need to touch the person to help them, request personal care instead.
A parent living alone
A standing weekly visit so someone is checking in, and the family hears how it went.
A spouse who needs supervision
The other spouse can leave the house for a few hours knowing someone is there.
Appointments and errands
A ride to the clinic or the pharmacy, with the caregiver staying through the appointment.
Where it is available · companionship is available across the Sidney area. See areas served.
Homemaking
What is homemaking?
Homemaking keeps a home clean, safe and organized so your loved one can stay comfortable in it: the light household tasks that get harder to manage alone. It is about the house, not the body, and it is often what keeps a fall risk from becoming a fall — fresh food in the kitchen, clear floors, laundry done.
It is light work done during a normal visit, not a cleaning service, and it does not require an STNA or CNA. Homemaking is frequently added to a personal care or companionship visit rather than booked on its own.
What a visit can include
- Light cleaning and tidying: kitchen, bathroom and floors
- Laundry and linens
- Meal preparation and kitchen clean-up
- Grocery shopping and errands
- Pet feeding and short walks
- Help keeping the home safe and clutter-free
What it does not include
- Heavy or deep cleaning, or anything requiring specialist equipment
- Yard work, repairs or moving furniture
- Anything that needs a ladder
- Any medical or personal-care task requiring certification
Where it is available · homemaking is available across the Sidney area. See areas served.
Choosing
Which one should I request?
Choose personal care if the person needs hands-on help with any activity of daily living. Choose homemaking if the home is the problem, not the person. Choose companionship if the need is isolation, supervision or someone to go places with. When in doubt, choose personal care: it is the broadest, and a personal care visit can include companionship and homemaking tasks.
Most visits combine services: help getting up and dressed, then breakfast and dishes, then a walk. You pick the type when you request the visit. For what a visit costs, see the pricing page.
Your questions answered
Common questions about services
What is the difference between personal care and companionship?
Personal care is hands-on help with the body: bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding, moving. Companionship is presence and engagement: conversation, activities, errands, a check-in. If the caregiver needs to touch the person to help them, it is personal care.
Can one visit include more than one service?
Yes. Most visits do. A morning visit might be help getting up, bathed and dressed (personal care), breakfast and dishes (homemaking) and a walk (companionship). You choose the type of care when you request the visit; the care plan lists the tasks.
Do caregivers need a certification for personal care?
Yes. Personal care on Elaine requires a current Ohio STNA or CNA, verified against the state registry. Companionship and homemaking do not, though every caregiver is identity-verified and background-checked.
Is personal care the same as home health care?
No. Home health is skilled, clinical care ordered by a physician: nursing, wound care, therapy. Personal care is help with daily activities, and no doctor's order is needed to request it.
Arrange care in Sidney
The Elaine Care app is free on iOS and Android. Set up takes about five minutes.
