Emerald Elite’s John Fox (left) and Ernesto Olivas (right) with a patient. (Photo by Steven Alpert/New Pelican)
Martin Lenkowski | New Pelican Writer
Ernesto Olivas, founder and owner of Emerald Elite Senior Home Care, said home care workers have three main goals when caring for seniors: reducing the risk of falls, making sure medications are taken properly and ensuring healthy meals are eaten for proper nutrition.
Olivas founded Emerald Elite about 12 years ago and says to his knowledge it is the only LGBT-specific home health agency in the U.S. South Florida’s population, with both a large retirement population and a large LGBT community, is well suited to this business model.
“We’re the largest source of male caregivers,” Olivas said, adding that they excel at working with male patients: “A wife who’s 5’2″ tall may not be able to lift her 6’2″ tall husband who has fallen.”
Olivas, who is originally from Austin, Texas’ Hill Country, said the majority of his clients are men: “Their spouses or partners can’t take care of them anymore,” he said, “or their younger spouses are working and need someone to accompany them for safety.”
Emerald Elite provides home health aides and certified nursing assistants to individuals and families in their homes or facilities, offering a wide range of services from escort, transportation and light housekeeping to assistance with grooming, toileting, bathing, dressing, walking, taking medication and all the other activities of daily living that can be tedious for older adults.
Next to fall prevention and medication reminders, proper nutrition is essential in caring for the elderly. “You need to make sure you’re only eating healthy foods,” he says. He recalls meeting a couple who had been eating nothing but microwaved dinners for two and a half years. “Just imagine the amount of sodium,” he said.
Older patients may not be able to stand for long periods of time, which cooking requires, he said. At that point, people may find they need to call in service. “Not only for safety, but for companionship,” Olivas added.
When Emerald Elite receives a call for service, it typically sends three potential caregivers to give the client a choice. “It’s about relationships,” Olivas says. One time, they had a client from Wisconsin who was of German descent. By pure coincidence, one of the three they sent was from the same part of Germany and was able to converse with the client in German.
Similar geographies could play a big role: “New Yorkers have to do it with New Yorkers,” Olivas said.
And sometimes patients and potential caregivers bond simply over a common interest: “I want to talk about soccer,” a male patient might say, Olivas says. In that case, the patient is matched with a soccer-watching caregiver or chaperone, allowing them to easily bond with each other.
For more information, visit emeraldelitecare.com or call 954-629-1377. Emerald Elite Senior Home Care is a New Pelican advertiser.
