When family members must provide care for their aging or disabled loved ones, the choices they face can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there’s a trusted home-care company in Mountain Brook that can help.
Always Best Care delivers high-quality caregiving services to seniors and disabled people in the home, as well as in senior living communities or other facilities.
“I understand what families go through in this type of situation, and I’m very passionate that seniors and disabled people have an excellent quality of life,” said Jennifer Mancuso, Always Best Care owner and president.
“I love getting to know the families and helping to provide solutions to their needs,” she said.
The employees at Always Best Care provide a wide array of services, such as bathing, vital sign monitoring, medication reminders, meal preparation, companionship, transportation and incontinence care.
The company seeks to provide the best in-home care services in the area, and it sets “a very high bar” for its employees, Mancuso said.
“We work hard to identify and recruit the most qualified and experienced caregivers in Birmingham,” she said.
A Nashville native, Mancuso attended Duke University and Millsaps College, earning an undergraduate degree in business. She opened the local franchise of Always Best Care in 2013 after working as a senior manager with leading clinical and health management service companies.
The company takes a “concierge approach” to working with clients, Mancuso said. Upon being contacted by a potential client, the Clinical Services Director (who is also a Registered Nurse) and the company’s Sales and Services Director work together to create a customized client care plan.
When Always Best Care begins providing care to a client, one of the company’s office staff professionals goes to the client’s home to introduce them to each new caregiver. “I don’t think another agency in town does caregiver introductions, but we take this extra step to smooth the entrance of the caregiver into the family’s home,” Mancuso said. “The warm introduction also ensures that the caregiver fully understands all aspects of the care plan.”
“At the beginning of the first shift, the staff member introduces the caregiver to the client, reviews the care plan and answers any questions and makes sure we get off to a good start,” Mancuso said. “If it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a great match between the client and the caregiver, then we know that immediately and can change things around.”
The members of the company’s clinical team continue to make regular home visits to make sure the client is healthy and happy and that the care plan is being followed, and the care plan is typically updated at least every 90 days, Mancuso said.
“We also engage with family members and other health care providers to keep them informed about a client’s health and well-being,” she said.
“Many of our clients have family members in other states who are not able to monitor the client’s wellbeing and the daily activities of their loved ones. We can provide another set of eyes and ears,” Mancuso said. “Even in-town family members who are very involved with their parents appreciate that we will let them know should we notice something amiss in the home.”
For example, Always Best Care employees will notice if a patient’s feet are swelling or if he or she is not eating properly or bathing regularly.
“We have a hard-working team who cares about our clients. We are very involved in our clients’ lives and we also are engaged with the client’s family members,” Mancuso said.
In early 2023, the company plans to roll out an in-home, artificial intelligence monitoring system. The product will allow Always Best Care to combine top-quality, in-person service and virtual, remote support. The system is an exciting project for the company as it will allow clients who are not able to afford around-the-clock care to receive the care services they can afford, as well as 24/7 monitoring.
“The system is designed to flag anomalies before they become serious problems, allow clients to age in place and avoid frequent hospital visits,” Mancuso said.
In addition, Always Best Care provides more than just caregiving services. The company helps its clients identify “other valuable resources in the community that can help families,” Mancuso said.
These resources include companies or organizations that provide hospice care, skilled nursing, case management, senior placement services, estate planning and other financial services. There are also organizations that will send nurses or nurse practitioners to a home so that an elderly person can get a checkup without going to the doctor's office, Mancuso said.
Unlike many other local homecare companies, Always Best Care is fully accredited and is the only company in Alabama to be accredited by both the Accreditation Commission for Healthcare and the National Association for Homecare and Hospice, according to Mancuso.
Always Best Care, with 180 employees, is also “one of our franchise company’s fastest-growing agencies in the United States,” she said.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Always Best Care has broadened its range of services by providing staffing work in area hospitals, “There is a workplace shortage of employees, and we will fill the gaps so that they will have sufficient staff,” Mancuso said.
Always Best Care continually strives to provide the highest quality of service. “We routinely survey our clients, as well as our employees, to ensure that they are extremely satisfied with Always Best Care,” Mancuso said. “Any identified issues are swiftly remedied. We are constantly working to improve our protocols.”
Her work at Always Best Care is very gratifying for Mancuso.
“I feel like we are doing something good every day,” she said. “In this field, you can make a positive contribution to another person’s life. I sold software and consulting services in the past. You don’t get the same sense of accomplishment from selling software.”
Mancuso stays active in her community by supporting Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama, the Parkinson’s Association, the Tanner Foundation, Encore Community Respite Ministry and the Mountain Brook Police Department.
