ARTACares Member Testimonial

Margot called HumanaCare through the ARTACares program concerned about her mother’s recent dementia diagnosis.

This onset seemed to come out of nowhere but once she noticed her mom was showing signs, they went to the doctor. The test results did conclude that she had early-onset dementia. Immediately, Margot and her two siblings started to feel overwhelmed as the doctor began to advise them on the series of things that needed to be considered. To complicate things, the coronavirus pandemic created further challenges. Their mother who was 88 years old lived alone in her own house and her safety was now deemed a concern. Their mom had no insight into her condition. She refused in-home help and was still driving to get groceries.

Margot first reached out to HumanaCare wanting information about how to approach a conversation about her mom’s health condition and other resources to guide the family in this new situation. Her mom’s past history was otherwise healthy.

Here is what Margot had to say about her experience with HumanaCare:

I never thought I would need a service like HumanaCare’s as much as I did until my mom’s diagnosis. I had always remembered we had access to the ARTACare’s program. In a short period of time, I was being asked to make some fairly difficult decisions and choices for my mom. Shortly after my mom was diagnosed with her condition, I started to google about her dementia, looked into home care supports and ways in which we could keep mom safe. I did not want her to be alone anymore but she was unable to understand why and was becoming quite angry and upset when we tried to talk to her. Google was overwhelming and websites were contradicting one another. I had no idea where to start or what to do.

The day I called HumanaCare, my stress and anxiety level decreased tremendously. The fact that the nurse that took my call was so empathic and so well versed in how to navigate the exact situation I presented was such a relief. The nurse was one of the friendliest people I had talked to through this whole ordeal. I felt like she was really listening to me and sincerely cared about what I was dealing with. My first call to her was to explain the whole situation and she spent over an hour on the phone with me taking down all the details and the concerns I wanted direction or clarification on. Surprisingly, she told me that I was not alone and that many of the members they support are going through the same scenario. I was assured that they could offer specific guidance and navigation on my mom’s care and support. When I got off the phone that day, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The nurse told me that she was going to pull a series of resources for me and that she was going to put together a report, email it to me and call me back to go over it.

The report I received was so comprehensive and informative. It provided me with some of the most helpful and useful information to help us with moms care. My siblings and I still refer to the report today. Some of the nurse’s recommendations or suggestions were things my siblings and I had no idea about. What was more impressive is not only did the nurse provide me a list of home support services in my mom’s area, she had called the agencies to ask them about their rates and the level of support that they could offer so I did not have to do that first discovery call.

The section in the report called ‘how to talk to your parents about needing support or assistive living’ was so helpful and assisted us in getting mom to agree to tours of assisted living facilities. As the nurse indicated, often a tour draws them into the many social and activity options available. It was a much easier conversation after that.

Today, we are still navigating mom’s condition and care but we were able to get homecare support in place for her with the help of HumanaCare until we are able to move her to an assisted living facility. I have been beyond grateful and impressed the with level of support that the HumanaCare’s nurse has provided our family. Her guidance and recommendations have allowed us the opportunity to really provide our mom the best care options and supports. That is a really good feeling and we are forever grateful.

ARTACares is provided by HumanaCare, an Alberta-based health and wellness provider with more than thirty-five years of Canadian health care experience. ARTACares is included
in all ARTA Extended Health Care plan options — there is no additional cost to you to use this service.

You can access ARTACares by calling 1-888-327-1500