AltaGolden Elder Care/Adult Day Care

The Short Version ~
Without hesitation I recommend Laura and Alta Golden for anything to do with adult care. They did an amazing job with and for my dad.
The Gory Details ~
We have endured the loss of 3 family members over the last 18 months. In August of 2013 we lost our sister to a bad driver. Then, in July of 2014, we lost our dad’s 2^nd love-​of-​his-​life after their 15-​year relationship. Dad had just returned from a month-​long ordeal in a local, highly rated, skilled nursing facility (SNF — sniff). That facility for dad was a «less-​than» experience. He came home completely bedridden, having gone in with the ability to walk with a cane.
We interviewed several in-​home service providers and settled on Laura and her team. They would be responsible for all of dad’s daily care, maintenance, doctor visits, medications, meals, re-​ambulation ~ everything.
At our insistence, they set-​up 5 rotating in-​home ²⁴⁄₇ caregivers; with the primary goal of re-​ambulating him ASAP. We knew his recovery/​rehab was going to take a few months. Dad had a vibrant and amazing mind — we did not want him to get bored with the same stories from the same person too quickly; or have a possible personality clash he would have to endure for a long period.
I spent quite a bit of time with dad and the AltaGolden team starting at the end of July, learning from, watching, and interacting with all of them. The care and caring were evident; it was not just a show for me, it was clearly their modus operandi.
Dad had no loss of mental faculties — so he and I discussed his likes and dislikes about his situation and the individual caregivers. He did state often that none of them could cook like mom or his 2^nd life-​partner — but, he respected them and appreciated what they did for him.
In late November, he had recovered a good portion of his ability to ambulate with a walker. Thanks in large-​part to AltaGolden — and his drive to be self-​sufficient again. We gave the caregiver that weekend off. He and I were headed out to dinner one evening and while getting in the car, I was not attentive enough, or close enough to catch him ~ he fell; breaking his hip. The story of his health and efforts to recover again ended on January 21^st, 2015, when he passed with me sitting by his side.
Throughout his decline after the fall and ongoing hospitalization, Laura and her team continued to help, be supportive, and present without requesting compensation of any kind.
Bottom Line ~
I consider Laura and members of her team extended family — they provided quality care to dad and peace of mind to our family; we trusted them in caring for dad and would do so again without hesitation.

In 2008 my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She already lived with us and was able to care for herself during the day while my husband and I were at work. We noticed mid way through 2012 that the disease was causing her to decline and she was becoming unable to initiate daily living tasks (bathing, eating, picking up after herself). We made daytime as easy as possible with easy premade food items that could just be taken out of the fridge and consumed, which she still found difficult to do. We started to engage mom in discussions to get some help for her during the day while we were away. The discussions did not go well and she did NOT want a «stranger» to help her during the day. I finally had to realize that I was now in the parental role and that I needed to start acting on what needed to be done for her health and safety and stop asking for permission. My husband actually found Alta Golden online by searching for in home assistance for seniors. We had the difficult discussion with mom that we had engaged Alta Golden and they would be coming to the house to meet us and discuss our needs.
Both Laura and Nancy came to the house and it didn’t take more than 10 minutes for us to realize we made the right decision to engage them. They were both incredibly warm and friendly and immediately put all of us at ease with the process. Even mom was excited! It was immediately obvious that this isn’t just a business to them, they genuinely care about helping seniors live life to the fullest and to insure that they are able to stay in their homes as long as possible with kind, loving, skilled care. I loved the fact that unlike other similar businesses, they didn’t just have a pool of people ready to be «assigned.» I was very honest with them about my expectations of the type of individual I wanted them to try to find and they absolutely understood. It took them only a few days before they contacted us with their excitement regarding the individual they found. They wanted to arrange a meeting so both mom and we could meet her and see if we felt she would be a good fit. The meeting could not have gone any better than it did and we immediately felt comfortable with their choice. I think the importance of this is that I have heard horror stories from people about companies who just have people that they «dispatch.» May not be the same person every day and it is a job to these individuals. Alta Golden makes sure that they provide a caregiver that becomes part of your family and someone who truly has the best interest of the senior at heart.
Needless to say we started the service immediately and a little over two years later we cannot express how happy we have been with every aspect of Alta Golden. They make a personal visit once a month and send notes regarding any changes to mom’s enviironment that they feel may be needed. They email articles they feel might be of interest to us. They provide memory games that they swap out monthly so mom has some fun games to play with «her Vickie.» Yes mom refers to her caregiver as «her Vickie» and several times a week she will comment how she loves her dearly. Vickie helps with appointments, they do light housekeeping, she makes mom lunch every day, they share stories about their families, look at pictures and of course I love receiving the «selfies» they send to me at work. If laughter is the best medicine than I know mom is getting some healthy doses each day. Her demeanor when Vickie is there will warm your heart.
If you are reading this review because you are starting your own journey to find the best care for your aging parents or other relatives, I would strongly encourage you to let Alta Golden into your lives to provide this care. You will not regret your decision and you will know without a doubt that you made the right decision once you meet Laura and her staff. If I could rate Alta Golden more than five stars, I would.

My family contracted AltaGolden to provide services for my 82 year old aunt who has COPD. She and my 83 year old uncle wanted to live independently as long as possible, but needed help with light housework, dealing with repairmen, driving to doctor’s appointments, setting up their meds, etc. The caretaker that AltaGolden sent to help them was very personable and compassionate and took very good care of them both. She soon came to be a trustworthy friend to them, which was very important later on as they became less independent. My aunt and uncle were much more accepting of receiving additional help when it was coming from a caregiver that they knew and trusted to care for them. After my aunt passed away, we continued to utilize AltaGolden’s services with a caregiver to help my uncle with his everyday needs as well as provide him companionship when family members couldn’t be there. This helped him with his loneliness and grief in the loss of my aunt.
AltaGolden’s services took a major load off of our family, since we all have busy lives and many important responsibilities. We were comforted to know that our aunt and uncle were being well taken care of when we couldn’t be there. My uncle looks forward to his caregiver’s arrival so much that we have increased her visits to everyday. We are so fortunate and pleased to have found AltaGolden and we highly recommend them to anyone who needs elder care.

This agency was hired by Frank Fiorito a fiduciary of Exclusive Estate Administration to care for my father. The owner of AltaGolden, Laura Barish, frequently expressed to me how fond she is of my father.
Ms. Barish told my wife and me that she has had no formal training in nursing, but she considers herself a memory expert.
My father was given (and charged for) ²⁴⁄₇ care while living in an independent living facility while he was in California. Since moving back to Indiana with his family, he has done fine in a local assisted living facility without someone continuously staying with him. I am unaware of why Medicare covered home health services weren’t provided (if they were, that information was not shared with me).
Ms. Barish wanted to delay my father’s departure to Indiana telling my wife and me that he needed to grieve the death of his wife before he should make the decision of when to come to Indiana (although he told us he wanted to move as soon as possible at our visit over Labor day weekend and wanted to know why he hadn’t moved yet during our subsequent weekly phone calls). Ms. Barish felt that it was so important that his furniture from California be in place in Indiana that a further 2 week delay in him permanently reuniting with his son and grandchildren was her preference.
Even though it was known for 8 weeks in advance that he would be moving to Indiana, when he finally arrived he came with many clothes that didn’t fit, had holes in them and were missing buttons. No valid ID was brought with him, just an expired license, an expired passport and a copy of his Medicare card. No social security card or birth certificate. I remarked to Ms. Barish that I wondered how he was able to board the airplane without any appropriate ID.
How much of the above is the responsibility of his fiduciary and how much is the responsibility of his homecare service provider, I don’t know.
Overall, she seems to be a caring person, but as a physician I find her lack of formal nursing training very concerning.