Making Care Happen: Insights from a Home Care Scheduling Director

Ever wonder who's behind the scenes making sure your loved ones receive consistent, quality care at home? Meet Heather Savoie, Director of Scheduling for AmanaCare's North Platte office, who pulls back the curtain on one of home care's most challenging roles.

After transitioning from care coordinator to scheduling director, Heather now orchestrates the complex dance of matching caregivers with clients throughout Nebraska. She paints a vivid picture of her daily responsibilities: coordinating care schedules, ensuring EVV accuracy, and maintaining direct communication with both caregivers and clients. But beyond the logistics, Heather's role is deeply human – she's the person who "takes that stress and worry away" from families concerned about care consistency.

What makes this conversation particularly fascinating is Heather's perspective on rural healthcare dynamics. Having worked in the field for over 20 years, she highlights how small-town connections create an informal accountability network where "the whole community tends to rally around" care recipients. When caregivers assist people connected to the community fabric, care quality naturally rises because "nobody wants to let Aunt Susie down." This unique aspect of rural care delivery creates a personalized experience that larger urban settings might miss.

The interview also explores the puzzle-like complexity of home care scheduling – balancing clients who need multiple daily visits with caregivers who need time off, all while matching personalities and capabilities. It's a testament to the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes ensuring vulnerable community members receive consistent, high-quality care. Curious to learn more about how home care works in your community? Reach out to AmanaCare to discover the difference that thoughtful scheduling and personalized care can make for you or your loved ones.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I am Heather Savoy.
I am the Director of Schedulingfor AmanaCare.
I work out of the North Plattearea office.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Awesome.
Tell us about your role atAmanaCare and what you do on a
regular basis and how you workwith clients and caregivers.
I've been with AmanaCare andwhat you do on a regular basis
and how you work with clientsand caregivers.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
I've been with AmanaCare for about a year and a
half, a little over.
I started as a care coordinator.
As the care coordinator, Iworked with the clients and the
caregivers on a one-to-one basison a regular, every day,
helping to support and set upfor cares and matching clients
and caregivers' personalitiesand needs and availabilities

(00:48):
together.
And then, as the director ofscheduling, now I do all of the
schedules for the North Plattearea as well, as I hold meetings
with the schedulers with theother areas and make sure that
we are maintaining accuracy inour scheduling and EVV and make
sure that we are maintainingaccuracy in our scheduling and
EVV.
And then I still workone-on-one with all of the

(01:09):
caregivers and the clients.
They all talk to me and call mestill.
They give me, make sure I haveany appointments or anything
that they need throughout theday so that I can make sure that
they have a caregiver providedfor them.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
You're the person that makes life easy for the
family and you take away thatstress and worry that that.
Am I going to have a caregivertoday?
Am I going to so as a familycaregiver in the past?
It's, it's a challenge and it'sa worry.
Am I going to have caregiverstoday?
It shouldn't be, but it soundslike to me.
You're the person that takesthat stress and worry away.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
You're the person that takes that stress and worry
away.
Yes, I'm here to facilitate thecaregiver and client match and
make sure that the caregiver'snot only available for the hours
that the client needs, but thattheir personalities and their
abilities match what the clientneeds and wants out of out of

(02:03):
the relationship.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Out of the relationship, because I think
some clients obviously need alot more care, or they need a
lot more assistance perhaps, oreverybody's different.
Some need medication reminders,some don't, some need help
getting to appointments, somedon't.
So I can imagine that you havea whole puzzle full of different
things and you put all thepieces together for everybody.
Yes, ma'am of different thingsand you put all the pieces

(02:26):
together for everybody.
Yes, ma'am, so tell us a littlebit about the North Platte
office.
Now.
I know Imonicare has severaloffices across Nebraska.
Are you originally from theNorth Platte area?

Speaker 1 (02:36):
No, actually I'm originally from North Carolina,
but I've been in North Plattefor about three years now and I
have been in healthcare for over20 years now.
In some facet or another I'veenjoyed giving back to the
community and to the people.
I like creating thoserelationships and those bonds
and helping people reach theirgoals and succeeding in whatever

(02:57):
that is, even if it's every dayI want to get out of bed.
That's a goal and I want tohelp you reach that goal.
I enjoy doing those types ofthings.
We do have offices across thestate.
We have Omaha and Lincoln,kearney, north Platte, scotts
Bluff and, soon to be, a GrandIsland office.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's great, yeah, absolutely.
I know that all the communitiesin Nebraska are very much tight
knit and, coming from a smalltown, everybody knows each other
, or aunt who takes care, orthis person who takes care of
aunt.
So everybody knows each otherand I know that.
You've been there for a fewyears.
You're aware of you, know howcommunity oriented a small town

(03:40):
really is.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I've always told folks I come from a big, small
town, st Louis, missouri, soit's a big city, but we're all
kind of small town here and Ialways tell folks, if you go out
into a more rural area you willfind the.
I find the care is betterbecause or maybe not better, but
it's different becauseeverybody's taking care of

(04:05):
someone's loved one that theyknow Um more often than not.
Yeah, they know aunt Susie oraunt Mary or grandma Joan or
whatever.
So they've either met theperson, heard about the person,
met them in passing along theway, and that helps when a
community is close knit and youstart recognizing last names and

(04:30):
you start understanding that.
That makes the care, I think,incredibly good, because nobody
wants to let Aunt Susie down.
They have the best life she canhave.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
So it's more of a when you're in a small community
, in a small town and everyoneknows everyone.
You don't just have the companythat you work for watching to
make sure that you are providingor that the client is getting
what they need, because thewhole community tends to rally
around that person that needssomething.
They make donations, they knowtheir neighbors, they watch and

(05:02):
they know that every Monday from8 am to 5 pm, susie is supposed
to be with this person andSusie hasn't arrived.
They're going to go check onthem and make sure that they
tend to hold you moreaccountable.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, absolutely yes, the neighbors do know what's
going on and that's great.
That is the benefit of livingin a smaller community where
everybody knows your name,because you know and like here.
I always tell my girls do notend up on our town's Facebook
page for a bad reason.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Do not.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
They've accomplished that.
They're 18 now, and they neverended up on there for a bad
reason.
So it's like that, thoughEverybody talks right.
So to me that just makes thecare more personal.
It makes it more important andmore just customized to the
person who is needing the care.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
And what you do as a scheduler is not an easy job.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
No.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
It's a tough job.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
It's a lot of puzzle pieces put together.
You may have a client thatneeds cares four different times
throughout the day and onlygets so many hours a week, that
needs those cares seven days aweek, and I don't know any
caregivers that needs thosecares seven days a week.
And I don't know any caregiversthat want to work seven days a
week.
They all want a day or two off.
So then you've got to finagleand figure it out where maybe
this caregiver works.
Monday through Friday, theyonly work the morning half of

(06:25):
the shifts and then theafternoon shifts, or somebody
else and weekends or somebody.
You just have to figure it out.
It works.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
I hope you have an amazing scheduling software
because I can imagine that itgets.
I don't know if I can keep up,so that's wonderful.
I know all the people of NorthPlatte are thankful and all the
team members at Imonicare arethankful for you, so I just want
to tell you that we appreciatewhat you do.
Scheduling is one of thehardest jobs in home care by far

(06:55):
and we need more people likeyou out there.
So thank you.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Thank you.