Edison Home Care Frequently Asked Questions
The questions Edison families most often ask about starting home care — answered honestly, by a senior care coordinator who has heard them many times.
The Edison families who call us tend to ask similar questions in similar order. We have collected the most common ones below. If your situation is not covered here, the fastest way to get a real answer is a five-minute call to a senior care coordinator who already knows Edison.
How home care starts
Who answers the phone when I first call?
A senior care coordinator. Not an operator forwarding the call, not a receptionist taking a message. The same coordinator who picks up on the first call typically becomes the family's single point of contact for everything that follows — the in-home assessment, the care plan, the scheduling, the questions that come up later. Continuity is what makes a care plan workable.
What happens at the first in-home assessment?
A senior care coordinator visits the home, walks through the house, talks with the family, talks with the older adult when possible, and writes a care plan with you (not for you). The visit takes about an hour. There is no contract to sign at the visit and no obligation to start care. The plan that results is short and specific: which services start, on what schedule, and which to revisit in two weeks.
Does an in-home assessment cost anything?
No. The first in-home assessment is free, regardless of whether the family decides to start care afterward.
How quickly can care start after I call?
For most Edison families, the first visit happens within 24 to 48 hours of the first phone call. When a hospital discharge planner calls before the patient leaves the hospital, that window often shrinks to the same day.
What we do
What kinds of care do you cover?
Two layers. Skilled clinical work covers nursing visits, post-surgical recovery, IV therapy, wound care, physical and occupational therapy, medication oversight. Non-medical home help covers companion care, personal care, light housekeeping, medication reminders, and daily routine support. Most plans pull from both. The full menu lives on the all home care services page.
Do you cover dementia and Alzheimer's care?
Yes. Memory care is one of our largest service areas. The plan typically blends dementia and Alzheimer's care services with daily companion care services and, depending on the situation, overnight or 24-hour coverage. Read the Edison dementia home care guide for longer-form context.
Do you cover post-hospital recovery?
Yes. Post-surgery recovery service at home is one of the situations where 24-to-48-hour start times matter most. Many of these plans originate from a discharge planner at JFK Medical Center or Robert Wood Johnson calling us before the patient leaves the hospital. The plan typically blends nursing visits with daily home help for the first two to six weeks home.
Do you cover hospice and end-of-life care?
Yes. Hospice care at home and palliative care at home are part of our service menu. The plan often continues a long-running care relationship through the transition — the same caregivers who have been with the household for months frequently stay through hospice, working alongside the hospice clinical team.
Caregivers and team
Who comes to the house?
The plan depends on the situation. A senior care coordinator runs the assessment and is the family's point of contact. A registered nurse runs skilled clinical visits when the plan calls for them. Trained home health aides handle the daily home help. Read about our care team for a longer description of the roles and the supervision structure — names and bios are not posted publicly because they change with staffing.
How do you screen and train caregivers?
Every caregiver goes through background checks and training before being placed with a family. The training covers daily home help work, dementia-specific care, infection control, fall prevention, and the basic communication skills that let a caregiver coordinate with the family physician and a registered nurse on the household's clinical layer. Read more on safety and training for the longer description.
Cost, payment, and coverage
Do you accept Medicare?
Coverage depends on the service. Medicare may cover skilled home health for someone who is homebound and needs intermittent skilled nursing or therapy ordered by a physician. Coverage details and eligibility live at Medicare.gov. Non-medical home help is generally not covered by Medicare. See the insurance and coverage page and the home care payment options page for the longer breakdown.
Do you accept insurance?
Long-term care insurance commonly pays for the non-medical home help portion of a care plan. Many of the carriers commonly offering home care benefits in NJ — Genworth, John Hancock, MutualOfOmaha, and others — pay either the family directly or the agency on assignment. We can help families read a policy summary and figure out what is reimbursable.
How much does it cost per hour?
Hourly rates for non-medical home help in Middlesex County typically run in line with the New Jersey state averages reported by the Genworth Cost of Care Survey and Bureau of Labor Statistics. The cost of home care page carries cited current NJ market averages with sources. Skilled nursing visits bill differently and may be partially covered by insurance.
Service area
Where do you serve?
We are based in Edison, NJ and cover the township plus surrounding Middlesex County towns within a 15-mile service radius. Inside Edison: Roosevelt Park, the Clara Barton section, the Oak Tree Road corridor, North and South Edison, and the JFK Medical Center area. Outside Edison: Iselin, Metuchen, Woodbridge, Piscataway, South Plainfield, and Highland Park.
Do you serve only Edison or also nearby towns?
Both. Edison is the home address; the surrounding towns are part of the everyday service area. Read about home care in Edison, NJ for the full breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
- How quickly can home care start in Edison after I call?
- For most Edison families, the first visit is arranged within 24 to 48 hours of the first phone call. When a discharge planner at JFK Medical Center calls before the patient leaves the hospital, the window often shrinks to the same day. The first visit is a free in-home assessment that takes about an hour and produces a written care plan.
- Do you work weekends and overnight?
- Yes. Many of our plans include weekend visits and overnight or 24-hour coverage. Most North Edison cases involve some overnight time, and post-discharge plans across the township often include weekend nursing visits during the first two weeks home. The schedule is built around the household's actual day, not a 9-to-5 office calendar.
- Will the same caregiver come every visit?
- We try hard to keep the primary caregiver consistent because routine matters — especially for households with memory loss, chronic illness, or post-discharge recovery. The same caregiver coming on the same day at the same time builds the kind of rhythm that does more for an older adult than any clinical intervention by itself. When the regular caregiver is sick or on vacation, a backup who has been briefed on the household and care plan steps in.
- Does Medicare cover the home care you provide?
- Medicare may cover skilled home health (nursing visits, physical therapy, wound care) for someone who is homebound and needs intermittent skilled care ordered by a physician. Coverage details and eligibility live at Medicare.gov. The non-medical home help that makes up most of a typical care plan (companion care, personal care, light housekeeping) is generally paid privately, through long-term care insurance, or in some cases through New Jersey Medicaid programs.
- How much does home care cost in Edison?
- Hourly rates for non-medical home help in Middlesex County typically run in line with the New Jersey state averages reported by the Genworth Cost of Care Survey and Bureau of Labor Statistics — currently around $30 to $40 per hour depending on the service. Our [cost of home care](/cost) page carries the cited NJ market averages with sources. Skilled nursing visits are billed differently and may be partially covered by Medicare or insurance.
- What if my parent does not want outside help in the house?
- This is one of the most common situations Edison families describe. The first step is rarely a long-term schedule. A short, low-pressure introduction — a one-time home assessment, a single afternoon of company, a single trip to the pharmacy — often gives the older adult a chance to meet a caregiver on their own terms. Once a relationship forms, the schedule can grow. A coordinator who has done this many times can talk a family through how to introduce the idea.