Tragedy Prompts Widow to Fill a Need For In-Home Care
As Lollie Scheble dealt with her husband’s case of Glioblastoma Multiforme, a malignant tumor affecting the brain, she struggled to find adequate in-home care.
“From the time my second daughter was born until the time he passed away, it was really chaotic in my house,” the Park Cities resident said. “And I couldn’t find an agency. I went through several in Dallas and I couldn’t find anyone to help us — someone that could come in and assimilate into our home.”
Because she couldn’t find help through an agency, Scheble decided to take matters into her own hands. She began recruiting freelance nurses, and that’s who helped her and her family during the last two months of her husband’s life.
FHL SERVICES
In addition to traditional care, FHL offers help with smaller activities that may be easy to forget:
- Non-medical care with daily activities (hourly or live-in)
- Transportation to and from appointments and events
- Grocery shopping
- Meal preparation
- Light housekeeping
- Medication reminders
“It really was amazing; it was just a gift,” she said. “And I’ve realized there’s a big difference in caregiving and why we don’t spend a lot of time recruiting and training caregivers. Baby Boomers want to stay at home and will just hire anyone and not give a lot of mindfulness into who they are bringing into their home.”
So Scheble took her human resources background and founded FHL Home Care, which provides in-home care. FHL stands for faith, hope and love, and phonetically, it’s also her late husband’s name — Phil.
FHL Home Care is made up of about 15 certified nurse assistants, Scheble said. The CNAs help with a variety of things, from medication reminders to meal preparation to driving the patients to doctor appointments.
But Scheble, who is executive director and founder of FHL, takes it a step further and ensures it’s a right match for the patient and CNA.
Depending on the patient’s needs or circumstances, she matches a CNA depending on their skills. For instance, if a patient has small children, Scheble knows the CNA must be ready to attend to the children’s needs — something Scheble required with her in-home care.
One of the CNAs who helped take care of Scheble’s late husband is Tonya Walls, who is now a CNA for FHL. She said in-home care is typically the better option for patients.
“I feel it’s important because the patient is at home, number one,” Walls said. “A lot of times when you have a patient that is confused and you take them out of their home environment, it makes it worse. It makes some patients become very depressed. Anytime you’re in a home, it just makes you feel better. But as you get older and someone takes you out of your home, you lose some of your will to live. It just takes away a lot from patients. So in-home care is always the best if possible.”
Walls is responsible for her patient’s immediate care and said FHL allows her to get to know her patients on a more personal level.
