Personal Care at Home in Bala Cynwyd, PA
Hands-on help with daily routines — from a licensed home care agency based in Bala Cynwyd.
Daley Hope Health Care provides non-medical personal care to seniors and adults across Bala Cynwyd, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Merion Station, Penn Valley, and Belmont Hills. Below are direct answers to the questions Lower Merion families ask us most — including what personal care covers, how Pennsylvania regulates it, and who pays for it.
What does a personal care aide help with at home?
A personal care aide helps with the activities of daily living: bathing, grooming, dressing, mobility support and safe transfers, incontinence care, and medication reminders. At Daley Hope, personal care also includes laundry and light housekeeping.
These are the tasks that determine whether someone can stay in their own home safely. When bathing becomes unsafe or getting dressed takes an hour, the question is rarely “does Mom need a nursing home” — it’s “who helps with the twenty minutes that have become difficult.”
Pennsylvania’s home care regulations under 28 Pa. Code Chapter 611 govern exactly this category of non-medical assistance and the workers who provide it, separating it from skilled medical care.
Personal care with Daley Hope includes:
- Personal hygiene assistance
- Bathing & grooming
- Dressing assistance
- Mobility support & fall prevention
- Incontinence care
- Medication reminders
- Laundry assistance
- Light housekeeping
Is the home care agency licensed — and are caregivers background-checked in Pennsylvania?
Yes, and this is verifiable. Pennsylvania requires home care agencies to hold a license before providing services, and to complete criminal background checks, health screening, and documented competency for every direct care worker.
Any agency you’re considering should be able to confirm this without hesitation. Under the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s home care requirements, entities established after December 12, 2009 must obtain a license prior to providing home care services, must conduct criminal background checks on all staff, and must conduct TB screens for all direct care workers and office staff with direct consumer contact.
The specific governance sections of Chapter 611 go further: § 611.51 requires face-to-face interviews and satisfactory references before a caregiver is hired, § 611.55 requires demonstrated competency through a nursing license, a competency examination, or an approved training program, and § 611.57 guarantees consumers a role in service planning, advance notice before services end, fee transparency, and access to a complaint process.
What Pennsylvania requires vs. what it means for your family
| PA requirement | Regulation | What it means when you hire |
|---|---|---|
| Agency must be licensed | License required to provide home care | Ask for the license — a legitimate agency will give it to you |
| Criminal background check on all staff | § 611.52 | No caregiver enters your home unvetted |
| Face-to-face interview + references | § 611.51 | Caregivers aren’t hired off a résumé alone |
| Demonstrated competency | § 611.55 | Nursing license, passed exam, or approved training program |
| Health screening / TB screen | § 611.56 | Direct-care workers are screened before contact |
| Consumer protections | § 611.57 | You help plan the care, get fee transparency and notice before service ends |
If an agency can’t speak to these, that itself is your answer.
How is personal care different from home health care?
Personal care is non-medical help with daily living, provided by trained caregivers. Home health care is skilled medical care — nursing, wound care, physical therapy — ordered by a physician. Pennsylvania licenses the two separately.
The distinction matters because it determines who pays and who is allowed to do what. A personal care aide can help your father shower, remind him to take his medication, and prepare his meals. A personal care aide cannot change a wound dressing or administer an injection.
Many families use both at once: a visiting nurse comes weekly under a physician’s orders while a personal care aide provides the daily, hands-on support in between. Pennsylvania regulates home health agencies under a separate chapter from the home care agency rules described by the Department of Health — which is why an agency may be licensed for one and not the other.
If your loved one needs skilled nursing, we will tell you plainly and help you coordinate it.
recovering after a hospital stay →
Who pays for personal care in Bala Cynwyd — and does Medicaid help?
Medicare does not pay for non-medical personal care. In Montgomery County, two public programs can help cover it — the county OPTIONS program and Pennsylvania’s Community HealthChoices Medicaid program — and Daley Hope accepts both private-pay and Community HealthChoices clients.
Montgomery County OPTIONS. The county’s OPTIONS program provides care management and in-home services to older adults experiencing frailty that impacts daily functioning. To qualify, a person must reside in Montgomery County, be age 60 or older, be a US citizen or legal resident, and be determined to have significant unmet needs affecting daily functioning. Covered services include Personal Care Services, Home Support Services, Home Delivered Meals, Emergency Response Systems, and Stair Glide Systems. It is income-based: enrolled older adults share in the cost of services, with the fee based on income and the amount of services received.
Community HealthChoices (CHC). Pennsylvania’s Community HealthChoices program is a Medicaid initiative built to help older Pennsylvanians and adults with physical disabilities remain in their home communities rather than in facilities. Enrollees must be 21 or older and either receive both Medicare and Medicaid, receive long-term supports through a Medicaid waiver, or be receiving Medicaid-paid nursing home care. It explicitly serves people who need help with everyday personal tasks.
Private pay. Outside those programs, personal care is billed hourly. After a free consultation we provide clear, upfront pricing with no long-term contracts, so you can increase or reduce hours as needs change.
Because we accept both private-pay and CHC clients, families don’t have to switch agencies if their coverage situation changes.
What makes personal care in Bala Cynwyd homes different?
Lower Merion’s housing stock is old, and it shapes how care actually gets delivered. Many Bala Cynwyd homes have second-floor bathrooms with tubs rather than walk-in showers, staircases with a handrail on one side, and laundry in the basement.
Those three details describe most of the places where falls happen. A caregiver working in a 1920s twin off Montgomery Avenue is doing a different job than one working in a single-floor apartment — the transfer into a tub, the trip up and down to the laundry, the stairs at the end of a tiring day.
It also affects scheduling. Bathing someone safely in a tub-only second-floor bathroom takes longer than a walk-in shower, and it’s worth building that into the care plan honestly rather than discovering it in week two.
Our caregivers live in the communities they serve — Bala Cynwyd, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore and the surrounding Lower Merion communities — which matters on a snowy morning on a side street that hasn’t been plowed yet.
How quickly can personal care start after a hospital discharge?
Care can often begin within days of a free consultation, and faster when a hospital discharge is urgent.
Discharge is when families are most overwhelmed. New medications, new mobility limits, and a home that was set up for who your parent was three weeks ago. Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood and Bryn Mawr Hospital are both short drives from Bala Cynwyd, so a same-week start is realistic for Lower Merion families leaving either one.
The most useful thing you can do is call before discharge day rather than after. A consultation while your loved one is still in the hospital means the care plan is ready when they walk in the door.
respite for family caregivers →
Frequently asked questions
Does Medicare pay for personal care at home?
No. Medicare does not cover non-medical personal care such as bathing, dressing, and light housekeeping. Montgomery County’s OPTIONS program or Community HealthChoices may cover it depending on eligibility.
Can we choose or change our caregiver?
Yes. If the match isn’t right, we will find a caregiver who is — your loved one should see familiar, trusted faces rather than a rotating cast.
Can we start with just a few mornings a week?
Yes. Many families begin with two or three mornings for bathing and dressing and add hours as needs change, with no long-term contract.
Do you provide personal care on weekends and overnight?
Yes. We schedule mornings, evenings, overnights, weekends, and holidays, including around-the-clock coverage when it’s needed.
Talk to us
Call (445) 328-5980 for a free in-home consultation in Bala Cynwyd. We’ll tell you honestly what level of support would actually help — including if that’s less than you thought.
Other home care services in Bala Cynwyd: Companion Care · Meal Preparation · Respite Care · Post-Hospital Care · 24-Hour Care
Call (445) 328-5980 for a free in-home consultation in Bala Cynwyd.