Frequently Asked Questions

No, VitalTouch provides non-medical home care. Our caregivers assist with daily living activities, companionship, and personal care, but we do not provide skilled nursing services, administer medications, or perform medical procedures. We can, however, provide medication reminders.

We serve Chicago and throughout Cook County, including the South Side, West Side, North Side, and suburbs like Homewood, Harvey, Dolton, Calumet City, Oak Lawn, and many more. View our full service area list.

Yes — VitalTouch Health Network is licensed by the State of Illinois to provide home care, and we meet all state requirements to do so. Our caregivers are background-checked, insured, and bonded.

Our caregivers include both trained Homemakers and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). All caregivers are background-checked, trained in their respective roles, and many have specialized training in Alzheimer's and dementia care.

Yes, our caregivers are trained to work with clients experiencing Alzheimer's and dementia. They provide patient, understanding support including daily routine assistance, memory-enhancing activities, redirection techniques, and safety supervision.

We strive for continuity of care by assigning a primary caregiver whenever possible. This allows clients to build rapport and feel comfortable with a familiar face. If a backup caregiver is ever needed, we ensure they're fully briefed on the care plan.

We carefully match clients with caregivers based on care needs, personality compatibility, skills, and experience. We take time to understand each client's own preferences and requirements to find the best fit.

Not yet — we're not currently able to bill Medicaid, and we'd rather say so here than after you've made plans around it.

That doesn't mean we can't help. If Medicaid looks like the right route for your family, we'll tell you honestly whether you'd likely qualify and what applying involves — and if you need care before we're able to bill it, we'll point you to an agency that can. There are also five other ways families pay for care, several of which we can work with today. Here they are.

Then there are five other routes worth checking before you pay anything out of pocket: the Illinois Home Services Program, extra benefits inside a Medicare Advantage plan, VA benefits, a long-term care insurance policy, or paying on your own with no minimums and no long contract. See all six ways families pay for care, or call us and we'll check what applies to you.

Original Medicare — the red, white and blue card on its own — covers short stretches of skilled care after a hospital stay, not the ongoing everyday help most families are looking for. We'd rather tell you that plainly than let you find out three phone calls later.

A Medicare Advantage plan is a different story. Many plans here now include a set number of in-home support hours each year as an extra benefit. It isn't printed on the card and it's rarely mentioned at enrollment. Tell us the plan name and we'll find out what it includes. More on how that works.

Often, yes. The VA has a Homemaker and Home Health Aide program that pays an agency for exactly this kind of everyday help at home, plus Veteran-Directed Care, where the veteran holds a budget and chooses who provides it. The way in is usually a VA social worker — ask for a referral to the Homemaker and Home Health Aide program.

There's also Aid and Attendance, an added monthly amount on a VA pension for veterans and surviving spouses who need help with daily living. A lot of families who qualify have simply never been told about it, and nobody should ever charge you a fee to file the claim. More on VA benefits.

Yes, and it's one of the most common conversations we have. Most long-term care policies cover care at home, not just nursing homes — and most families never file, because the paperwork is off-putting and nobody explained how to start.

Bring the policy to a free consultation. We'll read it with you, tell you plainly what it covers, and handle the visit documentation the insurer asks for. What to look for in the policy.

If a policy or a plan benefit is paying, what it costs you depends on what that covers — and checking is free. If you're paying on your own, rates depend on the level of care and the hours needed. Contact us for a free consultation and a personalized quote; there's no obligation.

No. We support adults of any age living with a disability — people in their thirties, forties, and fifties as well as their eighties. The help is the same kind of help; what changes is that you're likely working, running a household, or raising children alongside it, and you want support with specific parts of the day rather than with life in general. Here's how that works.

Yes — and that's the most frustrating gap in the whole system, because the answer exists and almost nobody mentions it. Illinois runs the Home Services Program, which funds help at home for adults under 60 living with a disability, specifically so people can stay in their own place instead of moving into a facility. It sits outside the senior system entirely, which is exactly why you keep being told you don't qualify for the programs people name first.

Call us and say you're asking about the Home Services Program. We'll walk you through how it works and point you to the right office. More detail here.

Yes. Hands-on help getting in and out of bed, a chair, or the shower is core to what our personal care staff do, and they're trained to do it safely — for their sake as much as yours. Transfers done by an untrained helper are the single most common way both people end up hurt.

What we don't do is skilled nursing: wound care, injections, catheter changes, ventilator management. If part of what you need is nursing, we'll say so on the first call rather than the third week, and point you toward who does it. Quite often the answer is both, working alongside each other.

You do. You say what gets done, how you like it done, and when. A care plan written about someone without them isn't a care plan, it's a schedule somebody else made. And if a caregiver isn't the right match, tell us — you won't have to justify it, and we'll change it.

It's easy! Call us at (708) 726-4536 or fill out our contact form for a free consultation. We'll discuss what help is needed, answer your questions, create a personalized care plan, and match you with the right caregiver.

If you're paying on your own, we can often begin care within 24-48 hours. If a policy or a plan benefit is paying, timing depends on that payer's approval process — we'll give you a realistic estimate once we know which one it is, rather than a hopeful one. Contact us to discuss your timeline.

Our office is open Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. However, care services can be scheduled 24/7 based on your needs.