The short answer
A senior concierge helps with the practical side of life, a home care agency helps with personal care like bathing and dressing, and home health provides medical care at home that a doctor orders. Anchor Concierge is the first kind: non-medical and non-hands-on. Plenty of families who search for “home care in St. Petersburg” turn out to need concierge help, some need an agency, and a few need all three at the same time.
A simple way to hold it in your head: home care helps a person with their body, and concierge help supports the rest of their day.
Three kinds of help at home
Senior concierge services
A senior concierge takes care of the tasks that keep a household running and a person connected: grocery shopping, prescription pickup, the post office, company at medical appointments, friendly check-in visits, help with a phone or tablet, light organizing and waiting at the house for a repair technician. There is no hands-on care. Scheduling is flexible, so one errand on a Tuesday is just as normal as a standing weekly visit. The full list is on the senior concierge services page.
Non-medical home care agencies
These agencies send aides into the home for personal care, often called help with activities of daily living. That usually means bathing and showering, dressing, toileting, moving from bed to chair, and sometimes meal preparation, housekeeping and companionship during a longer shift. Care is often scheduled in blocks of several hours, and the aide on duty may change from week to week depending on the agency.
Home health care
Home health is medical care delivered at home, usually after a hospital stay or for a condition a doctor is treating. It can include skilled nursing, wound care, injections, physical or occupational therapy and visits from a home health aide. In Florida, agencies that provide home health services are licensed by the state, and Medicare may pay for home health when a doctor orders it and certain conditions are met.
Who each one fits
Concierge help is usually the right fit when your parent:
- Bathes and dresses on their own but can no longer get to the store easily
- Keeps track of their own medications but needs refills picked up
- Has stopped driving, or would rather not drive across Pinellas County for a specialist visit
- Is sharp and independent but spends too many days alone
- Has family out of state who want a dependable local person checking in
A home care agency is the better choice when your parent needs physical help to get through the day: help in the shower, with dressing or toileting, with getting in and out of bed, or someone present for long stretches.
Home health is the answer when the need is clinical: a wound that needs dressing, injections, therapy after a fall or surgery, or regular nursing visits.
Where Gina fits
Gina holds a Florida Licensed Practical Nurse license, first issued in 2013. On an Anchor Concierge visit she is not working as a nurse. She does not bathe or dress clients, help with toileting, give medications or do wound care. What her nursing background does bring is a trained eye. She notices when someone seems more tired than last week, when the fridge is emptier than usual, or when a doctor’s instructions need writing down, and she reports those details to the family clearly.
When a client needs more than concierge help can offer, Gina says so plainly. She can help the family find suitable local options through her senior care resource referrals, and she is happy to keep handling the errands and visits while another provider covers personal care.
Why many families use both
These services do not compete. They cover different hours and different needs. A common pattern looks like this: an aide from an agency comes in the morning to help with a shower and getting dressed, and Gina comes later in the week to do the grocery run, pick up a prescription and sit down for a visit. After a surgery, a home health nurse might handle the clinical side while Gina covers the practical side through help at home after surgery.
Because Gina understands medical language, she can pass along what she sees in a way that is useful to the family and to the other people involved in a parent’s care.
How cost and scheduling differ
Home care agencies typically bill by the hour and often set a minimum shift length per visit. Home health may be covered by Medicare or other insurance when it is medically necessary. Concierge help is private pay and built around shorter, task-based visits.
At Anchor Concierge, occasional help is $120 for a two-hour minimum and $60 for each additional hour. Monthly memberships start at $460 for 8 hours and lower the hourly rate. The pricing page has the full list, and the guide to what in-home help costs in St. Petersburg explains what moves the number up or down.
Concierge help also suits one-off needs. Waiting for the air conditioning technician on a specific morning, or going along to a single cardiology appointment, is ordinary concierge work. Agencies are usually set up for recurring shifts instead.
How to decide
Ask three questions about your parent:
- Do they need hands-on help with their body, such as bathing, dressing or moving safely? Start with a home care agency.
- Do they need medical care that a doctor has ordered? Talk to the doctor about home health.
- Do they mainly need help keeping the household running, getting to appointments and staying connected? A senior concierge may be all you need.
If the answer is yes to more than one, a combination is common and sensible.
Still not sure
That is what the free 20-minute consultation is for. Gina will ask about your parent’s routine, what has become hard and what worries you most. If an agency or home health is the better answer, she will tell you. If concierge help fits, you will leave the call knowing what it would look like and what it would cost.