In-Home Care in Murray, Utah

Murray is where the rest of the valley goes when something serious happens. Intermountain Medical Center, Intermountain Health's flagship campus, sits at 5121 South Cottonwood Street on ground once occupied by the Murray Smelter. The city itself has 8,957 residents aged 65 and older, 17.8 percent of the population, more than half again the Salt Lake County rate, and a median age of 38.7.

Being close to hospitals is not the same as being cared for. Discharge planners handle the medical piece well and say almost nothing about who makes dinner on Thursday. Care 801 covers that part, in the house: personal care, meal preparation, medication reminders, a break for a worn-out spouse, support through memory loss, and someone in the house at night when being alone stops being safe. Reach us at 801-515-5453.

What usually prompts a call in Murray

Murray families often call after the third admission rather than the first. The cycle repeats: an ER trip, a few days inpatient, a short rehab stay, home again, and the same thing eight weeks later because nothing at the house actually changed. Other calls come because a spouse has been the caregiver for two years without a single day off and has started losing weight. Murray also has more renters than the other cities here, so some calls come from an apartment or a duplex with no spare room and no relatives close by.

The homes we work in

Murray's housing is the second oldest of the cities we cover: roughly 54 percent built before 1980, about 4.4 percent before 1950, with the 1950s and 1960s together accounting for more than 5,100 of the city's 21,557 units. Houses of that vintage were built to a smaller standard than current construction. No source measures hallway or bathroom widths here, so it is something a caregiver checks in person on the first visit, along with the basement stairs and where the washer sits. The ground is valley floor, flat, so the winter hazard is not driveway grade. It is ice on old concrete walks and the single step down from a side door.

Getting around Murray

Murray is the best connected of these cities. Three TRAX stations sit inside it, Murray North, Murray Central and Fashion Place West, all on the Blue Line, with Murray Central and Fashion Place West also served by the Red Line. Murray Central at 5144 Cottonwood Street is one of the few points where both TRAX lines and FrontRunner meet, and Intermountain Medical Center is immediately east of it, sharing the park-and-ride lot. Bus Routes 201, 62, 45, 47, 54, 200 and 205 cover the grid. UTA Paratransit takes applications at 801-287-2263, and Rides for Wellness serves adults 60 and older at 385-468-3200.

Senior centers and meal programs in Murray

Murray runs its own senior center instead of relying on a county one, the only city of these five that does. The Murray Senior Recreation Center at 10 East 6150 South, 801-264-2635, serves adults 55 and older, a lower age threshold than the county's 60, and opens weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. plus weekend hours. Lunch is $4 with a monthly posted menu, and the center runs classes, blood pressure clinics and cultural programs. Mount Olympus Senior Center on Murray-Holladay Road, 385-468-3130, is the nearby county option. In-home care covers what a center by definition cannot: the hours spent at home, alone.

Neighborhoods we cover in Murray

• Murray Downtown
• Vine Street
• Fashion Place
• Little Cottonwood

ZIP codes served

• 84107
• 84117
• 84123

Coming home from the hospital

Intermountain Medical Center, 801-507-7000, anchors the south valley, and TOSH, The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital at 5848 South 300 East, 801-314-4100, handles much of the joint replacement work that ends with a recovery at home. Short rehab stays land at Rocky Mountain Care Cottage on Vine, 835 East Vine Street, 61 beds, or Aspen Ridge West Transitional Rehab at 5323 South Murray Boulevard. That first stretch back home is about swelling, pain medication timed correctly, walker distances measured in feet, and not falling in the bathroom. We schedule heaviest then and taper as things improve.

What in-home care costs in Murray

In Murray the trajectory usually decides the cost. Orthopedic recovery has an arc to it: heavy support for two or three weeks, then less, then finished. Cognitive decline has no arc, and hours only climb. Living minutes from Intermountain Medical Center trims the driving time built into a schedule, which helps. Apartment and duplex living reduces the housekeeping load but often raises companionship needs, because there is no yard to putter in and no neighbor across a fence. You pay for hours actually used.

These are typical ranges, not a quote. The consultation gives you real numbers for your actual schedule, and there is no fee to be matched with a provider.

Paying for care in Salt Lake County

Medicare pays for skilled home health after a qualifying hospital stay: a nurse, physical therapy, an occupational therapist, for a limited number of visits over a limited number of weeks. It does not pay for what we do. Bathing, dressing, meals, supervision and companionship count as custodial care, and Medicare excludes them regardless of how obviously they are needed. Murray families usually discover this during the first week home, often from a billing statement. Salt Lake County Aging & Adult Services is the Area Agency on Aging here, and its Medicare options counseling can walk through what a plan really covers, 385-468-3200. Ask us for written hourly figures at the same time.

Questions worth asking any provider

Whoever you end up working with, these are the questions that separate a provider who will still be reliable in six months from one who will not.

• Will we get the same caregiver each visit, and what happens when they are sick or on vacation?
• Are caregivers employees of the agency or independent contractors, and who carries the insurance and workers' compensation?
• What is the minimum visit length, and is there a different rate for weekends or holidays?
• How much notice do you need to change a schedule, and is there a cancellation charge?
• What specifically is not included, particularly around medication, transfers and driving?
• Who do we call at 2am if something goes wrong, and will an actual person answer?