"These are skills we will not only need for our current crisis, but will keep for a lifetime."

"I feel more confident in my new-found abilities to care for my partner Gary without freaking out at the least little problem or major emergency."

"I cannot tell you how invaluable the information has been for me and for Steve. While at once being kind of scary, it also took a lot of the mystery away."

"Your patience + wisdom were such a help and assurance. I can't even thank you enough. I'm so happy you do what you do."

"Home Care Companions delivered . . . through more fevers, symptoms, and side effects than I care to count. But we still persist. We're still here. And we're grateful."

"I cannot begin to express my appreciation for the work you do for us. Your dedication is truly an inspiration. Your HCC program is so powerful and is the most helpful, practical and useful."

"As a physician, I am well aware that the education obtained through HCC is extremely useful. Those who receive this education are able to participate fully in their own health care and to operate efficiently within a complex care delivery system . . . I am often dependent on them to gather accurate information, distinguish between emergency and non-emergency situations, and provide me with the facts . . . "

"In my 10 years work with HIV and social service care, I have come to value the highest type of organization characterized by HCC. They offer a vital service, at low cost, with the enthusiasm of well trained professionals."

"This is the only program of its kind being offered in the East Bay Area. It is a valuable adjunct to the kind of services we are trying to provide to cancer patients and their families. . . "

"The program of home care training and follow-up provided caregivers by Home Care Companions is a critical component of the continuium of care for persons with HIV disease."

At Home Care Companions, we evaluate the quality of our programs on a regular basis. We use a series of tools developed by HCC, and the University of California at San Francisco's Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. We also commissioned a comprehensive study on the effectiveness of HCC’s AIDS Home Care Skills Training Program by the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF.)

At the 1998 International AIDS Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland -- UCSF presented the results of their study. Their findings firmly established HCC's AIDS Home Care Skills Training Program as a worldwide model.

UCSF's study reported that, on average, caregivers increased their objective knowledge of critical caregiving issues by 16% as a result of HCC's training. They described how patients and caregivers reported being less anxious and fearful. And the study documented that after HCC's training, caregivers were more knowledgeable about other services available in the community, and they were accessing them more often.

Whenever possible, the UCSF study documented the "hard" quantifiable benefits that could be attributed to HCC's AIDS Home Care Skills Training Program. Among their findings:

• Patients received 77% more actual hours of home care from better organized caregiver networks

• Significant changes occurred in the delivery of emergency medical care, such as . . .
  unscheduled patient visits to a doctor’s office were reduced by 70%
  patients’ visits to emergency rooms decreased by 33%
  phone consultations with medical professionals increased by 18%

• Caregivers were able to return to their paid jobs for 6.78 more hours per week.