Scope of service

What we do — and what we legally cannot

Name: Home Town Helpers – Senior Concierge
Address: Sheffield Lake, OH, US
Telephone: (440) 305-7333
Price range: $32 per hour

Most families discover this boundary at the worst possible moment. So here it is in advance, in plain English, with the Ohio law that draws it. Print it. Bring it to your attorney. Ask us hard questions about it.

What we do

Non-medical concierge and companion help

Friendly companionship and social visitsConversation, cards, puzzles, a walk, an outing. This is not regulated care — it is company.
Errands, grocery shopping and everyday purchasesDone at your direction, with receipts. We hand back the change and the receipt every single time.
Pharmacy pickup for routine, non-controlled prescriptionsSubject to the pharmacy’s own ID and authorization rules. We do not pick up controlled substances.See the note on prescription pickup below.
Seasonal décor, and small projects around the houseHoliday decorating, hanging pictures and curtain rods, seasonal swaps, and rearranging a room so it is easier to move through.
Medication reminders onlyWe may remind you it’s time, observe that you followed the directions, and hand you your own closed, labeled container — opening the cap if you physically cannot.Ohio Admin. Code 4723-13-02 (Ohio Board of Nursing)
Meal preparation and dining companyWe cook and serve; you eat independently. We will happily sit and eat with you.
Light housekeeping, laundry and tidyingEveryday upkeep at your request — dishes, laundry, sweeping, plants, trash, seasonal closet swaps.
Organizing mail, paperwork and bill remindersSorting, filing, flagging due dates, building a calendar. You keep every bit of financial control and authority.
Technology and appointment helpPhones, tablets, TVs, video calls, booking and confirming appointments, and writing down the questions you want to ask at the next one.
Family updates and wellness check-insWith your permission, a short written or phone recap to whichever family member you name.
Respite company for a family caregiverA few reliable hours so the person doing everything can have an afternoon.

What we cannot do

Licensed, clinical or fiduciary work

Bathing, showering, toileting or incontinence careOhio classifies hands-on help with these activities as licensed “home health aide services.” A concierge business cannot legally provide them.Ohio Rev. Code 3740.01(H)
Dressing assistance, lifting, physical transfers, gait beltsAssistance with ambulation is also licensed home-health-aide work, and transfers are a trained skill. Doing it untrained risks injuring you and the helper.Ohio Rev. Code 3740.01(H)(2); Ohio Admin. Code 4723-13
Hands-on feeding assistanceOhio law bundles “meal preparation, and feeding” together as a licensed service. We can cook for you; we cannot physically feed you.Ohio Rev. Code 3740.01(H)(4)
Filling or pre-sorting a pill organizer, or giving any medicationOhio Board of Nursing rules permit an unlicensed person only to remind and to hand over a closed container. Sorting doses or administering by any route — oral, topical, drops, injection — is off limits.Ohio Admin. Code 4723-13-02
Wound care, dressing changes, catheters, injections, eye or ear dropsThese are “skilled nursing care” under Ohio law and are reserved for licensed nurses, or for unlicensed staff working under a nurse’s formal delegation. We have no such delegation, by design.Ohio Rev. Code 3721.01(A)(4); Ohio Admin. Code 4723-13-05
Blood pressure, blood sugar or other clinical readingsTaking and interpreting vitals edges into skilled clinical observation. We will not do it, even casually — we’d rather you get a real reading from a real clinician.Ohio Rev. Code 3721.01(A)(4)(b)
Diagnosing, advising on, or managing a medical conditionWe are not clinicians and will never offer an opinion on your health, your medications, or your treatment. Ask your doctor or pharmacist — we’ll help you write down the questions beforehand.
Emergency or crisis responseWe are not an alert service. If something is wrong, our helper calls 911 first, then your emergency contact. Never call us instead of 911.
Handling your money, checks, cards or bank accountsWe will never be a signer or joint owner on an account, never hold or deposit your funds, never use your card without you present and directing the purchase, and never accept gifts, tips in kind, or loans.Ohio Rev. Code 2913.02 (theft from a protected class)
Serving as Power of Attorney, guardian, executor or witnessWe decline these roles categorically, even when asked warmly. A paid helper holding legal authority over a client is exactly the arrangement elder-protection law worries about.
Picking up controlled-substance prescriptionsPharmacies apply heightened identification and authorization rules to these, and the liability is not ours to carry. Please arrange those directly or through a licensed agency.
Driving you anywhere, in any vehicleThis one is our own choice rather than Ohio’s. Carrying passengers is a category of risk we are not willing to take on with someone else’s parent in the passenger seat, so we do not do it at all — not to the doctor, not to church, not around the corner. We will gladly help you book a ride, sit with you until it arrives, and be there when you get home.
Anything requiring a licensed tradeNo electrical, plumbing, roof, gas, ladder or tree work. We’ll help you find a licensed contractor and wait at the house while they work.

Why the line exists

Three separate Ohio rules, not one

People assume there’s a single “caregiver law.” There are really three, and they overlap:

1. Home health licensing

Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3740 requires an Ohio Department of Health license for “nonmedical home health services” — which includes hands-on help with bathing, dressing, toileting, ambulation, and feeding, plus certain personal care services. Read R.C. 3740.01

2. Nursing practice

Skilled nursing care — dressings, irrigations, catheters, administering medication by any route, clinical observation — is reserved for licensed nurses, or for unlicensed staff under a nurse’s formal written delegation. Read O.A.C. 4723-13

3. Elder protection

Ohio treats theft from an older adult as an enhanced felony, and requires senior service providers to report suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation immediately. Read R.C. 5101.63

Full transparency

One gray area we won’t pretend is settled

Errands and prescription pickup. Ohio’s licensing statute lists errands done outside your presence — including picking up prescriptions and groceries — as a licensed “personal care service” when they are needed to maintain your health and safety. Rather than argue about where our errands fall on that line, we are applying for the Ohio Department of Health nonmedical home health services license and posting the surety bond that goes with it. Until that license is actually issued we do not hold it and we do not claim it — and we are confirming our exact scope with the Department in the meantime. When it is issued, this page will say so and will show the license number. R.C. 3740.01(Q)(6)

We would rather publish an open question than a confident-sounding claim we haven’t verified. If the answer changes, this page changes.

One thing we don’t do

We don’t drive you — but we’ll help you find someone who will

Home Town Helpers does not transport clients. Not to the doctor, not to church, not around the corner. This is our own decision rather than something Ohio requires, and we’d rather be plain about it than have you find out on a morning when you needed a ride.

Lorain County has real options, and most people don’t know they exist. Here are the ones we point families toward:

Lorain County Transit Dial-A-Ride

(440) 365-0224
Door-to-door anywhere in Lorain County — medical appointments, work, anywhere. Book 2 to 14 days ahead. Around $1–2 per ride for seniors 65 and older. Wheelchair accessible. Details

ViaLC on-demand rides

(440) 901-5554
Shorter, on-demand trips, Monday to Friday, 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. About $1 for seniors and Medicare cardholders. No smartphone needed — you can book by phone. Details

Lorain County Office on Aging

(440) 326-4800
Assisted transportation to medical appointments for county residents 60 and older who have no other way to get there. First-come, first-served, so call early. Details

Dial 2-1-1

2-1-1
United Way’s free referral line for Lorain County. They know about church and volunteer driver programs that never show up in a web search. Details

Here’s the part we can help with. Booking a ride is often the hard bit — the phone tree, the two-week notice, remembering to call at all. We’ll sit down and make the call with you, get it on your calendar, remind you the day before, have you ready by the door when it pulls up, and be there when you get home. That is squarely inside what we do.

These are independent services we have no connection to. Please confirm current fares, hours and eligibility with each one directly.

Our promises

How we protect you

Background-checked, insured helpers

Every helper clears an Ohio BCI and FBI criminal background check before a first visit, and works under our general liability coverage. Because we never transport clients, no one is ever a passenger in our vehicle.

A hard no on money and authority

No Power of Attorney, no account access, no holding funds, no gifts, no loans, no witnessing documents. Receipts and change returned every visit, every time.

Written plan, written limits

Your service agreement lists exactly which tasks we will and will not perform, so there is never a moment of confusion about scope.

We refer you out, honestly

When a need crosses into licensed care, we say so immediately and hand you names of licensed agencies and the Lorain County Office on Aging — we don’t stretch to keep the hours.

Questions we get

Common questions about the line

My mother just needs a little help getting into the shower. Really?

Really. The moment we physically assist with bathing, we are providing what Ohio defines as a licensed home health aide service, and that requires an Ohio Department of Health license we do not hold. It is genuinely the most common request we have to decline.

What we can do: be at the house at the same time, keep her company, have breakfast ready, and have the house in order when she’s done. And we’ll give you names of licensed agencies for the shower part.

Can you just remind her to take her pills?

Yes — reminders are specifically permitted. We can tell her it’s time, watch that she followed the label, and hand her the closed bottle from where she keeps it, opening the cap if her hands won’t. We cannot sort next week’s doses into the organizer, and we cannot put the pill in her hand or her mouth.

Why won’t you help with the checkbook? You’d be helping.

Because the single most common form of elder financial exploitation in the country involves a trusted paid helper with access to accounts. We eliminate the possibility rather than manage it. We will sort the mail, flag what’s due, build the calendar, and sit beside her while she writes the check. She signs. Always.

Are you licensed by the state of Ohio?

We are a registered Ohio business, insured, and staffed by background-checked helpers. We are also currently applying for the Ohio Department of Health nonmedical home health services license and posting the surety bond that goes with it — until it is actually issued we do not hold it and we do not claim it. Either way we operate as a concierge and companion service, which is exactly why our service list stops where it does. If a family needs licensed personal care or nursing, we refer out.

What if something happens while your helper is there?

Our helper calls 911 first, stays with your loved one, then calls your designated emergency contact and our office. We are not a medical or alert service, and we will never be the number you call instead of 911.

Can I show this page to my elder-law attorney?

Please do — it’s written to be shown to one. Every restriction above cites the Ohio statute or rule behind it. If your attorney reads any of it differently, we want to hear it.

One honest disclaimer. This page describes our own service boundaries and cites publicly available Ohio statutes and administrative rules for context. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for your own counsel. Ohio’s home care licensing law (R.C. Chapter 3740) is relatively new and parts of it are still being interpreted. If you are researching your own family’s options, or thinking about starting a similar service, talk to an Ohio attorney and to the Ohio Department of Health’s home health licensure office directly.

Still not sure what you need?

That’s the most common place to start. Tell us what’s going on and we’ll tell you honestly whether we’re the right call — or who is.

Request a free consultation Call (440) 305-7333