Staff photo by Gage Cureton MN Comfort In-Home Care Services owners Leann Domeier, left, and Jeremy Domeier, right, pose for a portrait July 22 in Sleepy Eye. MN Comfort In-Home Care Services is a comprehensive healthcare provider based out of Sleepy Eye that offer in-home care services to those not ready to move into a nursing home.

SLEEPY EYE — As Minnesota’s population of residents aged 65 or older continues to grow, a new comprehensive healthcare provider based out of Sleepy Eye seeks to offer in-home care services to those not ready to move into a nursing home.

MN Comfort In-Home Care Services co-owners Leann and Jeremy Domeier said they seek to provide reliable and affordable in-home care services to clients in the Sleepy Eye area and surrounding counties.

Leann, a registered nurse (RN), and Jeremy, a licensed practical nurse (LPN), have 40 years of combined experience working in longterm healthcare services and related fields.

With the average cost of longterm care approaching $90,000 per year, Jeremy said they aim to provide affordable in-home care services.

“After working in longterm care and just seeing what people pay, if they’re private pay, it’s just the prices are astronomical if you’re not on Medicaid,” he said. “And you look at some of these people who’ve worked their entire life. It’s taken away when they go into longterm care.”

Jeremy and Leann said their business has been “flexible from the start” with their ability to work around a client’s busy or changing schedule. They said they affix a client-tailored, in-home care service based on that client’s preferred schedule.

“We do get into the skilled-level nursing that you would see in the nursing home or the hospital,” Jeremy said.

The basis of their services is to provide those in need of daily health-related attention or appointment based care with services such as medication management, hands-on assistance with mobility and transfers, tube feedings, home safety assessments, wound care and IV therapy.

MN Comfort In-Home Care Services can also assist with daily living tasks such as: dressing, hair care, grooming, meal preparation, shopping assistance, transportation to appointments, light housekeeping, companion services, fall assistance and wellness checks and more.

“Sometimes people aren’t ready or they don’t need the services,” Jeremy said. “You might have a widow out there that might be lonely and they’re just looking for someone to sit with, play cards with, take a walk or even watch the Twins game.”

According to the Minnesota State Demographic Center, about 285,000 residents are expected to reach the age of 65 or older between the years of 2010 and 2020 — greater than the past four decades combined.

The total number of adults 65 or older is anticipated to double between 2010 and 2030. By that time, more than one in five Minnesotans will be an older adult.

By next year, Minnesota’s 65 and older population is expected to eclipse the kindergarten through twelth-grade [ages five to 17] population for the first time in history.

“They were always planning for this in the nursing field,” Leann said. “They’ve been aware for many years. Even when I went for my LPN [in 2000] they always talked about it.”

Leann said MN Comfort can also pick up the reins after local nursing homes such as Oak Hills Living Center stopped offering in-home care.

“A lot of that has to do with the Medicare portion of it,” Leann said. “They just couldn’t staff enough hours in the week to deal with all the paper work.”

Jeremy said their business also takes care of insurance claims, can set up billing plans and submit all necessary medical documentation. They can also educate or answer questions about Medicare.

“I think that’s really important for people to know what they’re buying and make sure that they are going to be able to use that benefit when that time comes,” Jeremy said.

Before choosing MN Comfort as an in-home care service, Jeremy and Leann said they offer a complimentary home assessment to identify the services needed.

“We’re just a phone call away,” Jeremy said. “Even if they’re not necessarily ready to sign up, but we’ll come out anyways and offer that free consultation and see what we think.”

Gage Cureton can be emailed at gcureton@nujournal.com.