Morris Oiring: Bringing Patient-Centered Home Care to Sag Harbor

Private pay home care will arrive this summer in Sag Harbor. Morris Oiring, whose Oiring Group focuses on helping families with home care and residential facilities, is bringing his patient-centered vision of home care here to meet the unfulfilled need for these services.

Oiring looks to fill the local home care void by providing top-quality aides and concierge services. Oiring boasts that he has an unprecedented 80% aide retention rate, which boosts continuity and care. He attributes that loyalty to aides receiving extra training and benefits, such as a shuttle service, to ensure they not just do their job, but perform at the highest levels.

“I’m a forward thinker and am always asking, ‘How can we make it work?” Oiring says.

With out-of-the-box thinking, the Oiring Group will provide not just high-level home care, but offer additional concierge services to Sag Harbor residents. With this variety of services, locals can stay at home while receiving the extra help they need.

The Oiring Group also uses technology to further expand and enhance the reliability of provided services. Oiring, who operates facilities state-wide from Buffalo to Albany and south to Westchester, New York City and Long Island, believes that Sag Harbor provides the perfect setting for extending Oiring Group home care services.

“I love the Sag Harbor environment. The people here are nice and have a certain calmness, but still want their expectations to be met,” he says. “I believe there is a lot of need for our services here in the Hamptons.”

Oiring’s desire to serve individuals and their families with home care is personal. In his case, his mother suffers from dementia, and he understands the struggles faced by both the afflicted individual and their families.

“Everyone has someone who will eventually need care,” he says. “Whether that is your parent or your child or someone else, you eventually will face this situation. Our goal is to help you through it. We’re there to answer the questions you have not yet thought of, to provide the help you will need but are not yet able to raise your head up enough (from the task of caregiving) to work through. There is no training course you can take to prepare you to take care of your parents. Your parents are the ones who took care of you.”

Oiring adds that, for him, the first emotion was disbelief, followed by a sense of being overwhelmed and not sure which way to turn.

“That’s what we’re here for, so you don’t feel you’re going through it alone, because you’re not,” he continues. “When I began taking care of my mom, it changed me. I truly believe you extend a loved one’s life by looking after them. We even offer options where a family member can be paid to care for a loved one. A lot of people are already taking care of a family member, but just not getting paid for it. Our goal is to find solutions that work.”

While he provides service throughout New York, his goal is to keep the feel of a small, concierge organization.

“People do better when they are able to make friends, where the staff knows your name,” Oiring says. “We make sure they have hobbies, a sense of purpose, and that they’re treated with respect. Often, when someone loses a spouse, they become isolated. What we offer them is a chance at a second life. One of the challenges a family member acting as a caregiver faces is being in the position of telling the person what is best for him or her. We are professionals and understand that we need to ask them what they want, what they would like. By having a choice, they have more independence and are more engaged.”

Oiring says that one of the biggest problems he sees families facing is not asking for, or accepting, help early in the process.

“That’s where we come in,” he notes. “We help you with the role you want to take. Some people want to be caregivers, and we help make that possible. Others want to have that parent-child relationship and leave the heavy lifting of caregiving to others. We help families figure out what they want the dynamic to be and then help them achieve it.”

Oiring expects to open his Sag Harbor office after the July Fourth holiday. He plans to invite the community to an open house where he looks forward to greeting community members. He and other staff members will be available to speak about available services.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.