This week, we’re sharing how and why we turned an abundance of firsthand experience into the best decision of our careers: opening our Newton, MA home care agency, Abundant Home Health Care.
97% of older Americans want to age in place and stay in their own homes as long as they can. The same was true for our parents. Most adult children, including our family, want to comply with their parent’s wishes. However, with us, as well as with most families, adult children either work full time or have their own kids and homes they are responsible for.
So, our family decided to hire a home care agency to help our parents with the routine household chores such as shopping, cooking, laundry and to drive them to visit friends and relatives. The agency promised to send an aide who was reliable, patient, and supportive. What they didn’t tell us is that they would send a different aide every other day. In one week, my mother explained what she needed to be done four times. And when the aides weren’t asking my mom for direction, they called me at the office. This was not what we signed up for, so we hired a different agency.
The next agency did send the same aide for a week. The good news? My folks only had to deal with one person. The bad news was she wasn’t reliable – arriving late, leaving early, and not a very good driver. But most importantly, she wasn’t the least bit interested in my parent’s welfare. What were we supposed to do next?
Luckily, the stars finally aligned:
- My niece came home from college and was happy to care for her grandparents.
- Jeanne and I had friends whose opinions and advice we valued – a doctor, two registered nurses, and a case manager. After listening to our situation over dinner one night, they all gave us the same advice: We could do this ourselves!
Between our firsthand experience managing relatives who needed assistance remaining in their own home, and our combined years of business experience, we were more than ready to open our own agency.
We shadowed our colleagues and friends on the job when it was appropriate, and learned what social workers and discharge managers look for in a home care agency. From there, we opened ABUNDANT HOME HEALTH CARE.
This is ABUNDANT HHC’s commitment to our clients and their families:
To our clients: Abundant will deliver the level of care we expected and wanted our own parents to receive.
To the Families: We have been in your shoes. Rest assured that your loved one’s happiness and satisfaction are the #1 aim of the entire ABUNDANT team.
To the Adult Children:
- You will not receive phone calls while you are working.
- Your relatives will be cared for with respect, compassion gentleness, empathy, and the professionalism we demand of the Abundant team.
To All: With our abundance of firsthand experience from our own parents and the 8 years of success as the Directors and Owners of ABUNDANT HOME HEALTH CARE, we understand the stress, complexity, and level of concern that is inevitable in this decision process. We are here to help.
ABUNDANT HHC’s guiding principle is COMPASSION + EMPATHY = TRUST, and that’s what we bring to each and every client we serve.
Cordially,
Ceci Murphy & Jeanne Smillie
Directors & Owners of Abundant Home Health Care
www.abundanthomehealthcare.com
617-795-2171