December 7, 2025 • 19 mins
A tiny cup of vanilla and a wooden spoon changed everything. That stark image of a proud father in a rehab hallway pushed Helga Pfanner to bring him home—and to build CareCo, a home care model that treats dignity, joy, and reliability as daily practices, not slogans. From those first days at a kitchen table to a multi‑state operation across Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, we unpack how a personal mission grew into a system that actually shows up.
We walk through what happens when families call for help: a real conversation with a liaison or care manager, a free assessment at home, and a plan crafted around needs and preferences—favorite breakfast routines, pets, reading habits, and what truly makes a day feel normal. Matching is intentional. The right caregiver is chosen for the client’s environment and personality, so the relationship feels natural, not forced. Along the way we share stories of creative care, like arranging dog visits for a client with dementia, and getting the New York Times on the table because familiar rituals matter.
Operations matter just as much as heart. Instead of crossing fingers during call‑outs, CareCo keeps trained CNAs and PCAs on standby in the office, dressed and ready to deploy. We talk about fixing a broken sit‑to‑stand lift within an hour, installing free air conditioners during brutal heat waves, and even reserving hotel floors during regional power outages to keep seniors safe. That commitment led to taking over a 168‑hour case during the holidays and never missing a single hour—proof that backup plans must be real, not promises.
We also tackle the hardest moments: when a parent refuses help and independence collides with risk. You’ll hear how a poor first match became a better second match and, over time, a trusted routine that brought peace to five worried sons. Hiring, boundaries, and culture tie it all together—why heart and punctuality can’t be trained, and how loving clients still lives within a clear professional line. Subscribe, share this story with someone navigating elder care, and leave a review with the one question you most want answered next.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
My name is Helga Fanner and the business name is
CARCO.
I started it in 2005, actually2004, but made it official in
2005.
And it's been quite the trip.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
It has.
And tell us more about whatlocation did you start?
Was it the Waterford,Connecticut?
SPEAKER_01 (00:30):
Yes, I started actually I started on my kitchen
table because I took care of mydad.
I was in a totally differentbusiness line and business
background, nothing inhealthcare, but my dad got sick,
and my mother called me andsaid, Your father's in a rehab.
And I said, What are you talkingabout?
And I she said, I can't bringhim home and leave him there.
(00:51):
And she said, It's impossible tobring him home.
So I flew back to Connecticutand went and saw him, and he was
sitting in the hall with alittle tiny cup of vanilla ice
cream and a wooden spoon thatsomebody had taken him.
My father was super politealways.
And he said, You have to get meout of here.
This is the worst hotel I'veever been in.
(01:14):
They call this ice cream, theycall this a spoon.
They have no coffee ice creamand no Tia Maria.
And you gotta get me out ofhere.
SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
Oh my.
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
And so I brought him to my house.
I thought about it.
I brought him to my house.
I could have hired someone totake care of them.
I told my mom how to do it.
I said, it's a job.
You have to pay attention, butyou have to make sure you have
the right aids.
She said, Can you do it for me?
And I said, Yeah, I'll do it foryou, for us, for our family.
Took care of him.
And then his best friend wasalso in a nursing home.
(01:47):
And the family said, Can youbring him home?
And I said, Yeah, I can bringhim home to you guys, and
brought him home.
And then one thing led toanother.
And then I figured I'd betterget insurance.
So I was like, okay, I have tohave at least eight clients.
And I was always going to goback to what I had been doing
most of my life.
And just it just never happened.
And it just evolved from there.
(02:08):
And I do believe in being home.
It's very important to me.
We all want to be home with ourdog.
So we do.
And with our dog or a glass ofwine or whatever it is that
makes us happy.
And that's home.
Our pillows.
That's home.
SPEAKER_00 (02:25):
Yes, absolutely.
And so I I feel like every timeI talk to a home care agency
owner, they definitely have astory that sometimes starts just
like that.
It's either a parent,grandparent, and I know that
this business is a business ofheart.
You couldn't have been in itthis long if you didn't love
what you do.
And I know days are hard, butyou you have grown this business
(02:50):
from one location to manylocations and in many states
now.
So you want to tell us a littleabout all your coverage?
SPEAKER_01 (02:59):
Okay, so we're in Sanford, Maine.
So we're in your county, Maine.
One of my, I shouldn't say this,favorite offices.
I love Maine.
It's absolutely gorgeous upthere.
And we have an office in NewHampshire.
We have an office in Plattstowl,relatively new.
We have a couple offices inMassachusetts, one in Worcester
County and one in Peabody.
(03:22):
Actually, City of Worcester andPeabody.
And we have one in Richmond,Rhode Island.
Wow.
All relatively.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:31):
Yeah, that's great.
And so that means you havecaregivers in all those states.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
We do.
SPEAKER_00 (03:37):
Any equipped to help anybody in your within your
reach.
So that's awesome.
Since 2005, how many you'veprobably taken care of hundreds
and hundreds of clients sincethe time you started.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Hundreds and hundreds.
I have no idea how many.
SPEAKER_00 (03:56):
Hundreds.
unknown (03:57):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (03:58):
So it went from your kitchen table to an office, and
now in several states.
That that is crazy and amazing.
It seems like a long time ago.
It's 20 years.
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
That's that's it seemed like nothing.
It was just boom.
There's always something goingon in this business that never
sleeps.
It's 24 hours a day, seven daysa week.
Crazy business.
SPEAKER_00 (04:17):
That's true.
It's a business that neversleeps.
So tell us now when somebodycalls your office or calls the
main line.
I'm looking at this from theperspective of an adult child of
an aging parent.
I'm not in this business and Inever have been.
What happens when someone callsyour office?
What's the process they gothrough to perhaps get care
(04:38):
started?
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Okay, so the first thing is whoever answers the
phone is just going to set theindividual up with someone
that's going to lead them in theright direction.
So it'll be one of our either aliaison, a state liaison, or a
care manager.
And they're going to go over theprocess and find out what the
needs are and what a good fitwould be and put everything in
(05:01):
place that they need.
Then we come out for a freeassessment and we go over how we
handle things because our agencyis a little different than most
of them out there, which is, Ithink, why we're pretty
successful and why I can sleepat night is because there's a
lot of things that can go wrongif you're not set up.
And then the person comes out,whoever goes out goes over the
care needs, also goes over whatthe individual likes.
(05:24):
What makes this person happy?
Because for me, this business isalso about being happy.
It's about being home, beinghappy, and having a better life.
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's what makes it allworthwhile is to be able to stay
in your home and invite your dogand your coffee and your in the
right kind of ice cream.
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
And that's right.
That's absolutely true.
SPEAKER_00 (05:45):
Yep.
And so the caregivers that areassigned also get that
information.
So when you're pairing up acaregiver with that client,
they're a good fit and theyalready have some idea of what
that client wants in their life,what they like.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (06:00):
Yep.
What they what we have a wholeteam that handles it.
So it's what they like to eat,where they like to go, do they
need the New York Times?
And this is something I say, andit's not even true anymore, but
back in the day, it was I had aclient, they wanted the New York
Times on their table forbreakfast, and we did it.
We made sure that was part ofwhat we did.
(06:21):
We've done a lot of crazy thingsover the year.
We had somebody whose husbandpassed away, their dog passed
away, they had dementia a littlebit, and couldn't remember that
the dog was gone, couldn'tremember most things.
And we had the neighbor's dog,she had the same kind of dog
that used to visit her just tobring a little joy into her life
(06:44):
because she loved that dog ofhers.
So we've done a lot of littlethings over the years, or big
things even, depending.
SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
And you said we do things different, and that's why
we've been around for so long.
So what are the things that youguys do that you think are
different than everybody elsethat's kept you around?
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
We do two things, and there's been a lot of ups
and downs because thesemanagement changes.
I was sick for a while, so Iwasn't I was absent for several
years.
Uh stuff been resolved quite abit.
And so things have gone up anddown, but the core things we
did, I think, that aredifferent, that I've always
pushed into this business isone, we are not just there to
(07:26):
make sure they toilet in andbathe.
We're there to make their livesbetter.
That's one.
Two, we have standby people thatare in our office that we can
send to a case.
If somebody calls out, and I'mnot saying this is flawless
because sometimes you just don'thave enough people, but we have
someone in that office that alsogives care.
(07:46):
And if someone calls out andthen it's last minute, we send
someone from the office that isa CNA or a PCA to take care of
that individual right away.
So it's not the same as othercompanies where they make 20
phone calls to see who'savailable.
We have people on standby,available in that office,
(08:07):
dressed in scrubs, ready to goout.
I think another thing that makesus different is that we don't
say we're just like family, likesome of the other companies.
We love our clients because youcan't help it.
You're involved in their lives.
But we always tell our employeeswe are professionals in a
client's home.
(08:28):
You're allowed to love yourclient, but there's a line.
This is the line ofprofessional, professionalism,
and that needs to be maintained.
So I think those are threethings that set us apart from a
lot of companies that are outthere.
SPEAKER_00 (08:44):
I think that I think you're right.
That loving your clients isdefinitely heartfelt and a plus,
but uh for sure, thatprofessionalism, the way you're
dressed, the way you speak tosomeone, all of that is also
very important.
And as you care for, especiallybaby boomers, and now we're
getting into some Gen Xers, theyappreciate that that level of
(09:06):
respect.
Even if they have a greatrelationship with you, it's a
professional, respectfulrelationship.
And kidding around is okay, butit's show them the respect they
deserve, frankly.
Yes, that's great.
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
It's professional profess a professional.
That doesn't mean you can't lovethem because we're in people's
homes.
Even I walk in and out ofpeople's homes in between, and
I'm like, oh, I get it, butyou've got to keep that line in
place.
SPEAKER_00 (09:32):
And you said that you have somebody on call to
help for call with call-ins.
And by far, that is where you'renot on call.
SPEAKER_01 (09:40):
A lot of companies, a lot of companies have someone
on call.
We have someone that does simplepaperwork in the office that
prints things for applicationsthat is that we can send out.
The minute we get that call, wesend them out.
We don't say, okay, who's oncall tonight?
And we cover, I don't know,20,000 hours a week, I think.
(10:01):
Which is a yeah.
So it's not flawless, but fromwhat we've seen, it's better
than any system out there, whatwe do.
So I am very proud of us.
When I opened a company inMaine, I we picked up a client
who was with another agency, andit's a large client, it's 168
hours a week.
(10:22):
And we went in there as afill-in company for a couple
hours here and a couple of hoursthere.
We saved her through theholidays, and I finally said to
her, You need to give us thewhole account because right now
what's happening isn't very fairto us.
We're gonna call last minutewhen that agency can't
accommodate you.
And she hemmed in hard and shefinally gave it to us.
We have never missed a singlehour, a single day since we took
(10:46):
over.
And I'm proud of us, I'm proudof who we are.
Yeah, and this is a big agencywith a big name that that this
client came from.
And now we're getting anotherone, also up in Maine, from the
same agency.
SPEAKER_00 (11:00):
Great.
SPEAKER_01 (11:01):
We do a better job.
SPEAKER_00 (11:03):
So it comes from leadership, it starts with you
and all the leadership you haveon your in your company and that
model and that attitude and thatall the things that you put in
place to cover is really whatmakes a difference here.
Your belief in how this shouldwork is what makes everything
(11:23):
else work so much better.
And having somebody in theoffice who can take off and go
to that person is wonderful.
I always have said that I wouldchoose an agency over hiring a
private caregiver simplybecause, and it's not simple,
but it's because I want thatsafety.
I want to know there's somebody,there is a backup plan.
Have a clean.
(11:45):
Yeah, you have a whole group ofpeople behind you.
SPEAKER_01 (11:48):
We had a sit and stand that wasn't working this
morning.
Okay.
They I said, look on the device.
There's probably a phone numberwhere the device came from.
They said they'd come outtomorrow.
I said, You're gonna come outtomorrow?
I had one of my guys that dealswith hydraulics and cars and
does all kinds of things for usand uh free air conditioning.
(12:10):
We gave people this summer, theyinstalled them and they do all
kinds of things for us.
And I sent them over there, andit was as simple as replacing
the batteries.
And he had it done an hourlater, and it was up and
running, and she got out of bed.
And that that makes usdifferent.
SPEAKER_00 (12:24):
Yeah, that's going above and beyond.
Yeah, was she gonna lay in bedfor the whole for till tomorrow?
SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
Tomorrow, exactly.
And this summer we had peoplewho, you know, and they were
Medicaid, they couldn't affordair conditioning.
I got a couple of phone calls,and then we checked on everyone,
which we usually do in a moretimely fashion, maybe than this
year, and we ended up installingair conditioning in three
people's homes for free, just agift, giving something back, and
(12:52):
made three families happy thattheir loved ones were taken care
of and that the house wasn't sohot that just stupid little
things.
We put flower boxes at the YMCAin Richmond, Rhode Island.
We donated them, we installedthem just to brighten the place
up because our office is next tothem.
We have a flower box.
And they said, Oh, we wish wehad flower boxes.
So I said, My guys will putflower boxes in for you.
(13:13):
So we put flower boxes in, andthey loved it, and it's it
wasn't that big a deal.
SPEAKER_00 (13:18):
It was just six flower boxes and lots of little
things that beautifying thearea, making everybody happy,
and air conditioning kind of isa big deal sometimes.
And we've had brutal, brutalsummer heat this year.
And I am certain that you knowthat little act on your part is
made you probably preventedhospitalizations.
(13:40):
Who knows what would havehappened?
We hear stories in the winterand in the summer of seniors who
don't want to reach out, don'twant to say anything, don't want
to be a bother, and they areovercome by heat or cold or we
do have reporting in place forheat, which is where this came
from.
SPEAKER_01 (13:57):
And also, if there's the year they had all the
snowstorms in New England andthere was no power everywhere,
we had the top floor of a motelin East Lime, Connecticut, where
we put seniors and caregiversup.
That sounds insane, but theshelters didn't have room.
A lot of our clients areaccustomed to something better.
What are you gonna do if there'sno power?
(14:18):
Now, a lot of the houses sincethen have Generacts.
That year, I don't know if Iremember what year it was,
changed a lot of things becauseit was nonstop power outages in
Connecticut.
SPEAKER_00 (14:27):
So yeah, that is rough.
That is so hard on our seniors.
That is, yeah.
And yeah, so doing little thingslike that, that's a big deal,
renting out a whole top of ahotel or a whole roof, floor on
a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01 (14:39):
Well, they weren't they gave us a deal because they
didn't have anything going on.
There was snow four feet high.
So they were happy and we madeit work and we worked with a
couple of snow plow drivers thathelped us out.
I actually had the firedepartment in Waterford go to
one location for us.
Um but that's great.
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Yeah, that that is so that that's the kind of
that's the kind of service youdon't ever want to have to be in
that position, but that's thekind of service you're looking
for when it comes to a home careagency.
And I know you guys just do anoutstanding job all over these
states that you cover.
So is there anything else you'dlike to tell us?
(15:19):
I know one thing I would like toknow is when you're hiring
caregivers, what do you look forin a caregiver?
What is the thing that says,yes, that's this person would be
good for us?
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
That they have a heart.
Punctuality and having a heartis two things you cannot train.
Most other things you can teachsomeone, but that you cannot.
And that is always my number onebecause honestly, we work in
high-end multi-million dollarhouses and within the ghetto,
(15:50):
quite honestly.
And it's a matching game.
You have to have a care acaregiver that can work in a
certain environment and becomfortable.
You have to have a client thathas a caregiver that functions
in that environment and everyoneis comfortable.
So that's a big thing.
But that's easy.
But having somebody who cares inthis business is the biggest
(16:10):
thing.
You need someone.
SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
Yeah, it has to be a calling almost to do that.
SPEAKER_01 (16:15):
Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
Not just somebody who can't geta job and wanna says, okay, I'm
gonna do this for five minutes.
It's one of the big when Iinterview someone, I want to
know that they care and thatthey will be on time and that
they don't call out.
And then there's always clientswho the family wants the client
to have services, and the familydoesn't.
They're worried about theirloved one, and the loved one
(16:37):
doesn't want anybody in theirhouse, and they've gotten lost
three times, the driver'slicense was taken, and blah,
blah, blah.
And how do you cope with that?
And how do you make that work?
I'll tell you some a funnystory.
I'll make it short.
We picked up a client in Maine,and beautiful family, five sons,
and the sons love their mom, andthe mom wants nothing to do with
(16:58):
any kind of help.
And she kicked us out of thehouse practically when we got
there.
So we went around in a circle.
So the next day we get a phonecall.
The aide shows up, there's noone at the house, and the son,
one of the sons calls up andsays, My mom took the truck, she
has no license, by the way, anddrove to Bangor or somewhere up
north, five hours north, and isat the hunting lodge.
(17:23):
So we sent the caregiver up toget her with a couple with a
company car.
And they brought her back.
And this girl wasn't the bestmatch, but then we tried someone
else.
And now we're in there threetimes a week.
And there's a lot of happiness.
And the woman's starting to lookforward to seeing this caregiver
(17:44):
because they have things incommon.
And so we're gonna slowly workit so that the family's at
peace, that mom's okay.
Because one of the things thatreally hit me, I actually went
to this meeting, I don't go tomost meetings anymore, but one
of the things that hit me wasthis because the manager in
Maine was in Alaska for twoweeks.
So I was in Maine for two weeks,manning the office.
(18:06):
So I went to this meeting.
And one of the things that gotto me was when the son was
arguing with the mom, and themom was saying, blah, blah,
blah, I don't want anybody in myhouse.
And he said, every morning whenI stop here, I'm afraid I'm
gonna find you dead on thefloor.
And it killed me.
And he meant it.
(18:28):
It was not about anything otherthan keeping her safe.
Yeah.
So we worked hard at making thatwork, and it's starting to,
slowly starting to.
SPEAKER_00 (18:39):
It's sometimes it is a slow roll into getting someone
a little bit more involved and alittle bit more accepting as
time goes on.
That's another hard part of thisjob, is people who don't want
the help, don't want someone intheir home.
And you all find a way to slowlybut surely insert yourselves in
(19:00):
a positive way and with apositive match of a caregiver
that helps them feelcomfortable.
That's really important.
I want to thank you for talkingto me and telling all of us
about CareCo, what you guys do,how far you've come in 20 years,
which is amazing.
And we'll make sure that folkssee and hear this and know how
(19:25):
much you care about what's goingon out there for all the clients
you serve.
Okay, appreciate it very much.
Thank you.
My name is Helga Fanner and the business name is
CARCO.
I started it in 2005, actually2004, but made it official in
2005.
And it's been quite the trip.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
It has.
And tell us more about whatlocation did you start?
Was it the Waterford,Connecticut?
SPEAKER_01 (00:30):
Yes, I started actually I started on my kitchen
table because I took care of mydad.
I was in a totally differentbusiness line and business
background, nothing inhealthcare, but my dad got sick,
and my mother called me andsaid, Your father's in a rehab.
And I said, What are you talkingabout?
And I she said, I can't bringhim home and leave him there.
(00:51):
And she said, It's impossible tobring him home.
So I flew back to Connecticutand went and saw him, and he was
sitting in the hall with alittle tiny cup of vanilla ice
cream and a wooden spoon thatsomebody had taken him.
My father was super politealways.
And he said, You have to get meout of here.
This is the worst hotel I'veever been in.
(01:14):
They call this ice cream, theycall this a spoon.
They have no coffee ice creamand no Tia Maria.
And you gotta get me out ofhere.
SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
Oh my.
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
And so I brought him to my house.
I thought about it.
I brought him to my house.
I could have hired someone totake care of them.
I told my mom how to do it.
I said, it's a job.
You have to pay attention, butyou have to make sure you have
the right aids.
She said, Can you do it for me?
And I said, Yeah, I'll do it foryou, for us, for our family.
Took care of him.
And then his best friend wasalso in a nursing home.
(01:47):
And the family said, Can youbring him home?
And I said, Yeah, I can bringhim home to you guys, and
brought him home.
And then one thing led toanother.
And then I figured I'd betterget insurance.
So I was like, okay, I have tohave at least eight clients.
And I was always going to goback to what I had been doing
most of my life.
And just it just never happened.
And it just evolved from there.
(02:08):
And I do believe in being home.
It's very important to me.
We all want to be home with ourdog.
So we do.
And with our dog or a glass ofwine or whatever it is that
makes us happy.
And that's home.
Our pillows.
That's home.
SPEAKER_00 (02:25):
Yes, absolutely.
And so I I feel like every timeI talk to a home care agency
owner, they definitely have astory that sometimes starts just
like that.
It's either a parent,grandparent, and I know that
this business is a business ofheart.
You couldn't have been in itthis long if you didn't love
what you do.
And I know days are hard, butyou you have grown this business
(02:50):
from one location to manylocations and in many states
now.
So you want to tell us a littleabout all your coverage?
SPEAKER_01 (02:59):
Okay, so we're in Sanford, Maine.
So we're in your county, Maine.
One of my, I shouldn't say this,favorite offices.
I love Maine.
It's absolutely gorgeous upthere.
And we have an office in NewHampshire.
We have an office in Plattstowl,relatively new.
We have a couple offices inMassachusetts, one in Worcester
County and one in Peabody.
(03:22):
Actually, City of Worcester andPeabody.
And we have one in Richmond,Rhode Island.
Wow.
All relatively.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:31):
Yeah, that's great.
And so that means you havecaregivers in all those states.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
We do.
SPEAKER_00 (03:37):
Any equipped to help anybody in your within your
reach.
So that's awesome.
Since 2005, how many you'veprobably taken care of hundreds
and hundreds of clients sincethe time you started.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Hundreds and hundreds.
I have no idea how many.
SPEAKER_00 (03:56):
Hundreds.
unknown (03:57):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (03:58):
So it went from your kitchen table to an office, and
now in several states.
That that is crazy and amazing.
It seems like a long time ago.
It's 20 years.
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
That's that's it seemed like nothing.
It was just boom.
There's always something goingon in this business that never
sleeps.
It's 24 hours a day, seven daysa week.
Crazy business.
SPEAKER_00 (04:17):
That's true.
It's a business that neversleeps.
So tell us now when somebodycalls your office or calls the
main line.
I'm looking at this from theperspective of an adult child of
an aging parent.
I'm not in this business and Inever have been.
What happens when someone callsyour office?
What's the process they gothrough to perhaps get care
(04:38):
started?
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Okay, so the first thing is whoever answers the
phone is just going to set theindividual up with someone
that's going to lead them in theright direction.
So it'll be one of our either aliaison, a state liaison, or a
care manager.
And they're going to go over theprocess and find out what the
needs are and what a good fitwould be and put everything in
(05:01):
place that they need.
Then we come out for a freeassessment and we go over how we
handle things because our agencyis a little different than most
of them out there, which is, Ithink, why we're pretty
successful and why I can sleepat night is because there's a
lot of things that can go wrongif you're not set up.
And then the person comes out,whoever goes out goes over the
care needs, also goes over whatthe individual likes.
(05:24):
What makes this person happy?
Because for me, this business isalso about being happy.
It's about being home, beinghappy, and having a better life.
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's what makes it allworthwhile is to be able to stay
in your home and invite your dogand your coffee and your in the
right kind of ice cream.
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
And that's right.
That's absolutely true.
SPEAKER_00 (05:45):
Yep.
And so the caregivers that areassigned also get that
information.
So when you're pairing up acaregiver with that client,
they're a good fit and theyalready have some idea of what
that client wants in their life,what they like.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (06:00):
Yep.
What they what we have a wholeteam that handles it.
So it's what they like to eat,where they like to go, do they
need the New York Times?
And this is something I say, andit's not even true anymore, but
back in the day, it was I had aclient, they wanted the New York
Times on their table forbreakfast, and we did it.
We made sure that was part ofwhat we did.
(06:21):
We've done a lot of crazy thingsover the year.
We had somebody whose husbandpassed away, their dog passed
away, they had dementia a littlebit, and couldn't remember that
the dog was gone, couldn'tremember most things.
And we had the neighbor's dog,she had the same kind of dog
that used to visit her just tobring a little joy into her life
(06:44):
because she loved that dog ofhers.
So we've done a lot of littlethings over the years, or big
things even, depending.
SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
And you said we do things different, and that's why
we've been around for so long.
So what are the things that youguys do that you think are
different than everybody elsethat's kept you around?
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
We do two things, and there's been a lot of ups
and downs because thesemanagement changes.
I was sick for a while, so Iwasn't I was absent for several
years.
Uh stuff been resolved quite abit.
And so things have gone up anddown, but the core things we
did, I think, that aredifferent, that I've always
pushed into this business isone, we are not just there to
(07:26):
make sure they toilet in andbathe.
We're there to make their livesbetter.
That's one.
Two, we have standby people thatare in our office that we can
send to a case.
If somebody calls out, and I'mnot saying this is flawless
because sometimes you just don'thave enough people, but we have
someone in that office that alsogives care.
(07:46):
And if someone calls out andthen it's last minute, we send
someone from the office that isa CNA or a PCA to take care of
that individual right away.
So it's not the same as othercompanies where they make 20
phone calls to see who'savailable.
We have people on standby,available in that office,
(08:07):
dressed in scrubs, ready to goout.
I think another thing that makesus different is that we don't
say we're just like family, likesome of the other companies.
We love our clients because youcan't help it.
You're involved in their lives.
But we always tell our employeeswe are professionals in a
client's home.
(08:28):
You're allowed to love yourclient, but there's a line.
This is the line ofprofessional, professionalism,
and that needs to be maintained.
So I think those are threethings that set us apart from a
lot of companies that are outthere.
SPEAKER_00 (08:44):
I think that I think you're right.
That loving your clients isdefinitely heartfelt and a plus,
but uh for sure, thatprofessionalism, the way you're
dressed, the way you speak tosomeone, all of that is also
very important.
And as you care for, especiallybaby boomers, and now we're
getting into some Gen Xers, theyappreciate that that level of
(09:06):
respect.
Even if they have a greatrelationship with you, it's a
professional, respectfulrelationship.
And kidding around is okay, butit's show them the respect they
deserve, frankly.
Yes, that's great.
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
It's professional profess a professional.
That doesn't mean you can't lovethem because we're in people's
homes.
Even I walk in and out ofpeople's homes in between, and
I'm like, oh, I get it, butyou've got to keep that line in
place.
SPEAKER_00 (09:32):
And you said that you have somebody on call to
help for call with call-ins.
And by far, that is where you'renot on call.
SPEAKER_01 (09:40):
A lot of companies, a lot of companies have someone
on call.
We have someone that does simplepaperwork in the office that
prints things for applicationsthat is that we can send out.
The minute we get that call, wesend them out.
We don't say, okay, who's oncall tonight?
And we cover, I don't know,20,000 hours a week, I think.
(10:01):
Which is a yeah.
So it's not flawless, but fromwhat we've seen, it's better
than any system out there, whatwe do.
So I am very proud of us.
When I opened a company inMaine, I we picked up a client
who was with another agency, andit's a large client, it's 168
hours a week.
(10:22):
And we went in there as afill-in company for a couple
hours here and a couple of hoursthere.
We saved her through theholidays, and I finally said to
her, You need to give us thewhole account because right now
what's happening isn't very fairto us.
We're gonna call last minutewhen that agency can't
accommodate you.
And she hemmed in hard and shefinally gave it to us.
We have never missed a singlehour, a single day since we took
(10:46):
over.
And I'm proud of us, I'm proudof who we are.
Yeah, and this is a big agencywith a big name that that this
client came from.
And now we're getting anotherone, also up in Maine, from the
same agency.
SPEAKER_00 (11:00):
Great.
SPEAKER_01 (11:01):
We do a better job.
SPEAKER_00 (11:03):
So it comes from leadership, it starts with you
and all the leadership you haveon your in your company and that
model and that attitude and thatall the things that you put in
place to cover is really whatmakes a difference here.
Your belief in how this shouldwork is what makes everything
(11:23):
else work so much better.
And having somebody in theoffice who can take off and go
to that person is wonderful.
I always have said that I wouldchoose an agency over hiring a
private caregiver simplybecause, and it's not simple,
but it's because I want thatsafety.
I want to know there's somebody,there is a backup plan.
Have a clean.
(11:45):
Yeah, you have a whole group ofpeople behind you.
SPEAKER_01 (11:48):
We had a sit and stand that wasn't working this
morning.
Okay.
They I said, look on the device.
There's probably a phone numberwhere the device came from.
They said they'd come outtomorrow.
I said, You're gonna come outtomorrow?
I had one of my guys that dealswith hydraulics and cars and
does all kinds of things for usand uh free air conditioning.
(12:10):
We gave people this summer, theyinstalled them and they do all
kinds of things for us.
And I sent them over there, andit was as simple as replacing
the batteries.
And he had it done an hourlater, and it was up and
running, and she got out of bed.
And that that makes usdifferent.
SPEAKER_00 (12:24):
Yeah, that's going above and beyond.
Yeah, was she gonna lay in bedfor the whole for till tomorrow?
SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
Tomorrow, exactly.
And this summer we had peoplewho, you know, and they were
Medicaid, they couldn't affordair conditioning.
I got a couple of phone calls,and then we checked on everyone,
which we usually do in a moretimely fashion, maybe than this
year, and we ended up installingair conditioning in three
people's homes for free, just agift, giving something back, and
(12:52):
made three families happy thattheir loved ones were taken care
of and that the house wasn't sohot that just stupid little
things.
We put flower boxes at the YMCAin Richmond, Rhode Island.
We donated them, we installedthem just to brighten the place
up because our office is next tothem.
We have a flower box.
And they said, Oh, we wish wehad flower boxes.
So I said, My guys will putflower boxes in for you.
(13:13):
So we put flower boxes in, andthey loved it, and it's it
wasn't that big a deal.
SPEAKER_00 (13:18):
It was just six flower boxes and lots of little
things that beautifying thearea, making everybody happy,
and air conditioning kind of isa big deal sometimes.
And we've had brutal, brutalsummer heat this year.
And I am certain that you knowthat little act on your part is
made you probably preventedhospitalizations.
(13:40):
Who knows what would havehappened?
We hear stories in the winterand in the summer of seniors who
don't want to reach out, don'twant to say anything, don't want
to be a bother, and they areovercome by heat or cold or we
do have reporting in place forheat, which is where this came
from.
SPEAKER_01 (13:57):
And also, if there's the year they had all the
snowstorms in New England andthere was no power everywhere,
we had the top floor of a motelin East Lime, Connecticut, where
we put seniors and caregiversup.
That sounds insane, but theshelters didn't have room.
A lot of our clients areaccustomed to something better.
What are you gonna do if there'sno power?
(14:18):
Now, a lot of the houses sincethen have Generacts.
That year, I don't know if Iremember what year it was,
changed a lot of things becauseit was nonstop power outages in
Connecticut.
SPEAKER_00 (14:27):
So yeah, that is rough.
That is so hard on our seniors.
That is, yeah.
And yeah, so doing little thingslike that, that's a big deal,
renting out a whole top of ahotel or a whole roof, floor on
a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01 (14:39):
Well, they weren't they gave us a deal because they
didn't have anything going on.
There was snow four feet high.
So they were happy and we madeit work and we worked with a
couple of snow plow drivers thathelped us out.
I actually had the firedepartment in Waterford go to
one location for us.
Um but that's great.
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Yeah, that that is so that that's the kind of
that's the kind of service youdon't ever want to have to be in
that position, but that's thekind of service you're looking
for when it comes to a home careagency.
And I know you guys just do anoutstanding job all over these
states that you cover.
So is there anything else you'dlike to tell us?
(15:19):
I know one thing I would like toknow is when you're hiring
caregivers, what do you look forin a caregiver?
What is the thing that says,yes, that's this person would be
good for us?
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
That they have a heart.
Punctuality and having a heartis two things you cannot train.
Most other things you can teachsomeone, but that you cannot.
And that is always my number onebecause honestly, we work in
high-end multi-million dollarhouses and within the ghetto,
(15:50):
quite honestly.
And it's a matching game.
You have to have a care acaregiver that can work in a
certain environment and becomfortable.
You have to have a client thathas a caregiver that functions
in that environment and everyoneis comfortable.
So that's a big thing.
But that's easy.
But having somebody who cares inthis business is the biggest
(16:10):
thing.
You need someone.
SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
Yeah, it has to be a calling almost to do that.
SPEAKER_01 (16:15):
Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
Not just somebody who can't geta job and wanna says, okay, I'm
gonna do this for five minutes.
It's one of the big when Iinterview someone, I want to
know that they care and thatthey will be on time and that
they don't call out.
And then there's always clientswho the family wants the client
to have services, and the familydoesn't.
They're worried about theirloved one, and the loved one
(16:37):
doesn't want anybody in theirhouse, and they've gotten lost
three times, the driver'slicense was taken, and blah,
blah, blah.
And how do you cope with that?
And how do you make that work?
I'll tell you some a funnystory.
I'll make it short.
We picked up a client in Maine,and beautiful family, five sons,
and the sons love their mom, andthe mom wants nothing to do with
(16:58):
any kind of help.
And she kicked us out of thehouse practically when we got
there.
So we went around in a circle.
So the next day we get a phonecall.
The aide shows up, there's noone at the house, and the son,
one of the sons calls up andsays, My mom took the truck, she
has no license, by the way, anddrove to Bangor or somewhere up
north, five hours north, and isat the hunting lodge.
(17:23):
So we sent the caregiver up toget her with a couple with a
company car.
And they brought her back.
And this girl wasn't the bestmatch, but then we tried someone
else.
And now we're in there threetimes a week.
And there's a lot of happiness.
And the woman's starting to lookforward to seeing this caregiver
(17:44):
because they have things incommon.
And so we're gonna slowly workit so that the family's at
peace, that mom's okay.
Because one of the things thatreally hit me, I actually went
to this meeting, I don't go tomost meetings anymore, but one
of the things that hit me wasthis because the manager in
Maine was in Alaska for twoweeks.
So I was in Maine for two weeks,manning the office.
(18:06):
So I went to this meeting.
And one of the things that gotto me was when the son was
arguing with the mom, and themom was saying, blah, blah,
blah, I don't want anybody in myhouse.
And he said, every morning whenI stop here, I'm afraid I'm
gonna find you dead on thefloor.
And it killed me.
And he meant it.
(18:28):
It was not about anything otherthan keeping her safe.
Yeah.
So we worked hard at making thatwork, and it's starting to,
slowly starting to.
SPEAKER_00 (18:39):
It's sometimes it is a slow roll into getting someone
a little bit more involved and alittle bit more accepting as
time goes on.
That's another hard part of thisjob, is people who don't want
the help, don't want someone intheir home.
And you all find a way to slowlybut surely insert yourselves in
(19:00):
a positive way and with apositive match of a caregiver
that helps them feelcomfortable.
That's really important.
I want to thank you for talkingto me and telling all of us
about CareCo, what you guys do,how far you've come in 20 years,
which is amazing.
And we'll make sure that folkssee and hear this and know how
(19:25):
much you care about what's goingon out there for all the clients
you serve.
Okay, appreciate it very much.
Thank you.
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