When Business Becomes Personal: The Incredicare Story

When severe health challenges struck Guy Pelullo, owner of Incredicare in Northern Virginia, what began as a business venture transformed into a deeply personal mission. After experiencing falls following cervical fusions and developing debilitating rheumatoid arthritis, Guy found himself in an unexpected position—becoming a client of his own home care service. This eye-opening experience fundamentally shaped Incredicare's approach to caring for seniors and those with mobility challenges throughout Northern Virginia.

22aausjp

Guy's journey from corporate executive to passionate advocate for quality home care illustrates the profound difference between viewing caregiving as a transaction versus a relationship. "Nobody wants a stranger in their home, nobody wants to lose their independence," Guy explains, highlighting the emotional complexity behind every care decision families make. This understanding permeates Incredicare's service model, which covers Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, Alexandria, Manassas, and Stafford County.

At the heart of their operation is Fahima Hernandez, whose dedication to clients goes far beyond basic caregiving. Starting as a care professional known for braving ice storms to reach clients, she now oversees intake and client relations, bringing her background in child psychology to create innovative connections with dementia care. Incredicare's investment in the Dementia Live virtual reality training program—which simulates cognitive decline through sensory limitations—has transformed how their caregivers understand and support clients with memory challenges. "There hasn't been anyone we've put through that training that, when it's over, isn't shook up," Guy shares, underscoring their commitment to empathy-driven care.

Want to experience the difference that comes from a home care provider who truly understands what you're going through? Visit Incredicare's website to read client testimonials, learn about their specialized training programs, and discover how their thorough "living room visit" approach ensures personalized care that addresses your unique needs and concerns. Your loved ones deserve care from people who see this work not just as a job, but as a calling.

View More at HomeCareMarketingNews.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm Guy Palullo, the owner of Incredicare in Northern
Virginia, and I have owned thebusiness for nine years.
I purchased a previously ownedbusiness, so in total the
business has been around about20 years.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Awesome and tell us about, tell us why you in
particular wanted to get intothe home care industry, the home
care business.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
I got into the home care business like a lot of
entrepreneurs probably intendedit was.
It's a fast growing and it wasan opportunity for me to change
careers.
I'd been in the corporate worldfor almost 30 years, living all
over the world, and the initialpurpose was to buy a service

(00:58):
business to provide value,create a work environment for
employees.
That was a lot more embracingthan some of the things I had
gone through in the corporateworld.
But shortly thereafter, becauseof my physical condition, I
developed some pretty seriousarthritic and muscle problems

(01:22):
and it really changed myperspective that it became a
mission and really a calling forme to.
After understanding some of mychallenges, I had a few falls
the importance of having theright level of care and
respecting the fact that nobodywants a stranger in their house.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, absolutely, and you have actually.
Your story is part of it isthat you use your own services,
right?

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Correct.
I had a couple of cervicalfusions and with a couple of
falls, and so I actually had touse people from the company and
not all of them work with usanymore, which was really a
pretty important andenlightening experience for me.
And then I developed a severerheumatoid arthritic condition

(02:19):
that literally had me unable tostand.
I think one day in the office Istarted walking down the hall
and started screaming.
They sent a caregiver home withme who was there a couple of
nights and I.
Those things have really shapedhow we try to design our
services, the level ofaccountability we place with our
care pros and the empathy andthe understanding of the

(02:44):
client's challenges.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
There's no better way to knowabout your business than to be
using it for yourself or yourfamily, and that does bring a
lot of eye-opening experiencesin home care their own care and

(03:08):
so you know exactly what yourclients are feeling and how
they're and what nervousnessthey might have.
And you have on staff anamazing young lady.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about her and all the things
that she does for you?

Speaker 1 (03:19):
So Fahima is Fahima Hernandez and she started with
us, I guess 2017.
So within eight years was adevoted care professional.
Literally, would drive duringice storms when nobody else
would go out to get to a client,had a few clients that she took

(03:44):
care of in independent livingfacilities and won door
decorating contests.
She just is full of energy andshe's moved up through the
organization.
She does all of our intake andI think arguably people would
say she runs the business andyet it's her passion for helping

(04:06):
people and the ability tomultitask and move from one
issue to another, the amount oftime she spends counseling
clients through the challengesof mom doesn't want home care
and this brother does and thisbrother doesn't.
And she really, again, becauseof her experience and just her

(04:32):
genuine heart, has the capacityto guide people through that
process and we've had a lot ofsuccess with taking on some
clients that normally I thinkother companies wouldn't because
of the amount of work it takes.
But the reality is that all ofthese take work because nobody

(04:52):
wants someone in their home, astranger, nobody wants to lose
their independence and people asthey get older, they're
balancing their funds and whatthey're capable of.
So you know there's a lot ofcomplexity to what appears to be

(05:13):
a rather simple business.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, oh yeah.
I would say it's much morecomplicated than we give a
credit for it.
We're not the owner.
This is definitely has to be awork of heart, for sure.
This is definitely has to be awork of heart, for sure.
Anybody who's not in it withall of their heart probably
isn't going to succeed the wayyou guys have, and Fahima has
done a wonderful job.

(05:36):
I know that we have othervideos of Fahima on your website
.
And tell us a little bit aboutyour efforts with dementia and
dementia training for yourcaregivers efforts with dementia
and dementia training for yourcaregivers Very early on in
industry-wide.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
You could see everybody would say that they
specialize in dementia, but I'mnot apt to say something without
doing it.
So we invested in a trainingprogram called Dementia Live, as
well as a few other aboutcompassionate caring and how to
handle complex situations.
And the Dementia Live inparticular is and it's put on

(06:15):
for a company, educate that hasterrific material and it is
basically a virtual realityexperience where you go through,
wear gloves, dark glasses,earplugs and then you're to
complete tasks and it simulatesthe experience that someone with

(06:36):
a cognitive decline goesthrough, and I got to tell you
there hasn't been anyone thatwe've put through that training
that, when it's over, isn'tshook up.
I think that it becomes a realeye opener as to what the person
with cognitive decline is goingthrough.

(06:57):
And Fahima has embraced that.
Early on we got her certified asa trainer.
She does it for families.
She does it for all of our carepros.
Obviously she does it forfamilies.
She does it for all of our carepros, obviously she does it in
facilities and she has embracedand, what's interesting, her
background was in childpsychology and as she's grown in

(07:22):
the business and dealt with theaging process.
She connected the dots in a waythat I certainly didn't between
being a child and being anelderly person with cognitive
decline and the similarities,and it really has helped her
articulate and help the familiesthe sandwich generation, as we

(07:47):
call them now navigate throughthose challenges.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, when we talked we talked earlier in this year
and telling us about thatconnection between her
experience or education in childcare and caring for an aging
adult with dementia.
It's a lot of good connectionsthere that she can pass on and

(08:12):
that dementia live training isreally good.
I'm so glad If you say youspecialize in dementia care, you
need to bring it to the tableand say here's what we do
because we specialize indementia care.
We don't just say it, weactually do it.
And I know that a lot of yourclients probably either have a

(08:33):
cognitive issue dementia,alzheimer's, some form of
dementia or they probably have amobility type issue, maybe have
a stroke or have arthritis, andso it's one or the other.
And I think those folks, whenyou say you specialize in
dementia, I think that's anamazing thing to be able to also

(08:53):
show hey, you guys do that.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Well, I have seen I joke about it a lot Damn near
every company says we specializein dementia and yet one of the
values that Fahima has broughtto the table is man.
She feels that in her bones.
And how she communicates to theclients that have cognitive

(09:18):
decline and to the families tohelp navigate them through, and
it comes from inside.
It's a caring and, as I've gonethrough some of my challenges,
nobody expects that they'regoing to be faced with any of
this and they're not preparedfor it.
When I run a home care businessand I was not prepared for some

(09:41):
of the things that were comingmy way, how can you be?

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Some of these things are not they may be chronic, but
the onset of a certain diseaseprocess, especially when it
comes to mobility and gettingaround that arthritis or
whatever having a stroke.
That's pretty instant.
Those kinds of things just comeon so fast.
It's hard to be prepared forevery eventuality.
But I'm so glad that you allare taking care of clients and

(10:09):
you serve all of NorthernVirginia.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yes, let's see Arlington, fairfax, prince
William, loudoun, alexandriaCity, manassas City and Stafford
County.
So it's a pretty broad area.
But I'm from Northern Virginia,was born and raised here.

(10:31):
As I got into this, I waspretty committed to provide a
service for the area that I grewup in.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
And if people want to learn more, talk to you, talk
to Fahima or just start theprocess.
What should they expect?
How do you guys do an intake?
What happens?

Speaker 1 (10:52):
So the first step is to have a conversation, to have
an understanding that we canmeet their basic needs, so the
location they're in, theseverity of the acuity of the
patient, what their budget is,so we can work around that.
And then we come out and do aphysical, what we call living

(11:15):
room visit, and the purpose ofthat is it's multifold.
Obviously it's to develop aconnection and in fact, in
Fahima's case, a lot of timeswe're going out because the
family has called us out, butshe spends as much time, if not
more, with the soon-to-be clientin getting them through the

(11:37):
process.
Because often people forget andthey look at this as a
transaction and it's not atransaction business.
I think my biggest frustrationabout home care is people look
at it as a commodity and it isnot a commodity.
It has all the lookings of itbut it's not.
And so then price becomes areal driver in the discussion.

(12:01):
And so the living room visitallows us to demonstrate the
value that we can bring safetyaround the home, how we handle
mobility issues and how we dosimple things.
Every shift check the garbage tosee if something's been thrown
away that someone was trying tohide because they had an

(12:24):
accident Check to make sure thetowels are washed and dried.
And again me going throughhaving a caregiver.
I remember the first time theyasked me, did the towels need to
be washed?
And I realized they probablyhadn't been washed in weeks.
I didn't think about that.
So it's to really hands-on andface-to-face understand the

(12:47):
environment.
Does the home need to berenovated in any way?
Way?
A lot of older homes gettingsomeone into a bathroom.
It's frightening to see whatfamilies try to do to make that
work If someone's in awheelchair or they're in a Hoyer
lift.
So being able to bring ourexpertise of how to keep

(13:12):
everyone safe in the environmentand then demonstrate what our
commitment is, how we managequality with our lead caregivers
, how we do supervisory LPNvisits every two weeks that we
don't charge for, that's justpart of what we do, and getting
out there face-to-face is thenext step of the process and

(13:35):
then being available for anyquestions or concerns that the
potential client has and I telleverybody here it really drives
our quality is every one of ourclients has the phone number of
five other home care companieson their refrigerator.
It's just how it works and yetthey're not all the same, and so

(14:07):
having that face-to-faceinteraction, being able to show.
We do an independent interviewof our clients every month and
our care pros by a company andthey have the option to answer
anonymous.
We have that data we candemonstrate.
We've got the Google reviewsand I encourage people to go
through our website.
We're lucky enough to partnerwith Proof Senior Network.
That just do a hell of a joband really help us get our

(14:28):
message out, and that's whatit's all about.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
You guys do an incredible job at Incredicare
and you have a wonderful teamthere that really does care
about the clients, the families,and you go above and beyond and
those are the kinds of homecare agencies that we love to
work with, because it really is.
I know some of my colleagues onmy team have said you cannot

(14:56):
own a home care business.
If your heart's not in itYou're not going to succeed, and
you guys are a great testamentto having team members that
really this is a calling and amission, like you said.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
Thank you.