Career of Compassion

Career of Compassion

Veteran finds a new calling with Talem Home Care

Retired Air Force Col. Aldon Purdham Jr. mined his leadership skills and operational expertise to cultivate success in whatever he pursued. From consulting for a global professional-services company to heading a construction business, Purdham may have appeared to have had it all.

But his world was shaken when his parents and mother-in-law died within a short period of time. Five weeks after the death of his mother, who suffered from ovarian cancer, his father succumbed to Parkinson’s disease. Soon after that, his wife’s mother died of leukemia. Despite dealing with immense grief, the Purdham family found great support in the professionals who cared for their loved ones in their final weeks.

“It was comforting to see compassionate caregiving in action,” Purdham says. “The seed was planted at that time, and it eventually led to providing loving care to others’ parents just as ours had received.”

After extensive research, Purdham and his wife, Lauralyn, chose to become franchise partners for Talem Home Care & Placement Services, a Colorado-based in-home care provider that he credits with sharing the couple’s “sincere passion for wanting to help people.”

Unlike some companies whose focus is strictly on private pay clients, Purdham says Talem is also committed to working with Medicaid clients who may otherwise not have resources to pay out-of-pocket to receive care at home.

Because he on-boards each client personally, Purdham witnesses the impact that quality care has on each client—and the peace of mind it brings to families. “We give family members some respite from the exhaustion and demands of continually being the caregiver,” he says, “all the while knowing their loved one is being cared for and has a higher quality of life.” For more information, visit www.talemfranchising.com.

—Rochelle Miller