10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022 | IC

October ISSUE 05 2022

Chuck Bongiovanni CEO Majestic Residences Franchise Systems, LLC

Most Trusted

Senior Care Service Providers 2022

Health-tech Future of Articial Intelligence and IT Operations Healthcare Made Accessible

Majestic

Impact of Urgent Care During the Pandemic on the Healthcare Space

Giving a Dignified Life to the Seniors

Residences

Helping Seniors

Lead Comfortable Lives

A passion for putting patients first

Editor’s Note

Curating a Wonderful Old Age Experience!

I

n a month that marked the beginning of festivities, the people of the small city gathered to decorate it with beautiful lights, props, and many more. Once the mood was set in, the wonders created by the mesmerizing lights made the leap from monotony to joy.

Walking down the sparkly road, one would be filled with many emotions, but the first trigger to them would be – curiosity. This one feeling has made humans travel unknown paths, and uncover truths in their life journey, which they relive through vivid memories during their retirement years.

During this phase of their presence on the livable planet till now, they look back and admire the life they have lived with curiosity that has taken them through all the roller coasters, made them learn through experiences, explore and transform the mundane, and unwrap the enigma this world had in store for them.

But as many say that while they have aged, their second childhood has just started!

During these second innings of life, one desires to not only cherish the memories created but to make a handful more while having a healthy body and mind. They want to love, laugh, cry, play games, climb mountains, ride bikes again and much more. However, in this string of activities, what they most want is affection, trust, comfort, hope, happiness and to be allowed the joy of spending quality time with their loved ones.

But the song of reality makes one dance to a muse that could get unpleasant with time, which unfortunately is true with most of the elderly population globally. The statistics have presented to the world the dismal picture of forty-three percent (which continues to rise) of the senile population slipping into social isolation.

And this is what maybe acts as a hindrance for them to collecting more photographic souvenirs of their world.

But what is also true is that innovators and enthusiastic leaders are listening! Amongst their list of creations, the precious gift they have crafted for the senile population is a

second Home – a home equipped with all they desire. What is most breathtaking is that these infrastructural facilities facilitate the efforts to help seniors live a beautiful life on their own and if required with empathetic aid, driven by emerging technological upgrades.

As these love-filled avenues are spread all over the world, we at InsightsCare came up with our latest edition, “10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers in 2022”, to help you navigate through leading providers and make an informed choice of a facility that suits your needs and exemplifies your second life adventures and takes care of your health.

Dive in to learn more about how they are curating a wonderful old age experience! While you delve deeper into the edition, enjoy the surprise of intriguing articles scripted by our in-house editorial team.

I hope you have an insightful read!

- Drishti Gaikwad

Content

16

Blue Moon Estate Sales Ushering an Era of Perennial Reliability

20 24

A Prominent Name in the Senior Care Service Sector

Carnegie East House

Empowering Senior Citizens by Elevating Quality of Life

ComForCare

Amalgamating Excellence with Perpetual Care

44 48

Benchmark of Responsibility, Compassion and Professionalism

CarePatrol

32 36

Boost Home Healthcare

Symphony Senior Living

Making Your Second Innings Fruitful Period of Life

North Star Senior Advisors

Providing a Guided Path for Senior Living

Cover Story

08

Majestic Residences Giving a Dignified Life to the Seniors

Articles 28

40

Health-tech

Healthcare Made Accessible

Future of Artificial Intelligence and IT Operations

Impact of Urgent Care During the Pandemic on the Healthcare Space

Editor-in-Chief

Pooja Bansal

Senior Editor

Anish Miller

Managing Editor

Shrutika Khedekar

Assisting Editors

Dhristi, Saloni

Visualiser Art & Design Head Co-designer Art & Picture Editor Business Development Manager Marketing Manager Business Development Executives Sales Executives Technical Head Assistant Technical Head Technical Consultants Digital Marketing Manager Assistant Digital Marketing Manager SME-SMO Executives Research Analyst Circulation Manager

David King Mrunalinee Deshmukh Paul Belin Rohil Shinganapurkar Amy Jones John Smith Sarah Wilson, John Smith, Alex Vincent Kelli, Bill, Anna Jacob Smile Amar Sawant David, Robert Alina Sege Renuka Kulkarni Gemson Eric Smith Tanaji Fartade

sales@insightscare.com

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Senior Care 2022 Most Trusted

Service Providers

Organization

Featuring

Brief

Blue Moon Estate Sales

Bob Lang Brand President

Established in 2009, Blue Moon Estate Sales was created to set the highest standards in the senior care industry.

Jackie Lleverino Brand President

Boost Home Healthcare is a home health company which provides superior in-home nursing, therapy, and home care services.

Becky Bongiovanni Brand President

Founded in 1993, CarePatrol began franchising in 2009 and is now part of the Best Life Brands family, with private equity backing by The Riverside Company.

Joseph H. Girven Executive Director

Carnegie East House is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help and empower senior citizens by elevating their quality of life through safe and affordable housing.

Sean Kajciensk COO and Chief Revenue Officer

ComForCare’s compassionate caregivers and innovative programs support older adults in aging gracefully and continuing to do the things they love.

Barry Ray CEO

Legacy Senior Living’s retirement and assisted living communities reflect the highest standards in senior living: well-maintained, home-like environments that offer security, the utmost in service, and opportunities for developing quality relationships through active social programs.

Chuck Bongiovanni CEO

Majestic Residences is a senior residential assisted living home franchise system headquartered in Gilbert, AZ with 32 awarded franchises as of this printing.

Ignacio Quinones President

Established in 2014, North Star Senior Advisors's mission is to offer free support and guidance through your transition into senior living.

Christine Turner VP Operations

Symphony Senior Living's service levels range from independent living assisted living to memory care, but its core values remain the same- compassionate, dedicated, and genuine.

Matthew Anderson CEO

Braemar Living is committed to providing a high-quality standard of care in facilities that combine luxurious residential environments, engaging and robust opportunities for social activities, and premium on-site health and wellness services.

bluemoonestatesales.com

Boost Home Healthcare boosthomehealth.com

Care Patrol carepatrol.com

Carnegie East House carnegieeast.org

ComForCare comforcare.com

Legacy Senior Living legacysl.net

Majestic Residences majesticresidences.com

North Star Senior Advisors northstarsa.com

Symphony Senior Living

symphonyseniorliving.com

The Osborn Senior Living theosborn.org

Chuck Bongiovanni CEO Majestic Residences Franchise Systems, LLC

Majestic Residences Giving a Digni ed Life to the Seniors

As far as technology goes, I truly believe companies who despise change today will absolutely hate being insigni cant tomorrow.

10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022

T

he perils of ageing are much more than just biological changes. The emotional metamorphosis that our aged population undergo is beyond anyone’s complete understanding. What they most need, however, is a little compassion, caring, and a dignified life.

Apart from the Herd

The global COVID-19 pandemic further showed us how vulnerable our elderly are – both physically and emotionally. Realizing the dire need to provide a home in the real sense to the seniors, Majestic Residences Franchise Systems, LLC was conceived in the middle of the pandemic. This residential assisted living franchise has its focus on the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of the residents, who they treat like family.

Residential Assisted Living homes have been in existence for over 30 years and yet, few people have heard about this specific care option. Residential Assisted Living homes, also known as Adult Care Homes, Family Care Homes or Residential Board and Care homes are homes located in any residential neighborhood and are licensed by the state to provide non-medical care 24 hours a day for seniors who can’t live independently.

Quality senior care and technology using an “ageless possibilities” culture sets Majestic Residences apart from the rest in the industry.

Think of them as large, assisted living facilities but in a smaller, more intimate settings. These homes are staffed by caregivers who tend to the needs of their residents including bathing, dressing, showering, medication management to name a few.

Dignified Living Majestic Residences is a senior residential assisted living home franchise system headquartered in Gilbert, AZ with 32 awarded franchises as of this printing. A residential assisted living home is a regular home in a neighborhood which is licensed to provide care to seniors in a 24-hour a day residential setting. The Majestic Residences brand is the alternative to the large institutional care settings one would see in a typical nursing home or large assisted living facility.

The Mission Majestic Residences is on a mission to create “ageless possibilities” for its residents, which tears away the typical assumptions and stereotypes of seniors needing a higher level of care.

“We look at our residents as independent, we’re merely assisting them with any everyday needs they can’t perform by themselves. While there are over 30,000 of these residential care homes across the country, we are positioned to disrupt the industry by introducing nationally branded, high-tech homes in an industry that is ambivalent to engage new technology and is disorganized in their overall marketing efforts” states Chuck Bongiovanni, the CEO of Majestic Residences.

Majestic Residences is not just another care home for the elderly. They choose to be different by operating unique smaller communities with only 6 to 16 residents.

“We look for several key characteristics in a potential franchisee. We prefer franchise partners with a caring personality, some business experience and/or experience supervising others. Unlike many residential assisted living homes, our model doesn’t want our franchisees to have direct care responsibilities. Their role is more of working on the business and overseeing the manager and staff. We want to help them learn the business and scale it to include more homes under their portfolio,” explained Chuck.

Majestic Residences stands out from other residential assisted living homes through innovation, culture, branding and the willingness to lead the industry in technology.

“While most of our competitors are somewhat fearful of new technology, we embrace it because it creates a more efficient and increased quality of care and life for our residents,” Chuck observed. “Most of our technology was developed by us or is exclusive to our franchise system. It brings a whole new perspective on life when you see an 84year-old-senior in a wheelchair “virtually walking” through a forest by using our virtual reality technology.”

The Voyage It all started in 1995 when Chuck worked as a Medical Home Health Social Worker for a hospital-based Home Health Agency. His role was checking in on seniors after

Bend the norms because innovation isn’t a popularity contest.

While many in the healthcare industry went into survival mode, I saw an opportunity.

they were discharged from the hospital. He visited them in their personal homes and assisted living communities when he noticed that many of them were being discharged into places that didn’t match their care needs.

Witnessing this, he had an idea of a service which could help families match their care options with their appropriate care needs. “Families for decades were used to using real estate agents to find a new house. I was convinced that finding care for their parents was much more important. I founded my first company called Preferred Assistance.

Fifteen years later it morphed into the current largest Senior Placement franchise system in the nation, called CarePatrol,” Chuck stated.

He and his wife, Becky refined their business model with formalized systems and began franchising in 2009. In 2014, they acquired their biggest competitor and doubled the system in the same year. And the rest was history.

CarePatrol was acquired by a large private equity firm in 2018, Bongiovanni stayed on two-and-a-half years before he moved on to Majestic Residences. Before he franchised CarePatrol, he seriously considered creating a franchise system for residential care homes. However, at the time, there wasn’t enough residential care homes in the country for it to make sense. After he stepped down at CarePatrol he followed his passion to franchise the residential care home industry.

The residential assisted living home industry is primed for success in franchising because there is an established and growing market with a built-in demand, the industry is extremely fragmented, it is unorganized with substandard marketing practices, behind in technology which can improve care and in desperate need of general office and backend management.

When you put this all together you have a natural recipe for success for franchising, scaling, and branding. The only problem was that Chuck had no experience in operating a home. The universe conspired to help him realize his dream and he met his business partner, late Gene Guarino and the rest of the Majestic Residences’ team.

Gene was a well-known leader and fixture in the residential care home industry. He founded Residential Assisted Living Academy (RALA), a “school” that has taught thousands of people how to open their own residential care home.

Between Gene’s expertise in the operations of these homes, and Chuck’s experience and expertise in franchising, the duo believed they created something that will have a permanent mark in the assisted living industry. So, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, they took the leap and founded Majestic Residences Franchise Systems, LLC. Braving the Pandemic The entire world came to a standstill with the advent of the global pandemic. Those who took the risk of thinking out of the box, not only survived but thrived. And Chuck did exactly that.

It’s only natural to see all the negatives that life throws at you. COVID-19 wasn’t just a curve ball, it was a curve ball, fast ball and a knuckle ball combined. While many in the healthcare industry went into survival mode, he saw an opportunity. he knew that many small residential care homes wouldn’t make it through the pandemic due to negative consumer’s perceptions.

The biggest challenge for him, however, was starting a company in an industry where the consumer was too afraid to purchase their services. While nursing homes and large assisted living communities took the biggest public relations hits, small residential assisted living homes did very well at controlling the virus. There were very limited fatalities compared to the others.

However, due to industry fragmentation and the lack of the power of branding, many of these individual “mom and pop” businesses couldn’t get the message out to the public about how truly safe their homes were.

He knew that many of them would feel alone and on an island during the pandemic, wanting to be part of a bigger support system after it was over. “Our franchised homes gaining higher occupancies during COVID then they had prior to the pandemic,” shared Chuck.

Technology to Ease Care Chuck believes in the power of technology in the healthcare space. Companies in the healthcare space must invest in new technology and be prepared to adopt a fail-fast business model to realize the technological breakthroughs they need to stay ahead of their competitors.

Companies need to think outside-the-box and take the risk of implementing technologies like virtual reality and

behind your back because they’re behind you for a reason.

Bend the norms because innovation isn’t a popularity contest.

Looking Ahead Majestic Residences is scaling its operations and offerings and is confident it will have 80 more franchised residential assisted living homes globally. "We know the need is there and we want to be the ones who fill it," adds Chuck.

Matter of Pride

artificial intelligence in their businesses. They must look at new technologies and find a way of making it a solution for a problem they’re currently unaware that they have today.

“At Majestic Residences we took the risk with a new startup company which created a radio-wave technology, which detects in real-time the moment an adult brief becomes wet or soiled. I believe we are going to see many technological advances to deal with problems like the shortage of healthcare workers. I truly believe companies who despise change today will absolutely hate being insignificant tomorrow if they don’t keep up. However, the most important thing about future technology is acknowledging that it can’t take away from human interaction, after all, technology can’t give hugs, at least not yet” emphasized Chuck.

Advice to Budding Entrepreneurs To a budding entrepreneur in this, or any other industry Chuck advises not to be afraid to break the rules or upsetting the industry. Never worry about what people say

Awards not only gives recognition to an organization for its services but also motivates it to raise its bar. For Majestic Residences, one such recognition skyrocketed its reputation even more.

“We were very surprised and honored to be named “One of Five Senior Living Providers To Watch in 2021” by the SeniorHousingNews.com even before we opened our first home,” Chuck shared. The future of this industry and healthcare in general is growing at speeds no one thought was possible. Majestic Residences is in the fast lane in the residential care home explosion.

10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022

H

eadquartered in Raleigh, NC, Blue Moon Estate Sales is a growing national franchise with franchisees operating in 24 states. Established in 2009, Blue Moon Estate Sales was created to set the highest standards in the senior care industry. After five successful years in the Raleigh market, founders Deb, Ken and David Blue wanted to bring their proven business model to a larger audience.

Thus, in 2013, Blue Moon Estate Sales started franchising, developing an industry-leading training and ongoing support program. Fast forward to today and Blue Moon Estate Sales is now part of the Best Life Brands family, with private equity backing by The Riverside Company.

Under the leadership of Bob Lang, the Brand President, Blue Moon Estate Sales is standardizing the estate sales business with a proven system of expert training and partner support. Its proven franchise system consistently delivers results that excite its customers.

In an interview with Insights Care, Bob shared valuable facts about Blue Moon Estate Sales, highlighting its unparalleled service to the clients in the senior care niche.

Bob, Tell us about your journey so far at Blue Moon Estate Sales.

I've been in franchising for 25 years in the senior care and retail/wholesale spaces. When I learned about this opportunity with Blue Moon, it checked the boxes for me.

First, to be able to lead a growing brand like Blue Moon within the Best Life Brands family was very exciting for me. Second, Blue Moon is focused on helping seniors in transition.

Working with seniors in transition and providing services within the home environment was something I was very familiar with from having spent years within the care space.

Third, the retail component of what we do resonated with me because of my experience in both retail and wholesale.

And finally, I really enjoy the franchising industry and having the opportunity to work with small business owners.

There are many things I like about my job. I love helping our franchisees to achieve their goals. I like Blue Moon's reputation and how we are positioned in the estate sale industry. I'll tell you a quick story. We were at a sale in Illinois. A lady came up and said, "Oh, this isn't like other estate sales. This is so nice! It's easy to get around and shop, and I really like this." That was wonderful to hear!

Another person came up to me and told me his daughter lives in North Carolina. Whenever he is there, he goes to Blue Moon Estate Sales. He shared how excited he was when he saw a Blue Moon Estate Sale in Illinois, and he asked if there would be more in the area since they liked shopping Blue Moon sales in North Carolina! I love that.

The consistency of the brand, seeing it come to life and having that consistent experience—and it's our owners that make it happen! Every time one of our locations gets a great customer review, that's music to my ears.

What challenges do you face while working in the senior care industry?

While there are many challenging aspects of my position, there are a few areas that get a lot of my attention. The first is having to balance the interests of different groups of people.

October 2022|16|www.insightscare.com

Bob Lang Brand President Blue Moon Estate Sales

Our CEO J.J. Sorrenti likens this to a five-legged stoolcustomers, franchisees, employees, stakeholders, and vendors.

event management, which isn't easy. You need to have the right people and the right culture in your organization.

These owners are focused on those kinds of activities.

The second area of focus is helping to lead our system through rapid change. As franchise systems grow over time, they go through different phases of growth. Managing the transition as we move to the next phase in our growth creates a big set of opportunities. It is good to have these presented because if you're not growing and experiencing new challenges, you will get passed by.

Our owners are passionate about learning, which is important in business. It is rewarding to watch the progression of somebody who came through our training and to see what they've learned and applied as they have worked a wide variety of sales. There is always something to learn in this business, and good owners are always looking for ways to try and improve.

The third challenge I focus on is how to protect and grow our brand responsibly while remaining true to the company's vision. How we use our signage, market our brand, and serve our customers—all of these things are very important as we grow.

How do you envision scaling Blue Moon Estate Sales' operations eventually?

We have wonderful and dedicated owners who are committed to our clients and customers and to positively representing the brand. The ultimate test is when someone goes to a Blue Moon event, whether it is in North Carolina, Illinois, or Florida—they should all have the same shopping experience. Having our loyal customers experience that same high level of quality at each of our events and telling their friends and family about Blue Moon is part of our secret sauce.

What are the values and qualities that make Blue Moon a successful franchisee?

We work closely with our successful owners, and it comes down to a couple of things. It starts with networking and involvement in the local community. We found that our owners spend a large percentage of their time networking actively and developing relationships in the community.

They're out there working it. They have a sustained marketing effort that's going on. Because once you build up that sales funnel and you start building up that network, it allows you to be more selective and to grow quickly. You don't have a scarcity mindset where you'll take anything and pray. You're actively out there, developing relationships.

And there's an education component to what we do. Not everybody understands what an estate sale is, so when you're talking to a referral source, you've got to educate them on what we do and how we do it.

Next is building the franchisee's teams. Many of the owners are looking to add team leads or people that can help with

One of the common misperceptions is that estate sales only happen when there has been a death or divorce. In reality, downsizing is a big part of what we do. Educating the public and our referral sources about estate sales, who we are, and how we add value is important.

We have invested heavily in training and will continue to do so, to support the growth of our system. Our owners go through three weeks of training, and we have developed an extensive LMS that allows them to train their staff. We are members of the American Society of Estate Liquidators (ASEL) and adhere to their policies and ethics guidelines.

Third, our high-quality events with fresh merchandise and hidden treasures bring in large crowds of loyal customers.

There is definitely a Blue Moon Estate Sales culture! This, combined with having a very nicely staged, the professional-looking sale makes for an enjoyable shopping experience.

We will continue to promote this through our marketing efforts, which bring thousands of eyeballs to our sales through our website and to our events. Finally, we have a loyalty program for our customers, which is one of the things that makes us unique in the industry.

We have a newsletter that we send to our customers, listing upcoming events and providing estate sale content. Our customers choose to come to our events when they could be doing anything else and shop. Having these loyal customers come back time and time again to our events to shop at Blue Moon is a privilege, and we want to thank and reward them.

October 2022|18|www.insightscare.com

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10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022

Benchmark of Responsibility, Compassion and Professionalism

O

ver the past few years, in-home healthcare service is precisely assisting golden-aged people in rapid recovery from injuries and acute or chronic healthcare conditions.

Many researchers have pointed out that older people recover faster, with fewer complications at their most loved place—at home rather than in the hospital.

Boost Home Healthcare is a home health company which provides superior in-home nursing, therapy, and home care services. Founded in 2021, Boost Home Healthcare was acquired by private equity firm The Riverside Company in 2021 and is now part of Best Life Brands, which has plans for continued expansion of service brands across the continuum of care for aging adults.

Under the leadership of Jackie Lleverino, Brand President, Boost Home Healthcare has launched in the U.S., providing clinical excellence and compassion, one patient at a time. It is proven that most people recover quicker in the comfort of their own homes.

At Boost Home

Healthcare, we make the desire to receive

care at home a reality.

In an interview with Insights Care, Jackie shared valuable facts about Boost Home Healthcare showcasing his journey in the healthcare industry.

Jackie, tell us about Boost Home Healthcare highlighting your professional tenure in the healthcare industry.

Over the past decade, ProHealth Home Healthcare has provided high-quality healthcare for patients in our community, resulting in our reputation of responsibility, compassion and professionalism. Historically, as ProHealth and as we transition to Boost Home Healthcare, we are proud to include many healthcare, rehabilitation and clinical services to enhance at-home healing and support recovery.

We offer a full spectrum of home health ranging from nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. (For more information, visit .)

I have over 15 years of experience in healthcare. It ranges from DME (Durable Medical Equipment) to HH (Home Healthcare) and Hospice. I have an extensive business development background coupled with operations. This absolutely is of value as the Brand President and administrator here at Boost.

Can you tell us about the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare sector and what efforts did you take to surmount its adversities?

I will never forget March 15, 2020. I was traveling in Sacramento for Bristol Hospice; I finished out my trip and

October 2022|20|www.insightscare.com

An Exceptional Leader Jackie Lleverino joined the organization as the Brand President of Boost Home Healthcare on April 11, 2022. Jackie began a very successful career in healthcare and has been a part of the home health and hospice industries for 15 years. Jackie has served in a variety of roles in healthcare operations and business development, including a very successful beginning in the medical device world.

Jackie Lleverino Brand President Boost Home Healthcare then went back home, and the world was all virtual. The company I was with started providing telehealth, and families were restricted from seeing their loved ones at the hospital or facilities.

As an industry, we changed the way we met with families. I cry when I remember that we had to do a Facetime call with a family so the patient and family could say goodbye. We are forever changed but looking ahead to the opportunities.

It has been a crazy journey, especially in healthcare. I thought I had it, but I uncovered a lot more.

What is your opinion on the impact of technological advancements on the healthcare sector?

We have to keep moving with the times for sure. Telehealth at the bedside is urgent, and the appropriate EMR (Electronic Medical Record) that streamlines care is vital.

Technology is crucial for appropriate healthcare, especially in rural areas. We have to make it easier for clinicians to document and spend quality time with patients.

What would you like to advise the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts willing to venture as senior care service providers in the healthcare sector?

Treat this growing population how you would like to be treated. We have to be passionate about ensuring that all our seniors have the resources they deserve, especially lowincome individuals.

What are your future goals, and how do you envision scaling Boost Home Healthcare's operation eventually?

Growth, growth, growth! This is what excited me as I myself looked into a franchise a few years back. My goal this year is to get the Boost name out there and stir the excitement! Learning the franchise part of the business. I had thought of buying a franchise in the past, and now this is the full circle. I'm looking forward to opening more locations and working with the franchisees to their success.

I can't wait to BOOST us into success. So exciting to be part of a new brand and to be at the flagship site to make a difference in the community.

October 2022|21|www.insightscare.com

Where Caring

Comes to You

10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022

A Prominent Name in the Senior Care Service Sector

C

arePatrol is the nation's largest senior care solutions franchise. Through more than 150 offices in 35 states, local senior advisors provide free service in helping families find a quality, top-rated assisted living, independent living, memory care, nursing homes and in-home care.

Founded in 1993, CarePatrol began franchising in 2009 and is now part of the Best Life Brands family, with private equity backing by The Riverside Company. CarePatrol is proud to have earned the Franchisee Satisfaction Award from Franchise Business Review for 12 years in a row and has earned placement on the Entrepreneur Franchise 500 list.

In an interview with Insights Care, Becky Bongiovanni, Brand President, shared her professional tenure, emphasizing the fundamentals and core values of CarePatrol in the senior care services sector.

Becky, give us an overview of your journey highlighting the inception of CarePatrol in the senior care services sector?

In 1997, I was an Ophthalmic technician, working at an Ophthalmology Clinic that specializes in Cataract Surgery. I loved healthcare and seeing the positive outcome for patients. While I loved the work, it was not enough to make ends meet, as a single mom with three children, and I supplemented my income by taking an extra job in the evenings.

In 2001, I met Chuck Bongiovanni at my local church. My close friend was his secretary, and she introduced us. He was a single dad raising his son. I learned that he also shared my passion for healthcare as a medical social worker and owned and operated a business of helping families find assisted living, which he started ten years earlier.

I'll never forget the day Chuck asked me about my career.

When I told him what I did, he asked if I would ever consider doing something different. I immediately replied,

"No, I love what I do." Chuck challenged me and asked if I had the potential to substantially increase my income in my current position, which after pondering, again answered, "no." While my employer appreciated me, I knew that I was at the top of what I could earn. Chuck further pressed me, pointing out that I had three children and that I was professionally at an impasse, with no opportunity for growth or hope of improving my quality of life for my family.

In 2003 I began working with Chuck. I wanted to work in a small area where I could focus and make a greater impact, and in time, what we saw is that having an area to focus on made all the difference. That's what got Chuck excited about franchising. Chuck said, "Becky, if I can take you and teach you, who really had no background or experience, and you—in this little territory—did as much as what I have, we've been working on in the whole valley, I really think there's something to franchising." In September 2004, Chuck and I got married, and in April of 2009, we decided to franchise our concept.

Our primary goal was to grow to 60 locations, and we did that by 2014, but we realized that it wasn't enough because more people needed to know about our services. That year we were also presented with an opportunity to acquire our biggest competitor, Assisted Transition. While industry advisors told us to pass, our gut was telling us this was the right choice.

Franchising enables people to live their dreams, take care of their families, take care of their communities and make a difference.

October 2022|24|www.insightscare.com

Not only did we grow to 120 locations at the end of that year because there was so much opportunity, but our brand was also elevated. In 2015, Chuck and I realized that if we wanted to continue to grow the CarePatrol brand, we would need to bring on a partner. In 2018, we were acquired and became part of the Best Life Brands Portfolio.

What was the impact of the COVID-19 on the healthcare sector, and how did CarePatrol sustain its operations to surmount the adversities of the pandemic?

It was pretty scary. None of us knew what was going to happen. Fear best describes what happened in February of 2020 when we all realized that something was brewing, and

by March, the state of Washington became the first to officially shut down visits to long term care and assisted living. We knew that if more states followed with shutdowns, this could directly impact our business.

We pivoted how we deliver our services, literally overnight.

While we know that meeting people in person and walking them through the process is what makes the difference; we offered a "virtual" option to our customers, so they felt safe while we were delivering solutions. Our business is recession-resistant, but this was a healthcare crisis. So it did have a direct impact on our business and a few of our locations closed. However, many of our locations were maintained and several even grew. At the end of the year, we were only down 1% YOY in systemwide revenues. We saw that the demand for our business was persistent, even in a pandemic.

While we could not meet in person with our franchisees, we decided to increase support in a virtual environment. We added twice as many trainings, meetings and marketing services than in prior years. We also provided up to the minute information on the government loans that were offered and many of our franchisees were able to take advantage of these loans. Offering franchisees, the option to defer their fees for a period of time really helped them with cash flow.

But the other thing that we did—we said: "This is a crisis, and our healthcare workers are the heroes on the front line, so we launched a pay it forward campaign by focusing on being a resource to healthcare workers, during a most unprecedented time." If you can remember, it was hard to find personal protective equipment in early 2020.

Our franchisees came to the rescue and provided personal protective equipment: masks, gloves, gowns, and hand sanitizers. We found we were making an impact and had

Becky Bongiovanni Brand President CarePatrol many healthcare workers thank us for going above and beyond in any little way that we could help them.

With continuous technological developments in the healthcare space, what is your prediction about the future of the senior care services market?

The first baby boomer turned 75 last year. Most people will need care when they are 82 years old. What I predict and what I've heard is that over the next ten years, we will see a lot of changes in how care is approached.

We're going to see two different types of models emerge.

Right now, senior living kind of fits anybody 55 and over.

But because the population is just going to increase, especially the 85-year-olds, that segment of the population is going to double by 2039 and triple by 2049.

We're going to see a new model emerge for senior living—one that's a more active adult lifestyle, focusing on the younger people, ages 55-75. It's going to be more about lifestyle, membership, and exclusivity, like a club lifestyle, timeshare, or resort. You worked hard your whole life, and now it's time for you to enjoy it. Even though senior living has evolved, the baby boomers are different types of people.

They're very particular. They've driven the economy all

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these years, and they're doing the same thing as they age.

So, I think we will see a higher demand for quality and special preferences because that's what the baby boomers want. But there's this large, growing population of 85 and older people, who typically tend to need a lot more care.

care of their communities and make a difference. So that's my tip to someone out there, especially if you're a novice.

According to Consumer Affairs, in order to keep up with the demand in the United States, we'll need to have 1 million new senior housing units by 2040. There's a huge need for more. We will need to rely on remote patient monitoring and artificial intelligence to supplement what caregivers do because we won't have enough people. We already saw that rise during the pandemic, but the caregiver shortage existed before.

This year, we are really focusing on updating many of our technology platforms because technology continues to be really important. We're making upgrades to help our franchisees move quicker and focus on what matters most, which is helping older adults.

The pandemic has just pushed everything faster into the future than we anticipated. We can use technology to aid caregivers in doing a better job. We're going to see something that we've never seen before, and we have to be prepared to help consumers understand the changing landscape and embrace the changes because they're coming.

As an established leader, what is your advice to budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the senior care services sector?

I'm a little biased because I'm a franchisor, but if you're looking to get into the senior care space and you want to make a difference, I think the most streamlined path, so you don't have to make a lot of mistakes, is going with a franchise system. Rather than trying to open your own [business], franchising is a great way to enter the space because you have a system that has proven methods and strategies.

The way that franchising is set up is that if you're successful, the franchisor is successful. If you're not successful, that hurts the franchisor. We have these aligned goals to ensure that our franchisees are well supported.

Whether it's our brand or another brand out there, I love franchising because you're in business for yourself but not by yourself. I think it's rewarding to a lot of people to know that they can be in charge of their own destiny. Franchising really drives small business in the United States, and it leads to wealth in cities and in economies.

I love franchising because it helped me achieve my personal dreams when I never saw a pathway to do that. I love it because it's created both a business opportunity for our hundreds of franchisees. We've been able to impact tens of thousands of families who need help finding quality care positively because of franchising. Franchising enables people to live their dreams, take care of their families, take

How do you envision scaling CarePatrol's operations and offerings in 2022?

For example, we have a proprietary CRM that's being enhanced, and we're reconfiguring some of the functions so we can stay up to date and help our franchisees move quicker and be more efficient. We also introduced a new learning management system for our franchisees that will help them with their continued learning and any staff they bring on.

That will help them scale at the local level because we're focusing on building teams. While this business is rewarding, it's tough, and while you don't need a lot of employees, you should have a handful of employees on your team that can support you to continue to grow and touch lives. By creating efficiencies with our national accounts, we have opportunities to pass on the savings to our franchisees.

When we're working with our national accounts, we help our franchisees with billing and collections. We're updating our processes there to streamline and help our franchisees get paid faster. We just completed a brand refresh which is so amazing because CarePatrol never really had a professional company look at our brand—it was really birthed from the founder who created the look and the feel.

It was important to us that our brand resonated with our primary customers, so we spent all of last year working on our brand refresh, and what we found out is that people who know us love us. The biggest opportunity we have is to help educate people and make sure that there's awareness about what we do. We're also launching this year to scale the business, consumer marketing and educational campaigns to drive awareness. We feel like these are really great things, and the brand refresh has put a new focus on our brand.

It is giving us permission to be innovative, which is one of the pillars that we're focusing on this year. Innovation and renovation because we're in the midst of this changing landscape, and it's fascinating. We've got to be able to move with it.

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Artificial

Future of

Intelligence and IT Operations

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Health-tech

T

here is no denying that the IT space has undergone numerous changes in recent years. With artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) as one of the most prominent technologies, automated machine learning and big data capabilities are predicted to influence business operations and result in a huge way in the near future.

AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) systems are providing a lifeline to IT departments that are struggling to meet the demands of modern businesses. However, before we dive into the subject, let's first define what it means to soundly carry out advanced analytics through the industry.

What is AIOps? According to Gartner, "AIOps platforms use big data, modern machine learning, and other advanced analytics technologies to, directly and indirectly, enhance IT operations tasks (monitoring, automation, and service desk duties) with proactive, personal, and dynamic insight. Many different data sources and data collecting methods can be used together on AIOps systems."

An acronym for Artificial Intelligence in IT Operations, AIOps represents a new approach to managing digital transformation initiatives in the enterprise. This approach has recently grown in popularity, with a number of

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businesses taking a keen interest in its potential, making it increasingly relevant among larger and more sophisticated organizations.

Breaking Down Data Silos Data silos exist in almost every enterprise. They are created when spreading data across many systems within a company, often resulting in low visibility and no unified way of retrieving information. Silos present several pitfalls, as they can lead to errors, large amounts of data loss, and other issues that may significantly impact a business. AIOps is an artificial intelligence software framework used to monitor, identify, and resolve issues within an IT infrastructure.

AIOps uses artificial intelligence to make IT more intelligent and efficient by using machine learning and advanced analytics technologies that search for correlations between events, connections among users and infrastructure that result in downtime.

Eliminating IT Operational Noise The number one concern for an IT operation team is their ability to understand the health of their environment.

Understanding their environment's health is more important than ever if the enterprise hopes to achieve digital transformation objectives. The unfortunate reality is that noise in the system is impacting data and its ability to produce actionable insights.

There are two different ways that IT organizations can benefit from adopting AIOps: they can improve their existing processes and tools or they can make some major global changes to how they manage IT infrastructure. Either way, the ultimate goal is to eliminate IT noise.

Delivering Seamless Customer Experience In the digital age, companies should invest in the tools that can help them deliver seamless customer experiences. The adoption of AIOps is becoming increasingly important for complying with regulations and competing in the market.

AIOps increases operational efficiency and reduces IT costs by using predictive analytics to gather insights from big data. This enables users to make proactive decisions about systems, applications, and infrastructure in real-time before symptoms of disruptions or performance issues occur.

For an enhanced customer experience, AIOps offers a solution to the multiple tasks that must be performed.

Automated analytics in AIOps, performs a series of functions to ensure service continuity in cloud environments. Customer experience that was personalized is now automated.

Overcoming Monitoring and Analytics Challenges Given the use of higher-order service-oriented architecture and cloud-based applications, the problem is further compounded by complex network topologies, high velocity of adapting applications, and a wide range of end-user devices contributing to performance. The ability to monitor, alert and manage monitoring parameters has become even more stringent with the advent of multi-cloud environments.

Performance monitoring (PM) tools and practices are undergoing dramatic changes to cope with the everchanging application landscape, user expectations and enterprise expectations. The challenge is to deliver the right report in the right format at the right time with the right set of metrics.

Digital Transformation Success AIOps seeks to improve the overall insight of IT operations by automating network function and application performance management. AIOps has moved beyond the hype—which grew out of an all-inclusive acronym for automation, intelligence, and orchestration—to reality.

Companies are not only beginning to discover the transformative benefits of AIOps, but also recognizing the tools needed to get results.

It's no secret that technology is moving beyond the cloud.

After all, it was only a matter of time. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have blended with cloud computing to give birth to a new way of thinking—AIOps, or artificial intelligence-driven IT operations. AIOps promises to both challenge and revolutionizes traditional IT service management concepts and processes, including those put in place by ITSM vendors.

The increasing demand for automation in all aspects of business has led to a boom in AIOps solutions, many of which boast the ability to carry out a broad range of functions within just one single tool.

Anish Miller

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10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022

Empowering Senior Citizens by Elevating Quality of Life

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geing cannot be prevented, but it can most certainly be a happy process. Everyone heads towards the ‘wonder years’ of their life. They wonder where they left their phone? Where the glasses are?

What day it is? And many more. Fun apart, everyone faces difficulties when the graph of life starts to tilt towards the ultimate point. People fall ill both physically and mentally.

Hence, they need more attention and care.

But in this fast-paced world, wherein time is money, it becomes difficult to manage the balance between work and family. Those taking care of their elder family members are sometimes stuck between the priorities of their own life.

While the challenge is huge, the necessity for caregiving is equally important. Many people struggle to manage this difficult task. To provide and solution to this, Carnegie East House was established with the focus of providing quality lifestyle for senior citizens.

In the following interview, Joseph H. Girven, the Executive Director of Carnegie East Home, sheds light on the journey of the organization, its mission, and the necessity of senior care.

Please brief our audience about Carnegie East House, its mission, and the key aspects of its stronghold within the senior care services niche.

Since 2002, the mission of Carnegie East House has been to provide comfortable, secure, and supportive enriched housing for senior citizens. It is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help and empower senior citizens by elevating their quality of life through safe and affordable housing. Our community celebrates individual freedom and offers support when and where it is needed.

Carnegie East House has earned a reputation for providing an exceptional level of care and attention to residents. It has consistently been ranked among the best adult care communities in Manhattan.

Visitors always comment that you can ‘feel’ the difference when they walk through our building. This atmosphere is created by having a caring team that supports the residents with competency and compassion.

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About the leader Joseph Girven is a former financial executive and certified public accountant. His career took a dramatic turn when he became a Licensed Master Social Worker. Girvenʼs social service career focused on protecting and supporting senior citizens and the disabled from its inception. Girven spent 13 years in a leadership position at the Lenox Hill Neighbourhood House, a provider of senior citizen essential services in New York City. 11 years ago, Girven became the Executive Director of the James Lenox House Association and Carnegie East House.

The James Lenox House Association was founded 150 years ago to house civil war widows.

Today, the James Lenox House is part of the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program. With 99 apartments, it meets the growing need in New York City for affordable housing with quality social services for senior citizens. Carnegie East House, a residential care community comprised of 97 apartments, is licensed by the New York State Department of Health as ʻenriched housingʼ and offers residents a wide range of supportive services.

Throughout his tenure at both residential communities, Girven has consistently led with insightful leadership and judicial stewardship.

The recent challenges presented by COVID-19 tested the most formidable industry champions with unprecedented safety challenges, regulatory demands, and market pressures.

Girven successfully navigated the shoals of the pandemic and succeeded in taking care of all residents through his tireless and dedicated vigilance and guidance. He moved into Carnegie East House to be ʻon-the-groundʼ and available around the clock, every day. Throughout the long-term care residential housing sector, the pandemic presented many horrific realities and

Joseph H. Girven Executive Director Carnegie East House

Our community celebrates individual freedom and offers support when and where it is needed. outcomes. Girvenʼs move to live ʻon-siteʼ went far to reassure residents and their families.

Under Girvenʼs direction, Carnegie East House employed conservative measures from the onset of the pandemic, before they were mandated. As a result of his vigilance, the residents were kept safe.

Joseph H. Girven was recognized for his stewardship in Crainʼs New York Business 2021 “Notable in Non-profits and Philanthropy”.

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Tell us more about the services that give Carnegie East House distinct edge to stand out from the competition?

Carnegie East House is distinct in its market—New York City—it offers expansive apartments, dynamic programming, and exceptional value. As a not-for-profit organization, the end goal is not to produce increased profitability.

Our efforts focus on one objective: serving and supporting residents with the highest standards of care possible.

Residents of our community represent all backgrounds and professions: teachers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, interior decorators, accountants, writers, judges, librarians, homemakers, artists, actors, professors, researchers, social workers, simultaneous interpreters, and musicians. We are an inclusive community that appeals to people who value individual care in an ideal setting, where healthy aging is nurtured and fostered.

What is your opinion on the effects of the current pandemic on the healthcare sector, and what challenges did Carnegie East House face during the initial phase of the pandemic?

One cannot underestimate the financial and human capital challenges presented by the pandemic. From the cost of purchasing enormous quantities of personal protection equipment to the loss of revenue due to a freeze on admissions, the strain has been taxing. In addition, the pandemic placed many additional stressors on staff—all of whom are essential workers—by putting them at risk by commuting and working and adding to their already heavy workloads with additional safety protocols and new regulations issued weekly.

The largest challenge presented in the initial phase of the pandemic was developing new protocols to ensure the safety of residents and personnel. We had to amend almost every aspect of our operations, and we revised these changes throughout the days, weeks, and months of the pandemic. From meal delivery to getting all personnel COVID tested weekly, we had to implement a new way to operate every day.

With continuous technological development in the healthcare space, what is your prediction about the future of the senior care services market?

Our operations and programming are constantly evolving to meet our residentʼs new needs and to serve them better

will have to be met. New buildings and residential units will have to be much more energy efficient. Additionally, advances in technology will enable clinicians and patients to interface more efficiently and effectively.

As an established leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the senior care services niche?

No matter how we serve this market, it all boil down to individual care. Never lose sight of the true objective—taking care of each person as you would your mother, father, friend, sister, or brother.

How do you envision scaling Carnegie East House’s operations and offerings in 2021?

At present, we will focus on improving our communities and elevating all facets of operations. We are planning a sizable renovation project and the addition of some exciting new amenities. Our operations and programming are constantly evolving to meet our resident’s new needs and to serve them better.

As the demographic construct of ‘older adults’ evolves and more baby boomers age, we will have more technology users who have a higher level of proficiency—new needs

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10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022

Amalgamating Excellence with Perpetual Care

A

crucial component of elder care at home is to ensure that the patient feels safe and comfortable.

When they can embrace such reliable services, seniors feel better mentally and physically. As the premier franchised provider of in-home caregiving services, ComForCare helps people live their best years in a holistic caring environment.

ComForCare's compassionate caregivers and innovative programs support older adults in aging gracefully and continuing to do the things they love. Founded in 1996, ComForCare has more than 256 independently owned and operated locations in the U.S. and Canada and operates as At Your Side Home Care in Houston.

Under the leadership of Sean Kajcienski, Chief Revenue Officer, and Chief Operating Officer, ComForCare's mission is to improve the quality of life and level of independence for every client and family receiving its services.

In 2017, ComForCare was acquired by private equity firm The Riverside Company and is now part of Best Life Brands, a parent company that oversees service brands in the aging adult care industry.

In an interview with Insights Care, Sean Kajcienski sheds the spotlight on his professional tenure—highlighting the significance of ComForCare in the healthcare industry.

Tell us about your journey in ComForCare.

What appealed to me was the opportunity to be in a franchising business that genuinely gave back and helped people. I'd been in business for 14 years prior at other franchise companies, and they were great brands but really

Sean Kajcienski, Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Opera ng Officer ComForCare didn't serve and support people in the way that we do, so that was a big part of what appealed to me.

I also had prior experience in healthcare, and a large percent of our population then were seniors, so I got to see a lot of their healthcare struggles and how these struggles affected them physically, emotionally, and mentally. And in that regard, it made me more aware of the challenges of seniors.

And then, as I've seen family members age and go through needing care—having family members take on the role of family caregiver—it just further attracted me to the concept

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of Best Life Brands, the ComForCare brand and the idea of helping senior citizens to live their best lives possible.

What values does ComForCare implement while catering to its clients in the healthcare industry?

The key to ComForCare is the intense focus on the quality of care, making sure we have well-trained caregivers, a great match for our clients with the caregiver, and advanced programs to help to make sure that the quality of care and the best outcomes are optimized for each client. Programs like our DementiaWise program, which is recognized by the Alzheimer's Association and is on the Alzheimer's Association website, is something we're very proud of. An opportunity to teach our franchisees the advanced skills in caring for dementia and Alzheimer's patients is really something of great value to the families and to the clients themselves.

Programs like our Gaitway Fall Prevention program help reduce further complications in the lives of these seniors. It can potentially help reduce the risk of falls and serious injuries that lead to hospitalization, nursing home stays, and all kinds of other things that negatively affect their lives.

And so, we are consistently looking to figure out what we can bring to the franchisees and how they can truly be the best of the best in ensuring their caregivers provide the best care possible so seniors can truly live their best lives possible. (For more information, visit .)

How has the pandemic, especially the initial phase, impacted the healthcare sector, and how did ComForCare sustain its operations to overcome its adversities?

ComForCare fared well during the pandemic for a variety of reasons. We were well-versed in the importance and use of personal protective equipment (PPE). As the world scrambled to learn what that was and how to use it, we were already adept at their use and had great supply chain lines to help make sure that our franchisees and caregivers had supplies available.

During that time frame, people became more concerned about anybody getting near their senior loved ones, so making sure we had great communication and training with our franchisees and caregivers to ensure that they were in the best position to keep clients constantly safe and healthy was of utmost importance to us.

We saw strong demand for our services throughout the pandemic, even with people being afraid to bring somebody else into the home. ComForCare being able to take care of family members in the home was a reassurance to those who were concerned about nursing home care at that time.

Being a national leader and having one of the few programs out there that's recognized by the Alzheimer's Association in our DementiaWise program was a great benefit to families. They appreciate the extra efforts we make to ensure the highest quality of care.

As technology has made such amazing changes in the healthcare space, can you share a prediction about the future of the senior care services market?

ComForCare's mission is to improve the quality of life and level of independence for every client and family receiving its services.

There are a few ways that technology will evolve in the senior care sector. One is the operating systems that companies use will continue to grow and evolve, to allow for better outcomes reporting, better communication with families, better communication with the caregivers, etc.

That's going to continue to improve, and then you layer that in with any sort of telehealth options such as remote patient monitoring, which is a great opportunity.

To have sensors throughout the home, for example, to be able to measure movement and vitals—not just measured but easily communicated to physicians, caregivers, family members and the client themselves—is really an opportunity to optimize care and react quickly when things

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are going in the wrong direction. It can also help to prevent the risk of future issues.

Also, the opportunity to improve communication with those clients in the home- whether it be tablets or other devices that will help them to communicate with physicians, family, etc. that technology will enable a more holistic opportunity to manage care so clients really can live as well as possible, and as healthy as possible, throughout the remainder of their lives.

What is your advice to budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts entering the senior care services niche?

It is a great space to operate a business in a very meaningful space. It's important to take the appropriate steps to get the proper knowledge to effectively run a home-care business and provide the optimal level of care. I would suggest doing a significant amount of research if you decide you want to do this on your own, or partner with a leading national franchise brand—one who's got highly recognized programs and has proven themselves over decades.

This can help with that knowledge gap when entering this space. There's a lot to know, and when you're with major top franchise brands like ComForCare-/At Your Side, who have these advanced programs and advanced training, it helps you get a lift above all other competition in the marketplace very quickly.

A franchise opportunity with a national leader like ComForCare /At Your Side is the best way. It's the only way I would recommend a family member do it, for example. If they didn't go this route then I'd recommend that they do some serious research, maybe hire consultants or others that have experience in running a highly advanced home care business.

How do you envision scaling ComForCare's operations and offerings in 2022?

We're building out our technology platform right now in a couple of ways. We just launched a new operating system with significant enhancements to help make it easier for franchisees and caregivers to optimize the quality of care.

Second, we've done research, tests and studies into the telehealth side of things and will likely be announcing the rollout of an industry-leading remote patient monitoring platform by the end of the year.

Additionally, we intend to keep making enhancements to our operating system and partnering with other industryleading technology providers as we see opportunities to implement technology that can be helpful for quality care.

Can you tell us about the recognition of achievements that highlights ComForCare as a prominent company in the healthcare sector?

Among its many awards, ComForCare most recently has been honored on the 2022 Entrepreneur Franchise 500 list, the 2021 Entrepreneur Top Global Franchise list, the 2021 Best Workplaces for Millennials, and Best Workplaces for Women and Best Workplaces in Aging Services lists. ·

ComForCare awarded 39 new franchise agreements reaching close to double-digit system growth in the U.S. and Canada in 2021;

·

Ranked 291st on Entrepreneur Magazine's annual Franchise 500 list;

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Certified as a Great Place to Work®;

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Recognized by Fortune Magazine and Great Place To Work® as one of the 2021 Best Workplaces in New York™;

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Recognized by Fortune Magazine and Great Place To Work® as the number one home care company on the Best Workplaces in Aging Services™ 2021 list;

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Recognized by Fortune Magazine and Great Place To Work® as one of the 2021 Best Workplaces for Women;

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Recognized by Fortune Magazine and Great Place To Work® as one of the 2021 Best Workplaces for Millennials™;

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Recognized in Franchise Dictionary Magazine's Top 100 Game Changers list.

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Space C

OVID-19 pandemic's onslaught was sudden and unexpected. Though experienced with H1N1, seasonal influenza, HIV, and rather effective in emergency response, the U.S. healthcare community was hardly prepared for it. The biggest challenge was fighting an unknown virus from a known coronavirus family.

It all began on the last day of December 2019, when Chinese authorities reported a group of cases with pneumonic patients associated with a common area of Wuhan (Hubei Province) called Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Seven days later, in January 2020, Chinese health authorities confirmed that this group of patients was infected with 2019-nCov, a novel coronavirus.

On January 15, 2020, after visiting a family in Wuhan (China), a 35-year-old man returned to his home in States.

On the fourth day of his returning back, he saw a health alert issued by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about China's novel coronavirus outbreak. He too was having similar symptoms. So, worried about his cough and subjective fever, without any signs of waning, the man finally visited an urgent care clinic (UCC) in Snohomish County, Washington, on January 19, 2020. All his other tests (NAAT, HKU1, NL63, 229E, and OC43) came back negative, but due to the protocol, the UCC promptly alerted the competent authorities, and sent the collected samples (from the patient) to the respective CDC lab.

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The man confirmed that he neither visited the virus origin area nor came into contact with any sick person during his travel. He was discharged on the condition of home isolation. On January 20, 2020, his tests of nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs came positive for COVID-19.

Immediately, he was admitted into an airborne-isolation unit and treated afterwards with utmost care, which saved his life. As per the CDC's press release on January 21, 2021, the man was United States first reported COVID-19 case.

The man was one of the twenty-eight million patients who visited such UCC's in the year 2020. Out of those, more than half were COVID-19 patients. In fact, over the last two years, UCC's became the preferred 'go-to' choice for patients who needed urgent, affordable, and episodic COVID-19 care. This influx of patients showed the urgent care's growing importance in our daily healthcare space.

Impact of Urgent Care: According to the Urgent Care Association's (UCA, founded in 2004) estimate, there are more than 10,000 UCC's across the United States. From large urban areas to small rural communities, UCC's are located in every area. Each year, these UCC's gives treatments to more than 160 million patients with mostly lower acuity. But due to their on-site labs and x-ray capabilities, they are also able to treat patients with higher level of acuity. Also, UCA works in close collaborations with Convenient Care Association (CCA), which is a representative body of 3,300 retail health clinics spread across the States. Together, they provide high degree of accessible healthcare to the patients from every stratum of society.

To help urgent care industry in the areas of research, technological upgrades, education, training, and honing leadership in clinical practices management, there is urgent care foundation (UCF), which is an affiliate of UCA. Both UCF and UCA worked hard in bringing innovation and improvement in delivering advanced healthcare models to the industry. The emergency preparedness initiative launched during the hurricane Harvey relief efforts, is

expanded over the years and is now being used to support industry during these hard times. The pandemic emergency fund was provided to educate and train clinicians to provide better care to novel coronavirus affected patients.

All these efforts brought fruit when UCC's are needed the most. As the third wave of COVID-19 is ravaging across the States, Americans are finding UCC's as their best bet.

When it comes to walking in straight and getting tested for COVID-19 without an appointment, then UCC is the only option available. According to a mobile app Solv, this year, UCC's saw a 50% spike in number of patient's online and in-person bookings. Google search for UCC's is at a neverbefore-seen levels.

UCC's plays a unique role in US's healthcare arena. They are the only standalone medical care units available for patients without any prior appointment. Many of them are the only healthcare providers in their areas. And as opposed to limited opening hours of regular primary clinics, UCC's are open for longer periods. Some are even open for 24 hours a day, seven days a week even on weekends and holidays.

Accessible Healthcare: Future Essential Other reasons for UCC sudden upheaval are their adopting of advanced technologies faster than their counterparts. For example, faced with long queues of people to get tested for COVID-19, CityMD, New York's largest UCC adopted an urgent-care-specific software solution for queuing and texting. And the long queues blocking the city roads disappeared overnight.

Many of the UCC's are now leveraging enhanced digital patient engagement systems. From check-ins to payments, these systems are designed to manage high patient volumes in short times, optimizing center's ability to handle high demands of testing.

Simply, they are shortening their wait times, streamlining their workflow, and improving patient's experience. By enhancing efficiency and functioning, UCC's are evolving into an essential entity of the healthcare continuum.

Anish Miller

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North Star

Senior Advisors Providing a Guided Path for Senior Living

S

enior parents and other ageing loved ones often require specialized medical care. The necessity for specialized care has become increasingly crucial to families everywhere as our population becomes older. However, achieving and sustaining optimal health and wellness for older people is more than just a medical issue. Hence, effective geriatric services have become a crucial necessity.

Effective geriatric care necessitates collaboration between health providers and caretakers. Both work together to manage their elders’ health concerns and provide a safe, positive environment for them.

To cater to this need, senior care companies were established. One promising name in that list is North Star Senior Advisors which is highly experienced in assisting families for senior living.

North Star was selected for the 2020 Best of Orlando Award in the Assisted Living Facility category by the

Orlando Award Program, as well as listed at number 46 on Feedspot’s Top 100 Senior Care Blogs list for Blogs, Websites and Influencers in 2021.

In the following interview, Ignacio Quinones, the President of North Star Senior Advisors, shares the journey of the company, its mission, and how the company is assisting senior citizens to provide a guided path for senior living.

Please brief our audience about North Star Senior Advisors, its mission, and the key aspects of its stronghold within the senior care services niche.

Established in 2014, our mission is to offer free support and guidance through your transition into senior living. We’ll explain the process, provide an overview of senior living communities, and accompany you on tours to ensure that you find that perfect new home in Lake, Seminole, Orange, Osceola, and Volusia Counties. We never charge a fee to families and are paid by the assisted living or memory care community that

Our mission is to offer free support and guidance through your transition into senior living. you choose. We recently expanded our niche and now offer Care Management services, helping you through the aging process.

Tell us more about North Star’s services that give you a distinct edge to stand out from the competition?

We provide a guided path to senior living by narrowing down options based on budget, location, level of care, and more. What makes us unique to this industry is that not only do we have 30+ years of combined

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10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022

Ignacio Quinones

About the Leader Ignacio Quinones started his military career as an Infantry soldier in Washington DC, ‘The Old Guard’ where he participated in various key decorated ceremonies, funerals, and parades for the US armed forces. He then began his career as an Army Nurse at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he cared for wounded soldiers post 9/11.

As a nurse and veteran-owned and operated firm, Ignacio continues to use his nursing license when assessing seniors to help locate senior living options that can accommodate their level of care, allowing for a proper placement.

Assisted Living communities possess different license types where some can only accommodate certain needs.

Having a nursing background provides seniors and families with accurate information so they can make the best, informed decision regarding their senior living needs.

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President North Star Senior Advisors

healthcare/senior living experience, but all staff members are also certified dementia practitioners to assist those with Dementia/Alzheimer’s.

Also, we have a nurse on duty to perform accurate assessments for proper placement. We are also veteran owned and have bi-lingual staff upon request. Our team is local to the Central Florida area, and we have personally toured all communities and checked to ensure they are free of abuse and negligence before guiding our seniors and families there.

What is your opinion on the effects of the current pandemic on the healthcare sector, and what challenges did North Star Senior Advisors face during the initial phase of the pandemic?

The current pandemic has affected us all in some form with the healthcare sector being affected the most. What we have seen at the beginning of the pandemic was that most individuals were hesitant to place their loved ones in senior living communities, understandably.

All communities were also forced to go on lock down. So, visitors were no longer allowed inside, and current

residents were asked not to leave unless there was a medical emergency.

But once their return, they had to be quarantined for 14 days. This not only impacted our business but also how we operate.

Normally, we meet with families for a consult and then schedule and accompany families on tours of senior living communities, but all of this came to a halt. Fortunately, we were still able to guide families throughout all of the pandemic as we conducted virtual consults and tours. When the governor announced that they were planning to open again, we were grateful to be able to provide in-person visits again.

With continuous technological development in the healthcare space, what is your prediction about the future of the senior care services market?

Senior Living communities will have fully integrated technology by including Telehealth services for providers in order to conduct clinical appointments to residents in senior living communities. In addition, virtual assistant devices will be added to senior living apartments, so residents can enjoy the benefits of voice

controlled artificial intelligence assistance also known as ‘Smart Homes’.

As an established leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the senior care services niche?

One would definitely have to have a passion for working with the geriatric population. Ideally, their product or service needs to satisfy a large demand.

I would also build a large synergistic network within the healthcare sector they are choosing to work within and always find ways to give back to the community.

How do you envision scaling North Star Senior Advisors’ operations and offerings in 2022?

We want to continue to approve upon our core business within senior placement and grow our new care management services going into 2022

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10 Most Trusted Senior Care Service Providers 2022

Making Your Second Innings Fruitful Period of Life

M

any apprehensions surround you, and many thoughts muddle your head. However, in the journey of your life—one day the first inning will come to an end. One day, eventually, you will soon be entering your "Second Inning" sooner than you thought.

In the end, you must accept it with grace and maturity and make the best of your situation. "Growing Old" does not imply that your life is finished; as a golden ager, you have all your time at your disposal, so take advantage of it.

The second innings is part of life, and a person with selfrespect wants to spend it with dignity and independence.

Many people make their plans for the second innings.

According to several reports, the population of senior citizens is rising, and people are opting to modernize independent living.

A place where a senior citizen lives with the characteristics mentioned above is not an arduous task with Symphony Senior Living.

Currently, under the coherent leadership of Christine Turner, Vice President of Operations, Symphony Senior Living excels with a vision to provide the highest quality living community place where senior people can find a home with exceptional care.

Additionally, Symphony communities have given out the service that provides convenience and comfort to make everyday life easier.

Coherent Leadership Christe Turner, Vice President of Opera ons, started her career freshly graduated as an RPN doing pallia ve home care. A er transi oning to re rement, she started working as a nurse and, a er a few years, was promoted to Director of Care.

Chris ne worked as a Director of Care in a few different places in the O awa area and quickly advanced to Execu ve Director within only a few years. She has now spent the last 25 years in the re rement industry- devo ng her life to seniors. Chris ne was promoted this year to our VP of Opera ons in Canada.

She oversees all opera ons in our four communi es in O awa and ensures we are opera ng all our proper es up to Symphony standard! She is so excited to start her new role and really start driving occupancy and quality in all our proper es.

In an interview with Insights Care, Christine shares the journey of Symphony Senior Living, highlighting its values and her opinions on the future of the company with respect to its mission to become a trusted senior care service provider.

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Chris ne Turner

Vice President of Opera ons Symphony Senior Living

Christine, please brief our audience about Symphony Senior Living, its mission, and the key aspects of its stronghold within the senior care services niche.

At Symphony Senior Living, we have been striving to serve seniors and their loved ones since 2008. Symphony is a Canadian company founded by Lisa Brush out of a desire to help people in her career.

Since then, Symphony has grown exponentially and operates four beautiful communities in the Ottawa area. Our service levels range from independent living assisted living to memory care, but our core values remain the same- we are compassionate, dedicated, and genuine.

Tell us more about the services that give you a distinct edge to stand out from the competition?

All four of our Symphony communities focus on our service and care. We strongly believe that our residents should never have to move out of a Symphony- we are their forever home.

This is why we are one of the only retirement homes in the Ottawa area to offer higher levels of care and even palliative support in a warm and welcoming community. At Symphony, we believe in deinstitutionalizing senior living.

We want to create an environment that feels like home and is home.

What is your opinion on the effects of the current pandemic on the healthcare sector, and what challenges did Symphony Senior Living face during the initial phase of the pandemic?

The pandemic has been a big challenge to take on in the retirement home industry. Initially, many communities in the area were hit hard with outbreaks that resulted in deaths across the country. In March 2020, Symphony's CEO, Lisa Brush, acted quickly when news of an impending pandemic hit Ottawa.

Lisa mandated that staff only work at Symphony going forward and quickly implemented health and safety measures and visiting policies. Symphony stayed completely COVID-free in all communities for two years!

Unfortunately, the most recent wave of Omicron swept through three out of four of our homes. However, we were lucky that we didn't have any deaths or serious illnesses as all our staff and almost all our residents were fully vaccinated and boosted by that point.

Overall, rapidly changing policies coming from regulatory bodies also presented many challenges for our teams.

Adapting to this new and constantly evolving world post-pandemic will be a challenge that Symphony is ready to face head-on.

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With continuous technological development in the healthcare space, what is your prediction about the future of the senior care services market?

Our population in Canada is rapidly ageing, with the baby boomer generation breaching their 70s and 80s. My prediction is that we are going to see more tech-savvy seniors who will want to engage with technology in their golden years.

We believe that in the next few years, we will have to include more tech services in our social programs, even on the assisted living and maybe memory care side of things.

In the world of instantaneous communication, many seniors are learning how to use social platforms to connect with their children and grandchildren. That skill set will most definitely present itself in the seniors of the future!

As an established leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the senior care services niche?

One piece of advice would be to make sure that you're in this industry because you're truly passionate about caring for seniors.

At times this industry can be challenging and hard to navigate, but you must maintain a clear vision- always keeping in mind that we are here to serve our residents! In the past, when times have been tough, we try to bring my focus back to the seniors we're doing this for. By leading teams this way, we can be more successful together!

We strongly believe that our residents should never have to move out of a Symphony- we are their forever home.

How do you envision scaling Symphony Senior Living's operations and offerings in 2022?

Symphony is always looking to grow our business and improve our operations for our residents and family members! In 2022, we want to continue to provide the highest quality of care and focus on maintaining consistency throughout our communities.

The rapidly evolving situation often left us confused and frustrated during the pandemic. Going forward into what is hopefully a more COVID-free 2022, we want to focus on our Symphony service standards and ensuring that all our residents live a full and happy life with us- always!

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