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| Getting Involved and Giving Back |
| November 5, 2010 by Jeff Bevis |
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Lately, I’ve been noticing a trend amongst seniors in the news—they’re giving back to their local communities and helping in out-of-the-box ways.
A group of pro-active seniors in Burlington, Washington, for example, are helping fight crime with the town’s new Citizens On Patrol program.
“So far our volunteers have already spotted a house that was broken into,” Officer Tim Van Dyken, community resource officer for Burlington police told NWCN.com this week.
The help from seniors is especially important as it comes at a time when budget cuts are the norm.
Another story that sparked my attention this week is one out of Chillicothe, Ohio. During the Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center’s Fall Senior Citizens Day, senior citizens helped students hone their skills. Cosmetology students cut and styled hair and offered pedicures and manicures while automotive technology students performed oil changes at a discounted rate, reported the Chillicothe Gazette.
Jeff Phillips, director of communications and community relations at the school, said the biannual event benefits both the students and seniors.
Are you looking for a way to get your loved one involved in the community? It’s never too late! Visit Volunteer Match—a great resource for finding volunteer opportunities in your local community.
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| Helping Seniors - and Entrepreneurs |
| November 4, 2010 by Laura Baverman • lbaverman@enquirer.com |
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Jeff Bevis has two passions: Caring for seniors and helping entrepreneurs.
After 25 years running franchise operations for companies like Thrifty Car Rental, Comfort Keepers and Express Personnel Services, Bevis launched in March his own franchising operation focused on non-medical senior care.
That means services like meal preparation, house cleaning, bathing and dressing, grocery shopping and running errands, and even entertainment including card playing.
Called FirstLight HomeCare, the Deerfield Township company is modeled on the three years of customer service training that Bevis's 27-year-old son Devin received as a manager at a Ritz Carlton in Atlanta.
"Our mission is in helping seniors stay in the comfort and security of their own home," Bevis says. "Our focus is especially on client satisfaction."
Bevis has a personal interest in senior care. His first job as a server and dishwasher at a nursing home stuck with him years later when he had the opportunity to help run Dayton-based Comfort Keepers, another in-home care provider. He and his wife also have spent years providing daily care for his now-deceased mother-in-law and his elderly father-in-law.
The customer-service model has taken off. Bevis will have 22 franchisees by the end of this year and expects to have up to 130 by 2014. Franchise rights to Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are still available.
Senior care is a growing industry, Bevis says. Statistics show that 89 percent of seniors plan to remain in their homes as they age rather than move to a nursing home or assisted living facility. And the senior population is expected to hit 49 million by 2025.
So far, no one company is the recognized brand in providing that sort of care. According to the National Private Duty Association, 92 percent of the 15,000 nationwide providers are mom-and-pop operations. More than 30 franchises operate in the space, Bevis says.
"It's extremely fragmented. That's one of the opportunities we see," he says. Bevis's sweet spot is in building up franchise operations and empowering entrepreneurs to build their own businesses. He helped to rebuild Comfort Keepers to 600 franchisees and Thrifty to more than 1,200. He's hired the former president and CEO of Comfort Keepers, Allen Riggs, to help build up his operation. Devin serves as manager of franchise services.
The secret to their success will be the superior service learned from the Ritz, he says. They'll find the best franchisees and train them to hire the most capable and caring people. They'll offer up handy technology resources. And they'll continually measure their progress.
Bevis calls the ideal FirstLight franchisee someone who is a good manager and has a heart for serving others. Franchisees so far have ranged from teachers to engineers to accountants. Besides seniors, FirstLight provides some service to new mothers, people recuperating from surgery and others in need.
To help generate initial business, Bevis provides franchisees with 54 potential referral sources, including doctors, hospital discharge officers and bank trust officers. His team offers sales tools and marketing materials to help.
A software program guides franchisees through all aspects of operating the business. It assists with interviewing, hiring, retaining and training caregivers. It provides a system for matching caregivers with clients based on the caregiver's skills, the client's needs and their mutual interests. And it lets the families of a client log into a Web site to track the services provided by a caregiver on a daily basis. Families also can order service through the site.
The use of technology helps Bevis keep costs low for franchisees. They pay between $49,000 and $69,000 for a territory. They set their own pricing, but industry averages are about $18 to $18.50 per hour of service. The average client has a caregiver for about 20 hours per week.
To maintain the highest level of service, FirstLight makes client satisfaction calls on a monthly basis.
But the ideal outcome, Bevis says, is that caregivers become like a brother or sister to clients, and that his franchisees realize their dreams as business owners.
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