One of the immutable facts of life is that, when people grow old, they require increasing attention towards their mental and physical well-being. As the senior population expands, the need for home care is growing in stride. Seniors are seeking to maintain their independence by staying in their own homes living independently instead of moving to an assisted living setting or living with loved ones.
This need for additional ways to care for seniors in their own homes has given rise to a very large growth industry, an industry focused on helping seniors live functional and productive lives — the non-medical home care services industry. Many times, after a senior has returned home from a hospitalization, a fall, an accident or an injury, an older person may not have loved ones close by to help with all the daily activities that life requires. There has been a growing trend over the past few decades to have families more spread out across the country, making it harder for loved ones to provide timely assistance to their aging family members.
While there are many companies in this space, forward-thinking organizations like Caring Senior Service of San Antonio, Texas, stands out amongst the competition. They have redefined how senior care is perceived and addressed altogether. Established in 1991 by Jeff Salter, Caring began franchising in 2003 and has grown to more than 50 locations across 17 states in the US owing to their thoughtful and innovative approach to senior care. With the purpose of enabling seniors to remain as independent as possible as they age, the Caring Senior Service franchise helps seniors maintain the highest level of dignity and quality of life, all in the peace and comfort of their own homes! They definitely stick to their company mantra: Healthy. Happy. Home.
Redefining Home Care
The primary goal of Caring Senior Service is to provide personalized non-medical care wherever and whenever an individual needs assistance. The differentiator is that this organization provides the required care in clients’ homes using several proprietary tools, including their GreatCare® program and tablet-based technology platform with a care portal, video connectivity, and more. Scott Suryan, Director of Franchise Development at Caring Senior Service states, “We’ve built our own system of providing high-quality home care, which takes out the heavy lifting for our franchise owners so they can specialize in building long-lasting relationships with seniors and their families.”
A crucial link between a family and the care of their aging loved ones, Caring Senior Service offers a wide portfolio of services. Not only does the organization offer assistance in the form of medication reminders, companionship, personal care, meal preparation, errand services and more, they also provide free home safety assessments to families to help ensure that their loved ones can remain safe at home when no one is around. This support helps provide peace of mind and ease familial responsibilities for adult children, who are often charged with managing care for their elderly parents.
The care process begins with an in-depth interview with both the client and their family. Caring Senior Service matches their needs, wants, and preferences with a suitable caregiver. “We always facilitate a personal introduction whenever we bring a caregiver to the client’s home for the first time. And our teams continually conduct supervisory visits to ensure the client’s well-being and happiness,” vouches Scott.
The Caring Senior Service caregivers follow their client’s individualized care plan to empower seniors to safely continue their daily routines without skipping a beat. As an extension of their regular services, Caring also acts as an advocate for seniors and a source of education for families, providing an array of digital resources and educational content. Topics ranging from the basics of family caregiving and how professional caregivers help, to common conditions seniors face and more can be accessed on their website.
"We pride ourselves on our passion for senior citizens, and our franchisees must do the same"
Cutting-Edge Assistance
With new players cropping up on a regular basis in the senior care industry, Caring Senior Service has been staying a cut above the rest by combining traditional senior care methods with modern innovations. The company created its own proprietary software, Tendio®, which is used to do everything from onboarding new clients to completing billing and payroll, while ensuring nothing ever falls through the cracks. Caregivers can also access the wealth of information available on Tendio® to complete their training and assessments as well. The platform also has a ‘Family Portal’ where clients and their families can access records, view visit notes, and communicate with their care team.
As the most comprehensive proprietary software in the industry, Tendio® has allowed Caring to be the first tablet-based home care company. Consequently, the software has been responsible for optimizing Caring’s workflow, reducing operational costs and elevating their service delivery to unmarked heights. This system has also allowed the entire organization to be paper-free for more than 4 years now, while simultaneously enabling the caregivers to provide only the highest quality of personalized home care to their clients.
Additionally, another one of their strategic care initiatives, called GreatCare®, has been designed to address the 3 most important areas of concern in the senior home care industry: Quality Caregivers, Care Solutions, and Active Involvement. Thanks to the GreatCare® strategy, the entire Caring franchise is able to find, hire, train, and retain only the most top-notch caregivers in the market. GreatCare® also focuses on monitoring the quality of care that is provided throughout a client’s service via regular supervisory visits to a client’s home and consistent communication with clients and their families.
A few words from franchise owners
GreatCare® is fulfilling a promise. We promise to provide our clients with the very best care, and we promise to do that in a very specific way… I chose Caring Senior Service because I really believe in the model. Caring Senior Service has a very specific plan and that plan, mission, vision, and values really spoke to me.
– Cindy Sheller, Caring Senior Service of Tucson, Caring Senior Service of Dallas Mid-Cities, Caring Senior Service of North Dallas
Spreading the Care throughout the Nation
Since its inception back in 1991, Jeff Salter has continued to lead Caring Senior Service as founder and CEO. Owner of multiple Caring franchisees himself, Jeff follows the same business model and regulations as set for the other locations. As a result, Caring knows what it takes for franchisees to run a successful home care business.
Talking about franchise selection Scott says, “We are highly selective in choosing our franchise owners. It’s about quality at all costs, not quantity at any cost. We are looking for that franchise owner who wants to make a difference in their clients’ lives and in their communities. It definitely takes a special individual.”
A carefully designed franchise selection strategy decides who gets to be part of the brand family and who doesn’t. Apart from the drive to scale the business, prospective franchisees must have the natural desire to make a difference by serving others and uplifting their communities. As an added bonus, Caring’s franchise support system allows franchisees to operate their business successfully even without a healthcare background.
On selection, new franchise owners undergo a one-week virtual training to familiarize them with Caring Senior Service, the home care market, the organization’s core operational systems and, of course, the proprietary Tendio® software. After that, new owners and their teams attend a week-long training at the company headquarters in San Antonio, diving deeper into the business model and operational procedures. Upon opening, owners are enrolled in a 16-week core development program that consists of weekly training calls to ensure operational milestones are met.
In terms of support, each franchise has the complete backing of Caring’s national headquarters, including on-site visits to the new locations to help set up and launch operations. Caring Senior Service also hosts quarterly trainings to continually engage franchise owners and reinforce operational procedures. These trainings also serve to exchange new ideas and often result in the implementation of innovative measures aimed at uplifting senior care. “We pride ourselves on our passion for senior citizens, and our franchisees must do the same,” states Scott
The Beginning
At 20 years old, Jeff Salter worked for a home health care company. Here he began to notice that many seniors required help even with the simplest of daily tasks, but the nurses and staff there did not provide this type of support. He realized that there were plenty of seniors in the community who just needed help with basic things like meal preparation, errands and bathing. Unfortunately, no one at the time was addressing these needs. Furthermore, seeing how seniors genuinely enjoyed the time they got to spend with their caregivers, Salter started recognizing the gaps in the senior care business, and the idea of Caring Senior Service was born.
Jeff opened his first office in Odessa, Texas, in 1991 helping the seniors of his own community. By 1994 he began receiving new requests for his services in other areas of Texas as well. Seeing the increasing demand of this new type of non-medical home care, Jeff quickly expanded operations, first moving to McAllen and then onwards to Corpus Christi, the Coastal Bend and San Antonio over the next few years. By 2001, Jeff had opened 7 locations in Texas and 1 in Arizona.
In 2002, with the intention of offering his services throughout the United States, Jeff decided to start franchising. He knew that his unique, proven home care business model could be used by others to reach even more seniors needing care in their homes. Today, after more than three decades of perfecting the Caring Senior Service system, Salter and the Caring family are prepared for rapid expansion.
A few words from franchise owners
I took a template, an idea, a dream to help seniors and to build a business around that. It’s been the best experience I’ve had so far… I went with Caring because of the ideas and goals that they have, and it dovetails nicely with what I’m trying to achieve… I feel when I have questions or need input, the other Caring owners are there for me, like I’m there for them. But also, corporate and staff there, support, and marketing can step in and give me aid almost 24/7.
– David Burgess, Caring Senior Service of Columbus
A Culture of Uplifting
Driven by the passion to provide high-quality senior care, the Caring franchise has been involved in various social initiatives to empower the senior population. Their movement “Close the Gap in Senior Care” was launched in 2021 and has already turned into a recognized non-profit. Through this initiative, Caring Senior Service is driving change by shining a light on underserved aspects of senior care — from caregiver shortages to lack of technology for seniors.
Their current initiative, “Grab the Bars,” aims to install grab bars in the homes of seniors who may otherwise be unable to afford them. “We have raised over $165,000 toward grab bars and recently opened the nomination and installation process to award grab bars, helping to close the gap in fall prevention,” shares Scott.
Looking Ahead
As per studies, by 2030, baby boomers in the US will be older than the age of 65. In the coming years, the 65+ population will outnumber children for the first time in America’s history. With changing times and the ongoing surge of seniors, organizations like Caring Senior Service continue to break new barriers to help seniors with their daily activities and maintain a high-quality life.
To prepare for the increased demand of this service, the entire Caring organization is not only amping up operational standards but is also focussing on expanding their footprint throughout America. As they continue to expand their franchise family, Caring also remains focused on adding more non-medical services to the list of services provided to clients. They also recently established their own internal caregiver recruitment service, the Caring Hub, so franchisees always have a stream of the most qualified caregivers.
Looking into the future, Scott concludes, “We believe that we can double our number of agencies within the next 5 year. We are partnering with national companies to help make homes safer places to be healthy and happy too.”
Visit caringfranchise.com to learn more about owning a Caring franchise
