Living Independently
Women Who Jumped
Risk-taking entrepreneurs fill niches
by Lisa Schmidtke
Beyond home health care and
adaptive equipment, there are a host of personal needs that Minnesotans
with disabilities — not
to mention seniors — must have met in order to live and work independently.
Meeting needs like running errands, household planning, meal preparation and
even companionship calls for energy, compassion and organization.
Many entrepreneurial
women right here in the Twin Cities are proving that they have
what it takes to provide these services. Despite overwhelming concepts
such as liability insurance and business planning, they have forged
ahead and created companies with a mission to serve
this demographic. I almost succumbed to these obstacles myself when
I created Housecalls Network; but, with a spirited attitude, I focused
on the enormous need for independent living resources and jumped
in!
Others have taken the
same leap. Kristin Kopp started At Home Solutions, LLC, because
she saw, first-hand, the pressure and frustration that seniors
and their primary caregivers experienced. She saw their high level
of aggravation, loneliness and confusion due to weak support systems
and lack of awareness of the resources available to support them.
After witnessing her clients’ living conditions that
were impeding their safety (tattered flooring, broken window panes,
poor lighting and cluttered rooms), she focused her plan on alleviating
family stressors by offering additional caregiver assistance, home
safety assessments and a vast database from which to draw additional
support and resource ideas. Kopp describes her satisfaction by saying, “Working
one-on-one with [my clients] over a length of time not only decreased
the stress level for both themselves and their primary caregivers,
but also allowed [them] the chance to live in a cleaner, safer, more
secure home that they were proud of.”
Joyce McIntosh also jumped into entrepreneurship. During her more
than 15 years of experience in providing community service, she amassed
a wealth of experience as an intake coordinator for one of the largest
adult day programs in Minnesota, a director for both a day program
and transportation services, and a developer of start-up operations
for a Medicare home care agency. Add in her B.A. in sociology and
gerontology from the University of Minnesota, and she was well equipped
to co-found Health Esteem Services, which provides physical therapy,
personal, nursing and concierge services.
Cherie Lee Schmidt went
the franchising route. Home Instead Senior Care, like Visiting
Angels and Comfort Keepers, offers companionship, home helper,
personal care and overnight services to her franchise in the central
and western suburbs of Minneapolis. As a community service representative,
she takes special care in matchmaking her clients with the appropriate
caregivers.
Adina Goldstein’s story is unique in that she knows her client’s
challenges first-hand. Not only did she create Don’t Sweat
the Small Stuff to provide concierge services to homebound individuals,
but she herself is living with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune
disease that affects the central nervous system. Despite vision and
cooling issues, Adina is a woman on the go, with a mission that,
ironically, aligns perfectly with the MS Society’s “Join
the Movement” campaign.
It is no coincidence that these entrepreneurs in the caregiving
industry are women. The typical informal caregiver is a married woman
in her mid-forties to mid-fifties. She is employed full time and
also spends an average of 20 hours-per-week on caregiving duties
(Family Caregiver Alliance).
With 76 million baby
boomers in our society today and considering that a full 45% of
working baby boomers intend to work past the traditional retirement
age of 65, this generation will be looking for services to support
them in nontraditional working roles (AARP). If you’re
looking for the services that these women provide, consider your
options, remember their stories and give them a call. ![]()
