COVID-19 was life-altering for many, including Vishal and Leia Patel.
The Highland Falls couple turned the downsides of the pandemic into positives for starting a home care franchise, which has now grown to a crew of 20 workers and looks to expand to Rockland County.
Moneymaking has been their goal since day one, but the endeavor is also about helping elders.
“All my four grandparents aged at home,” Mr. Patel, who is of Indian descent, told The Epoch Times. “I think most people, regardless of their cultural backgrounds, share the same desire.”
Mrs. Patel, who personally takes care of several clients, takes delight in accompanying seniors.
“Sometimes, it is just listening to their stories about how things were in the old-school ways, which made me wish that I was raised a little differently,” she said. “I want to start a hashtag ‘Senior Lives Matter.’”
A Rockland native, Mr. Patel lived in the Midwest for a few years, dabbling in hospitality and real estate businesses before returning to the Hudson Valley with his wife and children in 2017.
They settled down in Highland Falls, near a Holiday Inn hotel owned by Mr. Patel’s father, where Mr. Patel would work as a director with the goal of improving guest scores.
Then, COVID-19 hit, a shutdown followed, and hotel transactions dropped to zero.
“But before the end of that week, we picked up a group of National Guard that accounted for 80 percent of our hotel occupancy for the whole year,” Mr. Patel said. “That was a blessing from God.”
Even so, with intake and room services at a bare minimum, the hotel business was far from normal.
“I came into the office in the morning, and by 9:30 a.m., I was done,” he said.
Right at Home
So the couple decided to combine their time and energy into a new business adventure.“We felt this was a business where we can help people while making money,” said Mr. Patel, who became an official franchisee in late 2021.
At the time, pandemic restrictions such as masking and vaccinations were still in place, so they navigated the rules carefully as they trained aides and interacted with clients.
The company provides companion services that don’t require skilled nursing care, such as driving clients to doctor visits, assisting them with bathing and using the toilet, reminding them to take their medication, and helping with laundry and meal prep.
Most of their clients are seniors who can pay out of pocket or have long-term care insurance; Medicare and most health insurance generally don’t cover nonmedical home care costs.
Helping People
The company also helps veterans locate home care benefits specifically reserved for them; for those who struggle to afford care, the staff tries to work out a plan within the clients’ budgets.“We have family members that pinch pennies to get their mom eight hours [of care] a week,” Mrs. Patel said. “We try to be flexible because not everyone can afford it.”
One senior male client, who was slowly recovering from a stroke that had happened years ago, sought the company’s help in transporting him to rehab and encouraging him to complete at-home assignments.
After a period of regular visits from a home aide, the client, who hadn’t been able to write since the stroke, sent the caregiver a handwritten thank you note.
Days ago, a middle-aged client suffering from depression texted Mr. Patel a message appreciating the services.
“I’m realizing how helpful this is for me, and it has been going well so far in many ways,” the client wrote. “I admit that eating and having a schedule is the most important thing for my brain to recover.”
“Sometimes it is hard to admit that you need help,” Mr. Patel said. “Once people take that step—that is all they need to do—we are here to help.”
Two years into the home care business, the couple are looking to expand their clientele by 15 percent this year and take it into Rockland County, where Mr. Patel was raised.
“It is really a home-based business for me,” he said.
