If you’ve ever wondered about the “sausagemaking” of home care, here’s a sneak peek at what our office team is up to in this unusual day of Covid-19. Since home care is considered an essential element of healthcare, we continue to be open for business and working extra hard to provide safe, dependable, professional care/employment for all of our clients and caregivers.
Our office team is made up of six individuals who manage our field team of approximately 80 caregivers and nurses. We focus on clinical (caregiving), scheduling/recruiting/HR, marketing/sales and finance. If you replace the term clinical with product/service delivery, these are the four basic elements of every business. Our product/service is private-duty in-home nursing and caregiving for people who need extra help to remain healthy, independent and living with dignity.
Our clinical team is led by Sandra, RN, and Cassie, LPN, who remain on top of every client and caregiver we have. From the initial assessment and plan-of-care development, to day-to-day client check-ins, supervisory visits, wellness visits, case management meetings and caregiver introductions, they make sure all clients are well and all caregivers are fully trained and prepared. In addition, Sandra leads her team of nurses who provide infusions, wound care, assessments and other skilled nursing services, and she and Cassie both often provide direct skilled nursing care to our clients. Sandra and Cassie also review, complete, approve and file the reams of recordkeeping and paperwork required to follow each and every client as well as keeping up with the rigorous clinical standards demanded by BrightStar and the Joint Commission. During the Pandemic, their workload is increased by last-minute caregiver cancellations, accelerated hiring and training and even filling in on shifts where we just can’t find a replacement caregiver. AND, spending most of their time in the field working with clients, they are doing all of this with a mask, hand sanitizer and real personal risk. Heroes? Absolutely!
Our HR team is made up of our scheduler, Kelly, and our Operations Manager, Melissa. When a client needs care, Kelly is the one who identifies the caregivers on our bench who have the skills, personality and availability and live close enough to the client to enable dependable compatibility and consistency. She’s our resident artist and puzzle master who creates all of the successful matches. Juggling the schedules of 80 caregivers is no small feat even in normal times, but with the Pandemic causing so many last-minute changes, Kelly is on high alert at all times finding substitutes and re-shuffling schedules to keep all of our clients safe and well cared for. In addition, Kelly is working from home now and has our “on-call” phone meaning she is fielding calls all the time. And she does it with a smile, willingness to listen and a total client service attitude. Melissa keeps our office moving forward and our spirits high. After 11 years with BrightStar, she has seen it all. Melissa handles recruiting, interviewing, hiring, orientation, payroll administration, case management meetings, and pretty much everything else we need to keep the office moving ahead smoothly and happily. During the Pandemic, Melissa has been in the office every day to serve the needs of clients calling and caregivers coming in to ask questions or pick up Personal Protective Equipment or paychecks. She has also kicked our recruiting process into high gear to manage growth and attrition, including many interviews and multiple new-hire orientation sessions each week. Heroes? Absolutely!
Lori and Charlie are the owners. They focus primarily on leadership, marketing and finance. Lori handles outreach visiting referral sources and prospective clients. She keeps in contact with facilities, case managers, social workers and others to let them know BrightStar is ready, willing and able to care for their patients. She visits with new prospective clients to answer their questions and learn how BrightStar can best serve their care needs. In addition, Lori is our research and special projects master. If we need something done quickly and creatively, Lori is the right person to ask. Lori is also our master mask maker, turning every bit of extra fabric into useful, re-washable, non-medical face masks. Charlie also does outreach, as well as managing BrightStar’s finances including payroll, billing, accounts payable and receivable, cash management and bookkeeping oversight. During the Pandemic, Charlie is also keeping up with ever-changing clinical and operational best practices, sourcing scarce Personal Protective Equipment and securing supplementary financing under the new Payroll Protection Program. Charlie has also been known to write the occasional blog article as well as timely updates to keep caregivers and clients involved, informed and engaged.
And then there’s our field team – nurses, caregivers and CNAs. They are our front line workers – our first responders. Armed with years of experience, training and most importantly compassion and a real passion for their clients, they put themselves at risk every day to help. Even during normal times, they face the inherent challenges of their profession. During the Pandemic, who knows where the real risks are, but they must be prepared with every visit to protect both themselves and their clients. Daily they must face the choice between earning a living and following their passion and risking exposure to a dangerous illness. Fortunately for all, the vast majority rise to the occasion and care for their clients. Heroes? Absolutely! And working with BrightStar, they are backed by a team and organization that is committed to safety and infection control.
Last and far from least are our clients. Bless them! They need our care and, during the Pandemic, we need their support, understanding and patience. Under normal circumstances, their regular caregivers come on a regular schedule and deliver consistent care. Under pandemic circumstances, everything might be up in the air. Although we strive for the normal consistency, we never know when a caregiver will become fearful, catch a cold, lose their childcare, have family issues or last-minute car problems. The Pandemic has exacerbated this and increased the number of last-minute changes. This not only challenges our team, but it challenges our clients as well. So far, we haven’t experienced too many problems, but the goodwill of our clients has helped us immeasurably. We are soooo grateful to you all. Heroes? Absolutely!!!
I hope you have enjoyed this brief peek behind the curtain. We are here for you.
Stay safe. Thank you all.
Our office team is made up of six individuals who manage our field team of approximately 80 caregivers and nurses. We focus on clinical (caregiving), scheduling/recruiting/HR, marketing/sales and finance. If you replace the term clinical with product/service delivery, these are the four basic elements of every business. Our product/service is private-duty in-home nursing and caregiving for people who need extra help to remain healthy, independent and living with dignity.
Our clinical team is led by Sandra, RN, and Cassie, LPN, who remain on top of every client and caregiver we have. From the initial assessment and plan-of-care development, to day-to-day client check-ins, supervisory visits, wellness visits, case management meetings and caregiver introductions, they make sure all clients are well and all caregivers are fully trained and prepared. In addition, Sandra leads her team of nurses who provide infusions, wound care, assessments and other skilled nursing services, and she and Cassie both often provide direct skilled nursing care to our clients. Sandra and Cassie also review, complete, approve and file the reams of recordkeeping and paperwork required to follow each and every client as well as keeping up with the rigorous clinical standards demanded by BrightStar and the Joint Commission. During the Pandemic, their workload is increased by last-minute caregiver cancellations, accelerated hiring and training and even filling in on shifts where we just can’t find a replacement caregiver. AND, spending most of their time in the field working with clients, they are doing all of this with a mask, hand sanitizer and real personal risk. Heroes? Absolutely!
Our HR team is made up of our scheduler, Kelly, and our Operations Manager, Melissa. When a client needs care, Kelly is the one who identifies the caregivers on our bench who have the skills, personality and availability and live close enough to the client to enable dependable compatibility and consistency. She’s our resident artist and puzzle master who creates all of the successful matches. Juggling the schedules of 80 caregivers is no small feat even in normal times, but with the Pandemic causing so many last-minute changes, Kelly is on high alert at all times finding substitutes and re-shuffling schedules to keep all of our clients safe and well cared for. In addition, Kelly is working from home now and has our “on-call” phone meaning she is fielding calls all the time. And she does it with a smile, willingness to listen and a total client service attitude. Melissa keeps our office moving forward and our spirits high. After 11 years with BrightStar, she has seen it all. Melissa handles recruiting, interviewing, hiring, orientation, payroll administration, case management meetings, and pretty much everything else we need to keep the office moving ahead smoothly and happily. During the Pandemic, Melissa has been in the office every day to serve the needs of clients calling and caregivers coming in to ask questions or pick up Personal Protective Equipment or paychecks. She has also kicked our recruiting process into high gear to manage growth and attrition, including many interviews and multiple new-hire orientation sessions each week. Heroes? Absolutely!
Lori and Charlie are the owners. They focus primarily on leadership, marketing and finance. Lori handles outreach visiting referral sources and prospective clients. She keeps in contact with facilities, case managers, social workers and others to let them know BrightStar is ready, willing and able to care for their patients. She visits with new prospective clients to answer their questions and learn how BrightStar can best serve their care needs. In addition, Lori is our research and special projects master. If we need something done quickly and creatively, Lori is the right person to ask. Lori is also our master mask maker, turning every bit of extra fabric into useful, re-washable, non-medical face masks. Charlie also does outreach, as well as managing BrightStar’s finances including payroll, billing, accounts payable and receivable, cash management and bookkeeping oversight. During the Pandemic, Charlie is also keeping up with ever-changing clinical and operational best practices, sourcing scarce Personal Protective Equipment and securing supplementary financing under the new Payroll Protection Program. Charlie has also been known to write the occasional blog article as well as timely updates to keep caregivers and clients involved, informed and engaged.
And then there’s our field team – nurses, caregivers and CNAs. They are our front line workers – our first responders. Armed with years of experience, training and most importantly compassion and a real passion for their clients, they put themselves at risk every day to help. Even during normal times, they face the inherent challenges of their profession. During the Pandemic, who knows where the real risks are, but they must be prepared with every visit to protect both themselves and their clients. Daily they must face the choice between earning a living and following their passion and risking exposure to a dangerous illness. Fortunately for all, the vast majority rise to the occasion and care for their clients. Heroes? Absolutely! And working with BrightStar, they are backed by a team and organization that is committed to safety and infection control.
Last and far from least are our clients. Bless them! They need our care and, during the Pandemic, we need their support, understanding and patience. Under normal circumstances, their regular caregivers come on a regular schedule and deliver consistent care. Under pandemic circumstances, everything might be up in the air. Although we strive for the normal consistency, we never know when a caregiver will become fearful, catch a cold, lose their childcare, have family issues or last-minute car problems. The Pandemic has exacerbated this and increased the number of last-minute changes. This not only challenges our team, but it challenges our clients as well. So far, we haven’t experienced too many problems, but the goodwill of our clients has helped us immeasurably. We are soooo grateful to you all. Heroes? Absolutely!!!
I hope you have enjoyed this brief peek behind the curtain. We are here for you.
Stay safe. Thank you all.