Home care is, at its heart, a very simple concept.
"Basically, when it comes down to it, it's helping people," says Kevin
Martin. "I'd been helping people my entire life, so this was just a way for
me to do what I like doing, and make money doing it."
Martin has been running his own home support company for about a year now.
It was a natural progression from his previous work experiences.
"I worked at Club Med for several years in the Bahamas, cooking," says
Martin. "And the Club Med vacation idea is they help you with anything you
need. Anything you want to do, they're there for you."
Martin has carried that helping philosophy into his home care business.
He works a lot with seniors, helping them do basic things that most of us
take for granted. For example, he might buy their groceries, do their laundry
or mow their lawns.
Many seniors want to stay in their own homes rather than go to a nursing
home.
Home support workers like Martin make this possible. "Home support is
growing quite substantially right now because they've found that this is a
great way for seniors to actually stay in their homes longer," says Martin.
"Because when they stay in their homes they find that there's less stress
involved. They're where they're comfortable, and they actually live longer."
Helping seniors live comfortably and happily can provide a lot of satisfaction.
But it can also take an emotional toll.
"If you're lucky you're going to have a client for five, 10, 15, maybe
20 years, and the outcome is either that they're taken out of their home by
their children and put into a nursing home, or they die," says Martin. "It's
a very rewarding experience, but it can also be very heart-wrenching at the
same time."
Anyone can start their own business as a home support worker. But it often
takes a while to build up a client base.
"The hard thing is you have to get into the community, you have to get
known, and you have to get a reputation," says Martin. "Most of the people,
if they're calling you themselves, they're not going to find you on the Internet
-- they're going to hear about you from friends. So a lot of it is a reputation
thing. You have to build a good solid relationship with everyone you meet
and with the community itself."
You're not likely to get rich providing home support, since many seniors
and people with disabilities are on fixed incomes. But if you commit yourself
to building a reputation, you can earn a good living.
"My business now, after a year, is starting to take off as something that
would be financially viable to sustain itself," says Martin. "Previously,
it wouldn't have been."
How do you know if you'd make a good home support worker? "Most home care
workers are people that like to please," says Teri Christian. She works for
a home care agency in Washington State that employs more than 70 home support
workers. "That's probably the biggest quality -- they enjoy making other people
happy.
"They enjoy instant gratification," Christian adds. "[The client] needs
a cup of water, you get them a cup of water -- and that's very fulfilling
to be able to do those things for them."
"The person needs to be very self motivated," says Mary Peddy. She handles
the hiring for a home support company in California that helps people with
disabilities.
When interviewing home support workers, Peddy looks for responsibility
and honesty. "People that have good interpersonal skills," she adds. "People
with patience. People that just enjoy learning about other people and appreciating
their unique abilities."