Ryan Davies and Henefer-resident Kirsten Stevens are opening a new business in Summit County for their grandparents.
Both have seen their family members need special help at times in their old age, and haven’t been completely satisfied with the services provided.
Through a mutual friend, Davies and Stevens were independently introduced to an Arizona-based company with nine franchises in Utah called EssentialCare.
Davies is a business consultant who recently opened his own franchise in Layton.
“I got into EssentialCare because my grandfather was in hospice. He had decent care, but not the best. I wanted to make sure whoever took care of my senior was phenomenal,” he said in an interview.
Stevens is finishing a degree in health care administration. With all four grandparents in Summit County, she has some familiarity with the services offered here and felt EssentialCare could benefit the community.
“I have really great grandparents; I was partially raised by them. These people have been through Depression, World War II and spent their whole lives serving and taking care of other people. This is something I can give back and there’s a great need for it,” she said in an interview.
Together the two are opening a Summit County franchise of EssentialCare. With expertise in business and administration, the two won’t be administering care themselves, but they will have complete quality control over their staff, they said.
EssentialCare hires only Certified Nurses Assistants (CAN) and differ from hospice providers and in-home nurses in the type of services they provide.
“It’s really simple; we do private duty care. We help people with their activities and daily living,” Davies explained. “We help them get up in the morning, get bathed, brush teeth, fix breakfast, get around the house and do some chores.”
“We are the non-skilled side. You can get hospice and nursing, but there are not many who will do all the other extra stuff important to seniors like meal preparation, grocery shopping and housecleaning in addition to CNA work,” Stevens said.
In this way, EssentialCare complements, not competes, with much of what is already available in Summit County, they said. They refer hospice agencies and Registered Nurses, and vice versa.
It also means their services are useful to anyone needing help around the house not just seniors. Women prescribed bed rest during a difficult pregnancy, individuals with handicaps and surgery outpatients are also typical clients of EssentialCare, Davis said.
Know you need some help but not sure how much? That’s quiet common, Davies said. A relationship with a client begins with a consultation and an assessment. Once a plan is agreed upon, care can begin within 24 hours
Client surveys reflect a 98-percent satisfaction rate, Stevens said. She loves the business model of EssentialCare and how she and Davies will interact with clients directly following up on the care given. Nothing less would be satisfactory for their own family members, she said.
EssentialCare
Kirsten Stevens: 801-540-2825
Ryan Davies: 801-389-4420