
Care Across America
"Care Across America, an Approved Senior Network® Podcast"—your go-to source for engaging conversations and practical insights from home care and senior care experts across the United States. Each episode will spotlight industry professionals, and their referral networks, sharing impactful stories, proven strategies, and innovative solutions in senior care. This podcast is perfect for professionals, adult children of aging parents, and family members struggling with senior care choices and care.
Care Across America
Dina Chatwin & Lindsey Mendenhall, w/ FirstLight Home Care, Denver, Featured on Care Across America
The most profound realizations often come in our darkest moments. For the owners of FirstLight Home Care, personal experiences with family illness revealed the critical importance of compassionate in-home care. When one founder's mother battled cancer, suffering multiple falls and expressing her heartfelt wish to "just go home," it sparked a transformative journey into understanding how deeply our identities connect to our living spaces and familiar surroundings.
What makes their approach distinctive is the comprehensive understanding that quality home care benefits everyone involved. Adult children can return to being sons and daughters rather than full-time caregivers. Seniors maintain dignity and independence in their cherished homes. Families experience the profound relief of knowing their loved ones receive consistent, compassionate care even when they can't be present. That familiar refrain—"I should have done this a year ago"—echoes in their offices as families discover the weight lifted from their shoulders.
Their commitment to accessibility sets them apart in a crowded market. Understanding that not every family can afford extensive care, services begin with just one three-hour shift weekly, ensuring even those with limited budgets receive essential support. Their nationally accredited caregivers undergo training exceeding state standards, with specialized programs in memory care that address both physical needs and emotional well-being. Most remarkably, the founders worked as caregivers themselves for nearly a year before launching their agency, giving them unique insight into both the challenges caregivers face and the profound difference they make. This perspective transforms their business approach, creating genuine connections where clients become like family. Serving the entire Denver metro area and surrounding mountain communities, they remain dedicated to their mission: helping seniors stay where they belong—at home.
Ready to discover how home care could transform your family's situation? Contact First Light Home Care today for a free, no-obligation assessment and join the many families who've found relief and renewed relationships through professional support.
View More at HomeCareMarketingNews.com
So we first came into First Light because of an experience with my mother. I do not have a healthcare background at all, I'm not a clinician, but I've been in the position where I've been a child making a concern call for a parent. My background is actually mergers and acquisitions. I'm an MBA, which is the exact opposite of what we're doing now. But a few years ago my mom got sick. She had cancer and she was visiting my siblings in Utah we're from Boston and she fell and during that process, while she was going through chemo, she fell and she broke her femur. So she had to go into rehab and while she was in rehab she fell again and broke her shoulder on the opposite side. And so at that point we learned that the chemo had metastasized and that she was a fall risk and she needed a lot of care.
Speaker 1:And I didn't know what a caregiver was, what a CNA was, what an LPN was, what an RN was. But I knew that there were these nurses that were coming into my mom's room every day that we loved and trusted, and I really felt like they were taking care of us emotionally and my mom physically, sorry. So we started hiring them because we didn't want to restrain my mom at night. So we started hiring them and my mom kept saying I want to go home, I just want to go home, and at that point I had the realization that my mom was never going to go into the home she loved again that so much of what made her comfortable and familiar and that she loved was now gone. And it's simple. Things like she wouldn't be surrounded by her bookshelves anymore, with the book she loved and the painting that my she and my father got on their honeymoon, and the neighbors that would pop in and the trails that she loved to watch all of those things that were so familiar to her were now gone.
Speaker 1:And so I started researching how to bring my first Google search into anything with home care was how to bring someone home to die. And that's when I found home care, and I researched it for about a year and a half before I even brought Lindsay into it. I wanted to make sure that I knew. I knew all about it, and it's my background too. Before I even brought Lindsay into it, I interviewed four home care companies and then together we interviewed another three, so we interviewed seven before we decided on First Light, and so we really did our research before we did and and it's great because it was too late for my mom but I do feel every day we're making a difference in the lives of people just like my mom and children, just like us.
Speaker 2:It's a very fulfilling industry and I'm so grateful to be a part of it and I'm glad that Deena brought me on board. I come to it with a little bit different perspective. I don't have any home care or health care background either, but I worked in an assisted living community as a teenager and I loved it. I always tell people I had at my graduation I had nine residents in a row with like signs cheering for me and I loved it. So I'm so happy that this is where my career has landed me again and I love.
Speaker 2:We do different things in the business, but I get to talk to the new clients when they call in on the phone and I get to talk to the daughters. And my personal association with home care is my mom took care of my grandma for five years and during that time she couldn't really come out and visit us. It really impacted our relationship in a negative way. She's not as close to my kids as she is with my sister's kids who live down the road, because she couldn't travel and she wasn't able to travel. So I love to talk to the families and be like if you can get the help, it will increase your quality of life, make you a better wife, a better grandma, et cetera. So we love what we do and helping people every day.
Speaker 3:That most of the folks I talk to do have some kind of story that is, have brought them to this decision to open a home care agency. And and your stories are both very touching and I would agree that also on the if I were taking care of my mother here in my home, it would be really hard for me to go visit my kids and their children, my grandchildren. Who are you going to leave?
Speaker 2:her with.
Speaker 1:What are you going to do?
Speaker 3:about that? Are you going to take her with? That's, the whole thing is right. So allowing the adult children to live their lives and to be an adult child and not a caregiver is so impactful. And to help people get back to home who you didn't think were going to be able to get back to home, that's crazy good. That's so nice that I know that, like you said, it was too late for your mom, but so many people just want to go home and they can if they have the right resources and they have the right people to talk to and as important as getting back to home is staying home yeah, yes, not having to worry, and also, I think, the whole fall thing.
Speaker 3:I know there's tons and tons of research about senior falls. I think that, being in this business for a long time, any of us will realize that once somebody falls and breaks their hip and they may fall and have a small injury or a little thing, but when that starts happening on a regular basis or they have a traumatic injury that requires surgery, it's time, it's past time to start looking at how to make their home safer, how to make them safer and to get some help in the house. I think and falling is, it's hard for us as adult children to realize that something else might be going on just because grandma fell or our mom fell, but she didn't really hurt anything this time but it's a sign. It's a signal Not a little fall, but it keeps happening. So tell us when an adult child, or any family member for that matter, or senior, calls your offices. They call you, they come through your website. However, they find you. When that happens, what can they expect? What happens? What's the process? How do things get started?
Speaker 2:Sure, we've trained everybody in our office to be able to take those intake calls and help families. So we try to just listen right Step one. Just listen to their story, listen to what's happening, listen to the stressors that are going on and then, first of all, address the stressors. Let them know I hear what you're saying. It is so stressful. I talk to people all the time in your shoes that are going through this and guess what we can help? We can provide a little bit of respite care and then we just give them the opportunity to ask their questions. Ask me whatever questions you have and I'll answer, and if we can't help you, I'll point you to the person in the community that I'm friends with that can help you. Let me just be a resource for you. So we've trained everybody in the office to listen first and then allow them to ask questions and then we'll answer the questions as they come to us.
Speaker 2:But I feel like the families that call do have some standard questions that they ask First. They always want to know the price and we are very transparent here. We do give that to them over the phone and explain, like the whole process and assessments. They want to know like what services that we offer? And we list those, and so often it's things that they didn't even think of and they're like, oh my gosh, your caregiver will make meals. That's amazing. That would really help. My dad only eats peanut butter and jelly, so going through the list of services helps them see more and more value that could be added into their loved one's life, but their life also.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then we go out and we do a free assessment at their house, and that's great because they get to meet the team and the environment that they're most comfortable in. And then we get to see the environment that the caregiver will be going into or the nurse, so we get to cater care directly to them. Our assessments are free, there's no commitment and it's personalized to everything that the client needs. It is personalized directly to them.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. I would imagine that you get a lot of comments after care has been going on for a little while. I should have done this a year ago. I should have done this two years ago. We should have done this a year ago. I can't believe how much stress has been lifted off my shoulders. I don't have to be here every single day. I love my mom, but I can come every other day or on the weekends, where her caregivers bud during the week. It's nice to be freed up. Imagine that you guys hear that a lot, the amount of relief that folks feel that there's somebody with them when I or the adult child can't be there. So that's great. So you do the assessment. Somebody goes out to the home and does the assessment and then how? I know? One of the questions that we hear a lot is how soon can services start and what is that expectation? Everybody's a little different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we always tell families that we can start same day if needed, but we like a one to two day notice. So that's the way that we word that. But we do hire every single week. We're a big operation so we try to always have the staff necessary to sign any client same day when needed. Sure.
Speaker 3:I think a notice is great. And then continuity of care. We also get that question a lot. I know most home care agencies strive to try to keep the same caregivers, the ones that you like, with the family. I also know that sometimes everybody needs a day off and sometimes you know somebody else is available. So how do you address those kinds of things? Can they have the same caregiver, or is it usually a team of two or three, or how does that work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we staff in teams of two to three. Exactly what you said. They'll have a primary caregiver who will be responsible for the care plan, and so they'll be the ones coordinating with the other caregivers as well. But, to your point, the reason why a team is so important is because people do go on vacations or they get sick.
Speaker 1:We used to really focus on that one caregiver, one client model but COVID was a game changer for that. And as important as that one caregiver is and certainly they are the consistency of care is what's important, and so that's where the care plan comes in. That's where the coordination we're doing supervised visits in the client's home every 60 days with our client care coordinator, and she's monitoring to make sure that there is that consistency of care. And here's the benefit too, is that you want to make sure mom and dad, especially if they're post-op or if they have memory care, that they do have consistent care. That means that it's really the best thing for them is to have one to two caregivers that come in. Now, many of our clients have primarily one caregiver, but we always make sure that second caregiver maybe third, depending on how often it is always trained and ready to go in seamlessly.
Speaker 3:That's great. Yeah, I think the two to three caregiver model where there you see a couple of faces that are familiar, two or three faces, and they all know what's going on here. I think that's the best way because, you're right, people need a break, or they're sick, or their child is sick and they're not able to work today. So having that model is great. I know COVID changed a lot of things about the way we work in home care and in health care in general, and so another question that folks have is what are the minimum number of hours that we can have care in the home during the week? Is it four, eight? What's the minimum?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we try to make ourselves a little different than the competition. There's a lot of home care companies in Denver and we feel like every senior should have the opportunity to get home care services in their home. We used to have a higher minimum requirement, but the truth of the matter is sometimes they only really can afford one shift a week. So we changed our model almost immediately after we opened to just one shift a week, one three-hour shift a week, and that way, when someone's budget doesn't allow them to get more care, they're at least able to have eyes on them, have a wellness check, help them in and out of the shower. So we do keep that minimum low.
Speaker 3:And that's nice and I will say I know that is not easy to do. So it is a testament to your commitment to your community and also your caregiver's commitment.
Speaker 2:It's hard from a managerial standpoint in the office sometimes to have a lot of little clients, but we do feel like it's the right thing to do as human beings and business owners, so we've just kept it that way over time.
Speaker 3:It's hard because caregivers want to work a full eight hours and it's you have to. You have to do a lot of logistics when you have short visits, but the fact that you're willing to do it is really nice. I've just talked to somebody else who was willing to do those short shifts because sometimes it is just the shower and the grooming once a week or twice a week, or just getting that grocery shopping done, or just there's some little things that end. Having eyeballs on that person at least once a week is really nice, even if they're doing pretty good. So commend you for that, because I know that it's not an easy thing to do.
Speaker 3:So the fact that you do it is a big commitment, so thank you for that, because I know that it's not an easy thing to do, so the fact that you do it is very it's a big commitment, so thank you for doing that it is hard for people to afford eight hours of care every single day. That's. There are people who do that, but it is sometimes. It's what we can manage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do that also. We do have clients that are 12 hour shifts, eight hour shifts, overnight, 24 seven, so we can do anything in between.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. That's part time care, full time care. That is great that you guys are able to do all of that. What else do you think folks would want to know, or what other questions do people ask you when they call on the phone or you're in their living room and you're doing that big intake, what is on their minds? Is it background checks and safety, or what else comes?
Speaker 2:up. I feel like those questions definitely come up. They definitely they always when they're first doing their research there. They always want to know about the strangers coming into their house and I put strangers in air quotes because they're not strangers for long, right, but for the senior citizen it's really scary and they always have lots of questions about our hiring process, our training process. Who are these people coming into our homes? And we love to let them know we're nationally accredited. We train to the highest like. We pull background checks to the highest degree. These people coming into our homes and we love to let them know we're nationally accredited. We train to the high like. We pull background checks to the highest degree.
Speaker 2:I think it goes back like seven years across multiple states. We run their name on a national database of caregivers. We do all sorts of different things here as an accredited agency to make sure that they are getting a safe person that they can trust in their home. But we also always let them know too if you don't like someone, you can call us. Not everyone's personalities match. So they have a lot of say in who their caregiver is and they have a lot of say as to their schedule and what time they want their shifts to be. So as long as they communicate with us, we'll find somebody that they like. But I do think questions about the caregivers and the training process and hiring is on almost every single phone call.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, safety, stranger danger. And, of course, the only likes to tell us about all the negative, crazy things that happen in the world, not all the beautiful, wonderful people that are out there committing themselves to be great caregivers. So talk about training just for a minute. When a new caregiver comes on board, every state's a little bit different in how they in the requirements for someone who's walking into the house. Sometimes they have to be CNAs or HHAs, sometimes they don't. So what is the criteria and what do you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll depend on their diagnosis, their ICD-10 code, whether they get a caregiver or a CNA. Some clients just prefer a CNA, and a CNA is just a different level of training. But because we have our ACHC accreditation, we train above Colorado state standards, so we train above federal standards too. That goes into your home, has had hands-on training prior to entering your home. Not only have they been background checked and drug tested and all of that, but the quality of training they have is double the standards that are required, which we pay for, because we feel like if they're getting great care, then they're happier. And not only does that training happen before they even enter your home, then they're taking re. And not only does that training happen before they even enter your home, then they're taking reaccreditation courses throughout the entire year.
Speaker 1:We also have a memory care program, because so many of our clients are trained in memory care and memory care is not just redirecting, it's realizing things like their emotions. Their sensors are different, like that coffee cup that they've been picking up for 50 years. Suddenly they've lost the ability to pick up the coffee cup in the same way. And our caregivers are trained to aid them so that they can re-grip that and learn how to do something that's been so basic to them. But it's not just the physical care. There's also an emotional component to this, because you've had someone who's lived their life independently for seven to eight decades and suddenly everything is changing for them and that's scary. And so we also train them in the emotional care which I think is really important so that they're truly a companion. And one thing that we really emphasize is that a change in condition Suddenly and this is why the consistency of care is so important Suddenly Mr Smith, who our caregiver has been seeing now for seven, eight months, comes in and you've noticed that there's a speech pattern that's a little different or he's walking a little differently.
Speaker 1:Our caregivers are trained to look for that, and then we're communicating with their children or their spouse to say we have this concern now. So we take our training very seriously because it's making a difference in the home and we have mentors that are going out all the time. One of the things that was important to Lindsay and I is that we were caregivers. We volunteered to be caregivers for almost a year before we even bought the company, and so we understand what it's like to make what they were making. We know what it's like to be a caregiver. We know what it's like for the training and it has changed our perspective in our business, like we're not just business owners. We've been there. We know what to look for the clients. We also know what to look for the caregivers to keep them happy too. And a happy caregiver gives happy care, and that's so important.
Speaker 3:That is great. I didn't know you guys worked in the business as caregivers.
Speaker 2:That is amazing. It was for a franchise neighbor.
Speaker 1:Even little things like there's certain terms that in the beginning we would giggle when we would say them, and now we're like we can talk about what our caregivers can talk about. It was really a great experience. Hard, and that's the point. It was hard and now we understand that.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, oh, absolutely. That's hard. Those shifts are not always it's a lot. It can be a lot of work in one shift. Eight hours can fly by because you are moving and doing stuff around that house that needs to get done and helping the client and being their friend and being their companion, and there's so much to it. Yes, it's, it's, makes it's hard on the body and it's also taxing up here. It makes you tired it's, but it's such a rewarding part of this whole home care business is seeing the happiness of the client and their family, so that's awesome. That is something that definitely. It's lovely to hear that. I know that owners often will fill in a shift or do this or that, but to have worked for a while in this business is pretty, pretty great.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give an example of how it makes us different. Lindsay was a caregiver for a client who we love. We started off caring for his wife and now we care for him. And he was just in rehab and she and her family go visit him all the time, even in rehab. And we're about to get him back and literally, as our caregiver you've, he's become family to you. He would go to her son's football games with them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I couldn't avoid it. I'd adopt every senior dog and I would have those people come to all our family stuff. I couldn't help it. My husband would be like who's that? What's happening?
Speaker 2:It's easy to love. Oh yeah, oh, they're so cool. I feel like that's the easy part of the business.
Speaker 3:Yes, that is, yeah, that human connection will never go away, that need for human connection and socialization. So that's so great. You guys are amazing. So, yeah, thank you for doing what you do and serving the people of your communities. Speaking of that, tell us all the places that you can serve in your franchise.
Speaker 2:Sure, so we have one physical office location but we cover five different. First Light Home Care territories. So we go all the way up north to Thornton Only people listening to this who know the Denver area and then all the way down south to a couple zip codes in Highlands, ranch, out east to Aurora, to C470. And then we cover a couple mountain towns, also on the west side, so we'll go up to Evergreen or Morrison. So big territory basically. Dean always says everything that the light touches.
Speaker 1:My family and I were hiking once and we were at a mountain and we saw some seniors hiking down and I was joking with my family I'm like everything that you can see here, we can help them.
Speaker 2:So big territory.
Speaker 3:That's great. So you guys are a big home care agency. That is amazing because that is a huge territory the Denver area. Obviously you know better than I do, but it spreads out quite. The metro area is quite large.
Speaker 2:It is, it's big Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you for being on the show telling us your story, telling us how you do business and what folks can expect when they call your office. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having us.