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
Happier at Home: Building a Client-Centered In-Home Care Business
What does it really take to keep seniors happy, safe, and independent at home? Marie Rodriguez, President and CEO of Happier at Home, built her Rochester-based home care agency from a deeply personal place—watching the right caregivers transform her mother's end-of-life experience while giving her father crucial respite.
Seven years later, her thriving agency serves five counties across upstate New York with a philosophy that challenges industry norms. While many agencies require minimum weekly commitments, Happier at Home starts with just two-hour shifts. "My mom didn't need 24/7 care," Rodriguez explains. "It probably would have just really been irritating to her and my dad." This flexibility makes professional care accessible to families just beginning their care journey or those needing minimal support.
Transportation emerges as a cornerstone service, addressing what Rodriguez calls "our last form of independence." Unlike medical transport services that drop clients off, Happier at Home caregivers accompany seniors into appointments, take notes when needed, and wait until the visit concludes. This comprehensive approach keeps seniors connected to beauty salons, senior centers, medical providers, and social activities without family members constantly rearranging their schedules.
Behind every successful care relationship is thoughtful matching. Rodriguez reveals how her team considers personality types—pairing chatty caregivers with sociable clients while finding quieter companions for those preferring peaceful company. This attention to interpersonal dynamics, coupled with rigorous background checks and training, creates relationships that often feel like family. These connections become particularly meaningful during hospice situations, where caregivers provide both practical support and emotional comfort during life's most challenging transitions.
Whether you're just beginning to notice concerning changes in a loved one or planning care during your family vacation, Rodriguez's insights illuminate how the right support can honor independence while ensuring safety. Ready to explore how a few hours of compassionate care might transform your family's caregiving journey?
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Hi, my name is Marie Rodriguez. I'm the president and CEO of Happier at Home in Home Care and I've been in business for about seven years in Rochester, new York and upstate.
Speaker 2:Wow, so you have made it through that first five years of every entrepreneur's struggle. So, in seven years. That's a really nice long time to serve the Rochester area. So tell us a little bit more about how far you go around the Rochester area. So tell us a little bit more about how far you go around the Rochester area.
Speaker 1:Yes, so in the Rochester area we cover all of the five counties Monroe County, genesee, wyoming, livingston, ontario and Wayne County. So we service people all in the outskirts of Rochester. Yes.
Speaker 2:So you are serving a very large area, and so tell us a little bit about what kind of services you typically provide and what you guys do while you're out there in someone's home.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we provide companion level care services, which include light housekeeping, meal prep planning, grocery shopping, light housekeeping. Sometimes it's difficult I know, even for me changing bed linens can be difficult Transportation to and from appointments, which is a big one, and with our transportation services we do have some clients that just utilize that part of our services and our caregivers will walk our client in to the appointment. Sometimes families even ask mom's starting to forget certain things. Can they take notes and caregivers can go ahead and do that. What's really awesome and really unique is that we will wait while the loved one is in the appointment. So it's not medical motor services. They're wonderful, but sometimes you find that they're doing other forms of transportation and then your loved one is sitting there for an hour waiting. So they will wait there and be sure that when the appointment is complete whether there's prescriptions maybe that need to be picked up or anything like that they can offer that as well. If not, they will be brought right back to their home.
Speaker 2:That's great, and transportation is really one of the most challenging pieces of all of this, when someone shouldn't really probably be driving anymore, having someone that's with them, accompanies them, drops them off and goes in with them. All that stuff is so needed because the driving is really tough.
Speaker 1:It is because it's our last form of independence, really, that they want to hold on to being able to say you can still go to the beauty salon, you can still get your pedicures or go to the barbershop, we have somebody that's going to take you and make sure that you're safe and you're there. That's really a big thing. So they still are able to do, whether, like I said, it's doctor appointments, or to the senior center, or to the theater, whatever it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, keeping them social and active. That's what this is all about is getting them out of the house when they can and making sure they're still keeping in touch with all those service providers and friends and family that they're so close to. So that's totally awesome. We don't talk about that enough, I think. But the transportation piece is great and I'm glad it is unique that you were willing to provide those transportation services standalone, even though I'm sure there's a lot more involved usually. But it's nice because a lot of home care agencies don't do that, just the transportation piece. They require a certain number of hours and so that's great.
Speaker 2:Yes, and especially, you're in Rochester and I'm in St Louis, so I'm south of you, I'm in the middle of the United States, but you have some severe weather, especially in the wintertime, correct, so it's really great to have. That's another reason why having someone who can take you assuming it's safe out there to these appointments is great, because snow is not a friendly neighbor. No, it sure isn't. We can deal with that. I'm sure you guys handle it better than we do, but I think so it's still rough. So tell us when somebody, when folks call your office an adult child, a neighbor, a friend. When they call the office, what happens? What can they expect? Because I think a lot of folks are a little bit wary of, if I call there, what's going to happen. Is somebody going to listen to me first? How does this work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when a call comes in, whether it's a phone call or an email coming in through our website, we make sure that we spend a good amount of time on the phone call just to be able to provide all of the information of the services we provide and really gather and get the information of what does your loved one need or what do you yourself, what do you yourself? Sometimes we do have potential clients themselves calling in. Usually it's the family. But what kinds of things are you noticing? This way, on that call, we're able to provide all the services that we provide and we cover, but also make sure that it falls under our scope of care. Just to make sure, if you're mentioning that there needs to be a Hoyer lift for transferring or those kinds of things, that's out of our scope of care.
Speaker 1:But one thing, not one thing, one of the many things that's unique is we also will provide resources if it's not within our scope of care. So if it's hands-on care, licensed care or even maybe Medicaid funded our services are private pay we will provide information to say you know what we can help you. Give you some numbers that you could call for a better fit, and so many people are so thankful for that and we really do that part to go above and beyond, even if it's somebody that is not a good fit for Happy at Home for any of the reasons I mentioned for that, and we really do that part to go above and beyond, even if it's somebody that is not a good fit for Happy at Home for any of the reasons I mentioned.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great, Because being a resource to your community I think that kind of comes hand in hand with being in home care. People just don't really know what to ask for. They don't know, they don't know where to turn, they're not sure how things are paid for. I'm sure you get a lot of questions like does Medicare pay for this, Does Medicaid pay for this? And depending on the provider, you have different answers.
Speaker 2:But typically Medicare does not pay for long-term companion care style help, and that's hard for people to understand right away, especially if they've never done this before. They've never had a parent who needed care.
Speaker 1:So it's hard and Valerie, you nailed it and there's so many different avenues of home care or anything as far as rehab, all those things. Or my loved one's getting out of the hospital today at four and we have no care set up. They're saying my mom needs to go to skilled nursing. What can we do to help? And really being able to talk them through that whole process and being the expert on it to provide information and guidance really takes the beginning of a call very high level, stressful and emotional to. I feel so much better that we just spoke in that. So we really always pride ourselves on doing that and offering that.
Speaker 2:That's great and I know that your community appreciates that, because it's like a counseling session and they don't know it but they get it off their chest. Find the right direction, and if you're the right direction, that's awesome. You can walk them through starting care. So what does it look like? If someone's a good fit, what happens next?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what happens next is we would schedule an in-home free assessment and the home assessment is about 45 minutes to an hour. It's not anything clinical. We're not pulling out medications and things like that. We're meeting with the family member and the potential client or just the client, whatever the case is and really getting to know them. So it's what time do you normally go to bed? What time do you like to wake up? What did you used to do for work or activities that you really would still enjoy doing that you're finding it harder to do.
Speaker 1:Really define that fit, because then, once the schedule is established, we have all that information where we can find the right fit with our caregivers to make sure that it's somebody they're going to be comfortable with. And I always say we have some wonderful caregivers that might just be on the quiet side. That's just their nature and we might have a super chatty client. So probably not a good fit. They're both great. And on the other side, we have caregivers that are great and super chatty and very friendly and outgoing and want to talk, and we have some clients that are just on the more quieter side where if you have a chatty caregiver with them, it might almost be an annoyance to them or feel like they have to entertain them and just not a good fit.
Speaker 2:That's great that you guys notice that kind of thing because, you're right, there are caregivers who are, and I've seen this in over the course of my lifetime. My husband's mother needed in-home care and we loved the caregiver that the home care agency sent out. She was very chatty and Eunice might have been a little on the quieter side but she definitely was very amused by the and she didn't have a problem with the chattiness but it was a good fit. And so I've seen that you know how the caregivers some of them are woohoo and others are a little bit more relaxed and slow, so that's great that you recognize that. So if someone is able to start care, then does it take a couple of days? Are you usually able to get someone out there within 24 hours, or how does that work?
Speaker 1:Yes. So that is a great question. So once we have all of our paperwork, we have a service agreement. It's not a contract to say you have to stay with Happy Home for a year, it's a service agreement just explaining our policies. We usually can start within, I would say, a day or two. It never goes in longer than that.
Speaker 1:Some clients will say I really don't want to start until September because we're going to Italy for a month and that sort of thing. So we have some time. But we make sure that we have a sense of when they want to start before we leave and that if they say I'd love to start an overnight tonight, we are very transparent to say we will do our very best. The likelihood of us getting it covered is usually very good. But sometimes, with their understanding and if they're okay with it, if it's something that soon we might have to piecemeal it. So it may not be your regular overnight caregiver seven days a week, but tonight we can start with Sarah, but normally it's something that soon we might have to piecemeal it. So it may not be your regular overnight caregiver seven days a week, but tonight we can start with Sarah, but normally it's going to be Victoria yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So you continuity of care can happen, but it might not be that if you need it right away, kind of stuff, correct? Yes that's okay, that works out, and you can start a case sooner rather than later and start care. That's probably what the family's looking for, and the rest will come with time, so that that is definitely. You guys are pretty quick and getting folks out there, and so how many across the rochester area? How many clients are you currently serving, just generally, generally yes, so we usually go by hours.
Speaker 1:So usually, yeah, so usually weekly. Of course the ebbs and flows, but around probably 1,200 hours a week in the Rochester area and again next week might be 1,600 or things like that. But yes, Yep.
Speaker 2:Awesome, and so you have some short-term cases and some very long-term cases. I'm sure that you've been with families for a very long time in some cases, and then you might have just a short recovery from a hospitalization, or someone just needs a little extra help at getting over a knee replacement or just a little help around the house.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's exactly it, and we do also provide hospice care for end of life. I think sometimes with hospice or when individuals are having their loved ones sign in or on for hospice, there's a very different mind frame of what you think you may get from hospice, which they're wonderful. We had to put my mother on hospice when she was very young and we thought the same thing I'm like somebody's gonna always be here and it'll be awesome to help my dad and all of us, but it's not like that. So, being able to provide some instrumental people for that interim so caregivers and loved ones can get their rest Because I know that it's so important in burnout we want to make sure that we're there to provide that.
Speaker 1:Yeah so it doesn't happen.
Speaker 2:When hospice is initiated, you do have someone that you can call 24 hours a day, but the nurse isn't needed right there in that moment. They're just going to make some regular, shorter visits probably. But what you guys can do is come in and sit at the bedside and just be that hand holding, or maybe give a bath, or maybe do some housekeeping or change the linens or whatever it is that the family might need a little support with so that they can go, rest, go to the grocery, the little thing to take care of, pay some bills, whatever it is, and that. So you guys are supporting hospice services that may already be in place guys are supporting hospice services that may already be in place.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's one of the main reasons home care is. Really my passion is seeing what home care was able to do for my family during my mom's illness, and in the beginning it was a lot of different people or people not showing up and then my dad would have to retrain and retrust him. He was like Marie, forget it, we're fine, we don't need it. But then really getting and being able to establish a relationship with a great agency during that time that they became like family and my dad was able to get out and go get a haircut with his go get a haircut, have a cup of coffee with his retiree friends and know that my mom was cared for while my brother and I were with our families and working and doing those things really was such a breath of fresh air and kept my dad healthy as well.
Speaker 2:So that's really your story. That's why you got into this business. Your mom was ill in hospice, had hospice at the end of her life, so it sounds like that's a special service to you and to be able to provide that additional support.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think a lot of families really feel like the caregivers and the home care agency become part of their family. We see that happening over and over again and that's such a blessing to have folks come in that you trust and that you feel like family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so super rewarding all the time. But then when you hear stories, either whether it's their loved one has passed or it's in an obituary, or they write us letters or throughout care, where they say, because of Happier at Home and the ladies in your office, in your team and the wonderful caregivers we were able to live out with my mom's wishes or my loved one's wishes were to keep them in their home, and that is just. I could cry thinking about it because it brings tears to our eyes, because we were a part of that.
Speaker 2:And those are the moments that make home care. Owning an agency is not easy. It's not easy task, it's not for the faint of heart, but these are the moments that you're talking about that make owning a home care agency and serving your local area all worth it.
Speaker 1:Yes, 100%.
Speaker 2:And I have seen those obituaries where they mentioned the home care agency's name, or the thank you cards that come in later from the family. And you miss them because you've been part of their lives for maybe three months, six months a year and suddenly that time is over, that chapter has ended. But it's so nice to hear from them and to know that you made a difference. And that is being a home care owner. I'm sure for you everything's worth it, because this is really challenging yeah.
Speaker 1:And Valerie, that's the hardest part about owning the home care company and then the individuals that work so closely with me in the office and our caregivers, is when we lose our loved one Because, like you mentioned, they become like family to us. And then having to make that call to the caregiver who really looked at this person, say a grandmother, or I would share pictures of my son or my grandson, and so that is just so hard. It's tough, but we're doing the right thing and we just love what we do.
Speaker 2:You're doing an amazing thing for all of these families and I know it's hard on the caregivers too. They grieve just like the family does, and I know many of them will go to the funerals and go to the services and be a part of that, because they were, and I'm sure you've been to many as well yes, because you guys were so close with the family. That's what I think people are looking for in a home care agency are those owners and caregivers and office staff who really take this to heart. And we've said this many times on this show you could not do this business if your heart wasn't really in it 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it sounds to me like that's exactly who you are, so that's wonderful. So anything else about happier at home? Let's talk about caregivers a little bit. I know you probably always are looking for wonderful caregivers. What's the process of hiring and do they have background checks done? Talk to us about the safety issues and the things that people worry about with caregivers that you guys address.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we are always hiring, just like you mentioned, valerie. There's never a time when the phone rings and somebody says are you looking for caregivers? And we say no, not right now. So we are always hiring. We do a phone screen reference checks, we bring the potential applicant in for in-person and then we do background check, criminal background check. We run a motor vehicle abstract because they will sometimes be providing transportation, and we do a drug screen and, again, like I mentioned, we call it references.
Speaker 1:We really want to make sure that we are hiring people that we want in the home with our loved ones and we have these conversations. Hey, I'm not sure about this one. She was 20 minutes late to the interview. What are your thoughts? And that's the first question we ask each other. Even they've asked. I've asked them what are your thoughts? And I'm like would you have this person in the home with you? No, she was 20 minutes later, he was 20 minutes late. And if the time of the interview something so large wasn't met and wasn't even communicated with, that's not somebody. That's really going to be consistent to staying on schedule and really sticking to that.
Speaker 1:We do all those things. We also make sure that we're always hiring good people because we never want to and, Valerie, you I'm sure know this Like I mentioned before, friday discharge and now we're saying, okay, we have this client coming in and they're starting Monday just higher because we're not doing our due diligence. On the back end, we're just looking for bodies and it never would work out. So, really being able and being sure that we have quality people on our team with the same mission and values as ourselves, a passion for helping people in their home, yes, and those people exist and they are out there and they're wonderful people who really do this job because that's where their heart is.
Speaker 2:That's what they feel a calling to be caregivers and to help folks in their homes. And once they've had a wonderful experience with the family, even if they're new at this, but once they experience something so wonderful with a family or a senior they're caring for, I'm sure that it's something you never want to stop doing. Caregiving is really another mission of the heart, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, absolutely, and we're sure too. We take really good care of our caregivers. We do caregiver appreciation events annually. I write out a lot of handwritten cards somebody going above and beyond and maybe there was a last minute shift, you know what. Thank you so much for what you did. It meant the world, to not only us but the family and the client. And get yourself some lunch on the way home someday from Starbucks or Panera or wherever it is, just to show that we really do appreciate them. They're the front line of our business and they're really our heroes in the whole agency.
Speaker 2:Yeah, without them there would be no home care agency, so you really depend on them to be part of that team of happy, wonderful faces that are showing up at the door. So that's great, all right. Anything else that you want to mention that we did not already cover today, because you've told us a lot and happier Home sounds like a wonderful place to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you. Another one more very unique thing about Happier at Home is we don't have a minimum weekly set of hours. So we, for shifts in the home, we do require two hour shifts, and so that could be. We have some clients that are two hours a week for one shift or 168 hours seven days a week, and the reason for that is that in the beginning I mentioned my mom.
Speaker 1:My mom didn't need 168 hours, she didn't need 24 seven, she didn't need 80 hours. It probably would have just really been irritating to her and my dad. So we understand that in the beginning if people are just trying to get their loved one, so we understand that in the beginning if people are just trying to get their loved one accustomed to having somebody different in the home other than their loved one, it might just be two hours until eventually they're comfortable with that. Or somebody might just need a couple hours a week to help change bed linens and make some sandwiches for the week or soup or things like that. So our minimum weekly is two hours and we also incentivize our caregivers with a higher rate of pay to take a shorter shift.
Speaker 2:That's it, that's fair. Two hours flies by, just like that it does. If you do a bath visit, I would imagine that's easily a two hour visit, only because you have to get prepared, get in, get clean, get out, get dressed, correct, and you have to go a little bit slower. It's not like so. A two hour bath is a bath is. It can easily be two hours and yeah, so I think it's fair. Two hours is great and it's wonderful that you're willing to do those small shifts like that, because, you're right, not everybody needs that kind of care. Not everybody can afford 24, seven care, but anything that they can get to be able to go to the grocery while you're have somebody else in the house for two hours or whatever, those are moments that they just I know caregivers, you know how, when you have little kids, sometimes you go to the grocery by yourself and you're like, yes, I you go to the grocery by yourself and you're like, yes, after time, peace and quiet, yes, I will go to the grocery by myself.
Speaker 2:Those are the times that caregivers just need to deflate, and just for a few minutes, so that's wonderful. I'm really appreciative and I know others are too of the agencies that can take those smaller shifts, because that is not easy for you. I know that is hard.
Speaker 1:It is. Yeah, it is, and we also do with vacations. A lot picks up right now in the summer where we just had a new client call. Family's going to Italy all of August into September and they want somebody to check in on mom three days a week, two, three, two hour shifts, just for peace of mind for them to say, okay, I know mom's okay and she may not even need much, but it's that companionship, and go check the mail, bring the garbage out on Wednesdays. That kind of thing really just allows the family to be able to get out, enjoy themselves and have that peace of mind back home that mom's okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you guys communicate with them and let them know everything's fine and she's doing great and somebody can even go to the grocery with her, and those plan ahead for a few outings or whatever.
Speaker 1:So that's wonderful. Yeah, absolutely yes.
Speaker 2:That's great. Thank you so much for doing this interview and for being on Care Across America. We appreciate it. You guys have a wonderful agency and we're so glad that we can talk to you today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and thank you for having me on. It's an honor to be on with you. What your whole company does is incredible and we're so happy to be a part of it.
