There’s an elderly lady living on her own, losing pounds of weight almost by the day. Her kids haven’t seen her in awhile and when they finally pay her a visit they see a startling change in her appearance.Concerned, they ask her what’s going on. Is she sick? Or, even worse, dying? The woman’s children are relieved to find out that the woman, once an avid cook, has grown weary of the effort required to prepare full meals and is subsisting on cookies and tea three times a day.Another elderly mother walks around her house covered in powder to mask her un-cleanliness because she’s afraid to use the shower for fear that she will slip and fall if she tries to bathe by herself.It’s stories like these that make a place like Synergy Home Care in Alpharetta such a vital part the lives of the elderly or disabled. “What we do is we go into the homes of anybody – primarily seniors – but anybody that needs our help in assisting them with their daily living activities,” said Synergy co-owner Sue McCormick.Those activities can range from cooking meals and doing light housekeeping to helping those with limited mobility get around the house to accomplish everyday tasks.
Synergy uses certified nursing assistants to go into the homes of its clients and take care of some of the basic tasks that many people take for granted. It’s a viable alternative for the elderly who are not quite ready to take the plunge into full time assisted living.“We want to keep them at home as long we can,” McCormick said. “It’s a proven fact that once they do leave their home, their health usually deteriorates.”
McCormick’s business partner and best friend Stacy Korosec was the driving force behind opening the facility in November of last year. Korosec has been a lifelong volunteer and has spent countless hours working with the elderly and the needy. “I started volunteering when I was 16 at an assisted living facility,” Korosec said. “I’d do bingo night or popcorn night, read people’s mail to them, visit people that weren’t getting visited, that kind of thing.”
In her years of volunteer work she developed a sixth sense for building a quick rapport with the elderly, and now she has decided to use that sixth sense to help her make a living.She and her husband began looking at different types of businesses to open up after they had their second child. “So this is something that jumped out at me because I like to help people,” Korosec said. “It’s just something that comes natural to me.”Korosec shared the idea with McCormick, who saw it as an opportunity to switch over from her real estate career into something more rewarding.
As the began getting serious about the idea they realized that their skill sets were a perfect complement to each other.“It was something that was just really perfect for the two of us because I have a marketing background,” McCormick said. “And she has that background of volunteering for seniors and that kind of stuff.”“We’re two pieces of a puzzle that sort of fit together,” she said.
They already have a roster of 25 care-givers that they can call and assign to clients. When a client calls, Korosec will do an evaluation and create a care plan. They’ll then look at their list of care-givers and try to find the one that will mesh most easily with client’s needs and personality. “Because you have to match them, it’s a lot harder than you think it would be,” Korosec said.Once that match is made and the client signs on, the objective is clear.“The goal is to provide really good care and have caregivers that are really good and that match,” Korosec said. “The goal is to keep the elderly the most independent that they could possibly be.”
Synergy’s services are not limited to the elderly. They offer care plans for people of all ages who have been temporarily disabled by, say, a car accident or a work injury. And their service is non-medical, so they’ll work in conjunction with a nurse or therapist that may be tending to a client’s home medical needs.
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