Two senior living providers announced expansions into home care on Thursday.
Bickford Senior Living and the HomeCare Advocacy Network have launched a new service line to deliver in-home care to Bickford residents. The line will be separate but complementary to Bickford’s current service offerings.
“Home care will be a significant part of our organization’s future, because it compliments what we already do so well,” said Alan Fairbanks, executive vice president of operations at Bickford Senior Living.
Bickford Home Care also will offer services to those living in the greater community, with the hope that clients will look to Bickford if they subsequently seek to move into a senior living community. HCAN, as a franchise partner, will provide the training, structure and system support to establish the new service line.
“With our business format franchising partnership, the trusted Bickford brand will remain at the forefront. That will be incredibly important as they begin competing with, instead of partnering with, other home care agencies,” Mark Goetz, president and CEO of HCAN, said in a press release.
Initially, Bickford will offer in-home services in Chicago, in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, IA, area and in the Muscatine/Quad Cities market in Illinois and Iowa. Bickford Senior Living currently operates in 65 locations.
As the industry rebounds from COVID-19 challenges, Goetz said that he believes that other senior living providers are missing an opportunity if they don’t follow Bickford’s lead.
“Bringing that business in-house, instead of partnering with outside agencies, will help senior living providers ensure their long-term viability in a rapidly changing environment,” he said.
In another part of the country, Cleveland-based Kendal at Home announced Thursday that it is expanding its home care offerings throughout the Buckeye State, including Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo. Kendal at Home also is expanding in Massachusetts, the company said.
Kendal at Home, the lifecare at home affiliate of Kendal Corp., was established by Kendal at Oberlin as an alternative to its continuing care retirement community option.
“If you ask most people where they want to spend their older years, they would choose the home they live in over anywhere else,” Kendal at Home CEO Lynne Giacobbe said in a press release.
