American Baptist Homes of the Midwest
Eden Prairie, MN-based American Baptist Homes of the Midwest is expanding into offering home care services for its residents as well as to other older adults looking to stay in their traditional homes for as long as possible.
“Senior living as a whole has changed quite a bit. We discussed getting into home care prior [to the pandemic], and we thought this was a good opportunity now to enhance our mission and to be able to serve our residents and people outside of our community, which is important to us,” CEO Jeff Hongslo told the McKnight’s Business Daily.
“There’s been a lot of news coming from LeadingAge that we need to adapt. I think this is just going to be another line of business for us,” he added.
ABHM has eight communities across six states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to its website. Outside the walls of those communities, caregivers will drive to local homes to provide the services individuals need.
“The majority of people getting our services are going to be outside our walls,” Hongslo said.
The organization has partnered with the HomeCare Advocacy Network to launch its new services. Hongslo said the relationship fits well, because HCAN can provide home care expertise that will allow ABHM to extend its services off-campus. HCAN will provide the training, structure and system support needed to establish and build a home care line that’s separate but complementary to ABHM’s current service offerings.
“To be able to work with them is going to be nice for us, because it’s different than assisted living; it’s different than a nursing home,” he said. “This has established us to be pretty successful.”
Mark Goetz, president and CEO of HCAN, said in prepared remarks that his organization is “thrilled to welcome American Baptist Homes of the Midwest into the HCAN family.”
“The ABHM leadership team truly understands the changing senior care landscape, and they know that adding home care will give them an opportunity to expand their mission and serve more seniors,” he added. “We look forward to helping them bridge the gaps that exist between community care and home care, so they can successfully launch this new line of business.”
Hongslo said that ABHM will launch its at-home services from the Tudor Oaks Senior Living community in Muskego, WI, early in 2022 and then will move into its communities in Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska and Minnesota over the next two years.
ABHM’s at-home services will not be Medicare-certified, at least in the beginning, he said. Services at the start will include companion care, personal care, hospice care, meal preparation, light housekeeping and medication reminders, for example.
