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Name: Cathy Eggerth
Business: Cherish In-Home Care, Inc., a provider of in-home care for loved ones with health needs
Industry: Medical
Location: Valencia, California, U.S.
Reason for starting: In 2011, I had to quit my job as as a preschool teacher to care for my mom after she had colon cancer surgery. I also assisted her with putting her husband in a nursing home for Alzheimer’s patients. It was a difficult time and one that I realized I would like to use as an experience to help others. There are two aspects to my business, the first one offering in-home care for those that need it and the second is to offer input and assistance in the decisions that need to be made when putting a loved one into a nursing home. Both of these situations can be overwhelming and bewildering. I would like to use what I learned to help others through these difficulties.
Related: Read about another medical entrepreneur here.
How do you define success? Being able to offer care and support to those that need it and being able to assit other through the maze of paperwork and decisions that go along with putting a loved one into a nursing home.
My goal is to have a Residential Care Facility that houses 6 clients. I would like to have another 3 or 4 trained care givers to be available to give in-home care in the community to those that need it. I would like to be able to offer this care at a little bit of a discount for those that are truly in need. There are many folks that need in-home care for short periods due to accidents or a severe illness. (An example would be a 73 year old person that is recovering well from a broken hip and needs someone for a short time). My target client would be someone that will be able to recover and live normally eventually, but they need care for a short time. It has been my experience that these types of clients fall through the cracks of what is available as far as financial assistance. They don’t qualify for state or Medicaid but their family still needs help with their care.
Biggest Success: I was able to help a family put their brother into a Residental Care Facility. They didn’t know where to start and they weren’t sure how to go about getting the financial assistance they needed. I was able to offer input and assitance that gave them the information they needed to get him into a facility that they felt comfortable with.
Related: Read about another entrepreneur helping seniors with in-home care here.
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? I have two challenges that I am still trying to address. The first one is the upheaval that is happening in the health industry right now. It is creating more questions than answers. The second one is having the financial resources to obtain some of the training I would like to have. I have not had a permanent job since helping my mom in 2011. I have had several in-home care jobs and the families that I have helped have been grateful. However, the bills have piled up, so I am currently working on a solution to this challenge.
Who is your most important role model? Kim Kiyosaki and Ali Brown have been instrumental in giving me the courage to start my own business. I have read Kim’s book, “Rich Woman” and I loved it and learned much from it. I have followed Ali Brown on her website ever since I saw her on Secret Milliionaire. Her information has been crucial to my learning. Both women are amazing and I hope to be as successful as they are, someday
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Read about another medical entrepreneur here.
Edited by The Story Exchange