We are so excited to share with you that Comfort of Home Healthcare had an article written yesterday about its success!!!
Tad and I sat down with a reporter from the News Press and did our interview that we appreciate so much. Reporters have a difficult job in condensing a 30 min conversation into 150 words or less. With that being said, I wanted to give you a little lead-in to the story that our article did not have room for.
I just wanted to be clear that Comfort of Home Healthcare was a shared vision between Tad and I. Also that we could not have excelled the way we have without the support from our loving families and supportive community that helped two guys start a business from nothing. We are also blessed with a number of wonderful employees that take care of our clients as if it were their own families.
I also would like to mention that being a primary caregiver is one of the most difficult tasks one can be challenged with in this life. I have witnessed Tad though the years being the primary caregiver for is son and am in awe of how he manages it day in and day out and has done it for over a decade. It is inspiring to see and I feel privileged to have him as a business partner and our clients are blessed to have that kind of commitment and determination in giving their own families the care that they deserve.
Lastly I wanted to clarify that with my In-laws, my wife was the primary caregiver and poured her heart and soul into giving her parents the best care anyone could wish for their own family. I wanted to clarify that because I want to give credit where credit is due and we see all to often that not all families come together in times of crisis. She is a little angel for our family and we would not be where we are today without her.
Being a caregiver to anyone, being a parent or a child , is truly a
family affair in every since of the word.
Thank you to everyone who made this possible!! Tad and I are truly humbled and blessed by all our support over the years.
Tad Ulmer and Jason Douglas share a lot of common ground.
They’re both fathers. Primary breadwinners for their family. Passionate about caring for people.
But perhaps the most notable thing they have in common is experiencing that moment of complete exasperation and loss — that “I’ve had it” moment that brought them together to create Comfort of Home Health Care.
When Mr. Ulmer and Mr. Douglas became caregivers for family members who needed 24-hour attention, they realized the difficulties involved with finding quality care. It was an uphill battle from there.
For Mr. Ulmer, it was with his son. Mr. Douglas, his in-laws.
Mr. Ulmer’s 15-year-old son Brandon was in a car accident that left him paralyzed on his left side and recovering from major brain damage. Brandon lived in a nursing home for five years before returning home. Mr. Ulmer shuffled 150 to 200 different caregivers in and out of his house trying to find quality service.
“They wanted to run my life,” Mr. Ulmer said. “They wanted to force caregivers on me that I knew were not good.”
He battled staff just to get Brandon a shower every day.
Mr. Douglas spent several years taking care of his dying father-in-law. After he passed away, he became the primary caregiver for his mother-in-law, who had Alzheimer’s disease. He was plagued by lackluster staff that didn’t fulfill their family’s needs, he said.
Mr. Douglas’ frustration brought him to the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, where he met Rebecca Evans of the Small Business & Technology Development Center. She knew Mr. Ulmer was facing similar difficulties and encouraged Mr. Douglas to give him a call.
That night, Mr. Douglas was at Mr. Ulmer’s house with a vision.
One month later, they had gotten their business license. A month after that, they had sold everything they owned and cashed in their 401(k) plans.
And a few days into 2011, they were moved into their office and were ready to take their first client.
Mr. Douglas said the clients’ needs always come first.
“It’s weird having other people come in your home,” he said. “It just is. There’s no way to sugarcoat that. And (other home health companies) say, ‘Hey, this is how we’re going to do it.’ Whereas we come in and say, ‘How do you want us to take care of your loved one?’”
And if that means it costs more money, so be it. For the first six or eight months of working the business, neither of them brought home a penny.
Mr. Douglas vividly remembers having to sell a car to pay his bills one month because they had nothing left. It was his last — and only — option.
“The first month we were able to take money out of here was the month after I had no idea how the hell I was going to pay the next month’s bills,” Mr. Douglas said. “God’s gonna help you out, but He’s gonna make you sweat it a bit first.”
After three years of operation, they’ve grown to 89 employees.
Comfort of Home recently started expanding into Kansas City, and they said they hope to continue to grow into other surrounding areas.
Only a year and a half into the business, they’d already surpassed their three-year projections. They hope to continue to grow while providing quality service.
“It can be tough,” Mr. Douglas said. “In this job, you can have basically the most rewarding day of your life one day and the toughest day of your life the very next day. You never know.”
