Finding comfort at home

Business specializes in addressing needs of seniors.

By: Leon Tovey
   MONROE — There are no golden arches or Big Macs, but Frank and Maxine Olexson have opened a business catering to the growing elderly population that they hope will become the McDonald’s of the 21st century.
   On Feb. 1 in Monroe, the Olexsons opened New Jersey’s 19th Comfort Keepers franchise, a business offering at-home assistance to the elderly, including grocery shopping, companionship, light housekeeping and other services.
   Founded in 1997 by Kris Clum, a registered nurse in home health care, Comfort Keepers is an Ohio-based corporation with more than 442 franchises in the United States and Canada. It specializes in addressing the nonmedical needs of seniors who choose to remain in their homes instead of moving to assisted-living facilities.
   "Everybody loves to be in their own home," says Mr. Olexson, a lifelong township resident. "They’re comfortable where they are, they just need a little bit of help."
   Providing that little bit of help — grocery shopping, light housekeeping, assistance with meal preparation — is what Mr. Olexson, an elevator technician, and his wife, a registered nurse who has worked in nursing homes, decided to do after reading about Comfort Keepers on the Internet.
   Ms. Olexson says that after years of watching seniors deteriorate in nursing homes, she was drawn to the company’s mission of helping older people to remain in their homes as long as possible.
   "So many people want to stay in their homes — and they can and they should," Ms. Olexson says. "Because once people are in a nursing home and everything is done for them, they begin to deteriorate very quickly."
   So far, the Olexsons say they have about a dozen clients and a dozen caregivers. Mr. Olexson says most of their caregivers are housewives with children who are in school — though this is by no means a prerequisite for the job.
   Each of the Olexsons’ employees is bonded and insured, and each has a clean criminal and driving record, Mr. Olexson says. Comfort Keepers has strict background-check requirements.
   In addition to screening their employees, the Olexsons also check out their clients. Ms. Olexson says that she personally visits each potential client and performs what she calls an "in-home assessment" to determine how much care is needed and how Comfort Keepers can provide it.
   "We have to determine if we can match a caregiver to the client," she says. "If there’s a dog, or if the person is a smoker, or if there are problematic relatives, we have to make sure it’s a situation we can work with."
   It’s also important to determine whether Comfort Keepers can provide the service needed at all, Ms. Olexson says. The franchise does not provide medical services of any kind.
   They do provide a 24-hour emergency response system and medication reminders, but even CPR is off-limits to caregivers, Ms. Olexson says. In the event of an emergency, caregivers are instructed to call 911.
   The services Comfort Keepers offer, at a rate of $20 per hour, are similar to those offered for free by the Township Senior Center’s outreach professionals.
   However, Ms. Olexson says she doesn’t view Comfort Keepers as being in competition with the center, or others in the franchise’s coverage area, because the senior population is so large — township officials estimate that 43.5 percent of Monroe’s population is over the age of 65.
   Nor does the franchise cater strictly to the elderly. Ms. Olexson says Comfort Keepers also offers its services to new mothers too overwhelmed by the duties of parenthood to keep up with household tasks.
   "It’s not a nanny service," she says. "Just the opposite — we aim at helping new mothers spend more time with their babies."
   As a business prospect, the Olexsons say they view their franchise as a good bet for the long term.
   Ranked by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top 500 franchise opportunities of 2004, Comfort Keepers is not a franchise for the uncommitted. According to the company’s Web site, the initial investment can be as much as $50,000 — including the $18,750 franchise fee.
   In exchange, franchise operators are receive training and technical support and are granted exclusive (of other Comfort Keepers franchises) territories of 175,000 people. In the Olexsons’ case, that works out to Monroe, Englishtown, Old Bridge, Jamesburg, Spotswood, East Brunswick, Cranbury and Helmetta.
   And while the Olexsons’ typical rate of $20 per hour is more expensive than the hourly cost of the average nursing home in New Jersey — which costs $110 per 24-hour day according to the state Department of Health and Senior Services — the service is less expensive overall, Mr. Olexson says.
   The majority of their customers only require around 20 hours of assistance per week, he says, which makes them an attractive alternative to nursing homes, which cost between $29,726 and $71,905 per year, according to DHSS.
   One disadvantage is that Medicare and most insurance companies will not pay for the service up front, Mr. Olexson says. However, some insurance companies (and for terminally ill patients, Medicare) will reimburse customers who require non-medical care, he says.
   "There are a lot of people (in nursing homes) who don’t need to be there," Ms. Olexson says. "They’re only there because their family can’t take care of them. We offer them another option."