From Judy Boggs
Owner of
Home Loving Senior Care, Inc.
Hello,
My name is Judy Boggs from Kernersville,
NC and I would like to introduce you to Home Loving
Sr. Care, a non-medical in home care company that provides
quality service to a family member which needs just
a little assistance and a lot of special touches.
Yes, we provide exactly the same services
that any other home care companies do, but what makes
us different from them. I think you need to understand
the why's and how's of the beginning of this business
and exactly what makes up our company to make it different.
I retired from Lucent Technologies after
30 years of service. Of course, I started at Western
Electric, moved to AT&T, and finished with Lucent
without changing companies. Amazing how you can change
from company to company without leaving the building.
The
Telephone Pioneers are a community service organization
within Lucent and that was the most rewarding position
that I could have ever held. Remember, I said community
service, not a paying position. I loved working with
children and adults, so I guess that is why my life
has changed so much since retirement. By the way, I
did not use the name Judy Boggs when working with these
children and adults; I used the name "Sparkles",
which is my clown name. Judy could be having a really
bad day at work, but change the outfit to become "Sparkles",
meet and greet the children or adults and life had a
different meaning. The really bad day just seemed to
disappear and that is why I love doing what I do now.
My life has meaning, difficult, of course, but what
a feeling to finish my day knowing that by visiting
a family whether I could help or not, laughed or cried
with them just makes my heart beat stronger.
My
dad had a stroke and mom was a 24/7 caregiver for six
years and my brother and I were faced with the same
things my client's and their families are faced with
today. I understand how it is to try and work, arrange
schedules with my brother to make sure one of us is
with mom and dad for doctor appointments, watching dad
so she could get out, and many other things that was
added to our agenda. Burdens, yes, since both of us
had a family and a job. How wonderful I thought it would
be to retire and help mom, but like most people I live
pay check to pay check. I just needed something to help
make our house payment and then it would work, right?
Well, to make a long story short, I opened Home Loving
Senior Care and my first client was Mom. Boy, what a
challenge, we couldn't do anything right and we just
did not understand how to take care of dad. Have you
heard that before?
Home Loving opened the doors for business
on April 1, 2002 after my husband and I went for training,
but tribulation came our way on April 18th when my dad
passed away. He was the love of my life, he was the
strength that help me accomplish things that I never
thought I could, he was my best friend, but most of
all he was my dad. Daddy's little girl from the day
he held me in his arms until the day he died in mine.
Yes, this business is very special to me----it is the
memory of my dad.
This is what makes Home Loving different
from other businesses. I am sure most of the other businesses
have been touched by a parent or family member, because
that is what opens us to this business. I just keep
trying to explain to those I meet; it is not a business,
it is ME!
I am very hands on with my client's and
families. My office is in my home, so I can be there
for a caregiver or client that may need me during the
night. Yes, it does happen. We had a client to fall
at a rehab center during the night and his daughter
did not live in the area, so she called me because she
knew I could get there before her. Of course, his caregiver,
my mother, could get there before I could, so guess
what----I called her, she went to ER to be by his side
until we could get there. Above and beyond are what
our caregivers do. I think they are the best of the
best.
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"Handled
With Care" - Entrepreneur's
first year in business tested her strength, honed
her dedication
The
Business Journal - May 12-18, 2006
 
KERNERSVILLE -- Most entrepreneurs
hit bumps in their first year in business, some
of them pretty stressful: cash-flow problems,
difficulty finding good employees, tax questions.
Judy Boggs shared those headaches in her first
year running Home Loving Senior Care, but many
more as well. She opened for business on April
1, 2002. On April 18, her father passed away three
years after suffering from a debilitating stroke.
Three days after her father's funeral, her mother
went into congestive heart failure -- pulling
through, fortunately, but then in need of constant
care for several months.
Then, on Sept. 3 of that year (her wedding anniversary
with husband Bill, as it happened), Boggs' oldest
son was shot and killed, and she finished out
the year at her son's killer's bond hearing.
"That whole first year was so emotional
and depressing and filled with anger and hate,"
Boggs remembers. "God was there; He kept
the business going. I couldn't tell you how I
managed to place any caregivers. I don't even
remember interviewing some of them."
It was a trial by fire that no business owner
would wish for. But for all the pain caused by
the tribulations, Boggs -- who in her rare off-hours
enjoys spending time with troubled children and
adults dressed as her clown alter ego Sparkles
-- managed to find inspiration as well.
She dedicated the business she had founded to
provide nonmedical care to seniors to the memory
of her father, Hassell "Hack" Roberts,
the man she says was always her best friend and
source of strength.
(continued HERE
... )
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