Belina Calderon-Nernberg, CEO and founder of 1Heart Caregiver Services, has a personal connection to caregiving. After finding herself unable to return home to the Philippines to care for her ill mother, Calderon-Nernberg was inspired to start a business that provided reliable, high-quality caregiving services to the elderly and other adults. By Cindy Charette
Belina Calderon-Nernberg, CEO and founder of 1Heart Caregiver Services, has a personal connection to caregiving. After finding herself unable to return home to the Philippines to care for her ill mother, Calderon-Nernberg was inspired to start a business that provided reliable, high-quality caregiving services to the elderly and other adults. By combining her staffing background with the growing need for caregiver services, Calderon-Nernberg founded 1Heart Caregiver Services in 2004 and franchised the concept in 2014. For almost two decades, Calderon-Nernberg has treated clients like family, and she has instilled those values in the way operations take place.
Dylan Sambuceti, franchise director of sales and development, explained the opportunities the brand provides to prospective franchisees. “1Heart Caregiver Services is, at its core, a staffing company that is staffing caregivers. There is very minimal brick-and-mortar, and our franchisees are not caring for clients in their offices,” he said. 1Heart Caregiver Services offers many revenue streams within the in-home care industry, including providing caregiver staffing solutions for assisted living facilities and classic one-on-one caregiver services. This means the in-home care agency provides everything from around-the-clock care for loved ones, including palliative or hospice care, to more specific a la carte services.
“The vast majority of elderly Americans are looking for more of that ‘fill-in-the-gap’ care,” Sambuceti said. For example, in situations where the primary caregiver, be it a spouse or adult child, may need to go to work, run errands or needs a break, 1Heart Caregiver Services can provide that respite care, which can be anywhere from up to eight to 12 hours a day, to fill those needs.
For clients who require care for shorter amounts of time, 1Heart Caregiver Services offers three packages: Care Express, Respite Care and Round the Clock care. The first package provides a flexible option for clients’ needs outside the home, consisting of transportation for daily activities or medical appointments. The second fills in the gaps and assures that a client is taken care of when family members are at work or away, and the third helps clients 24 hours a day maintain a healthy lifestyle with personal grooming assistance, meal preparation and attentive care.
“Once you see all of the aspects of this industry, you see the ability to create revenue from multiple streams,” Sambuceti said.
Cindy Charette