Giselle and David Bardwell opened BrightStar Care of Cuyahoga West in Cleveland when they saw a need in the local community for quality home care services. They felt passionate about helping the senior community, based on their personal experiences with their loved ones. By Cindy Charette
Recognizing a Highly Valued Coaching Team
Giselle and David Bardwell opened BrightStar Care of Cuyahoga West in Cleveland when they saw a need in the local community for quality home care services. They felt passionate about helping the senior community, based on their personal experiences with their loved ones.
As previous business owners, they wanted to go back to managing their own business and were very curious about franchising. After doing a lot of research and looking at multiple concepts, they were introduced to the home care industry, and their interest peaked immediately.
“I didn’t know anything about home care services, so when the concept was brought to us, I thought, ‘The entire world needs to know about this,’” explained Giselle.
After meeting with several home care companies, it was clear that BrightStar Care stood out more than the others. They offered an embodied focus on quality, multiple ways to generate revenue and a very simple business model. The Bardwells also liked that, as owners, they were free to pursue the revenue stream options that worked best for them.
Having opened in October of 2020, David stated: “It worked out really well. Since we started during the pandemic, our business took a little different start than a lot of others because there was a lot more of a need for medical staffing in assisted living and nursing homes compared to that one-on-one home care.”
In 2023, the Bardwells made a concerted effort to balance their revenue mix and have been focusing on the one-on-one home care space and growing that steadily.
BrightStar Care offers five streams of revenue including companion care, personal care, home health care, national accounts and medical staffing. The company also gives ongoing support for franchisees by providing franchise coaches to help franchisees grow their businesses.
“I think that the biggest value has been in the coaching team,” explained David.
In addition to providing a higher quality of care, the Bardwells host senior enrichment events each week in partnership with local senior communities. To get seniors out of their rooms and interacting with one another, these hour-long events have been a huge success and have boosted morale among seniors in their local community.
Cindy Charette