As the deadly coronavirus raced across the globe, BrightStar Care founder Shelly Sun recognized the urgency in protecting those working within her in-home healthcare network and its clients. But she also saw an opportunity to assist new franchise owners in making inroads in their communities and to help other frontline healthcare providers. By Jessica Jones
As the deadly coronavirus raced across the globe, BrightStar Care founder Shelly Sun recognized the urgency in protecting those working within her in-home healthcare network and its clients. But she also saw an opportunity to assist new franchise owners in making inroads in their communities and to help other frontline healthcare providers.
Sun immediately began working with vendors to gather personal protective equipment – more than $2 million worth of PPE in all – for BrightStar Care workers and for franchisees to disseminate in PPE care packages to healthcare workers in their communities.
“New franchisees just starting out have typically relied on grand opening events or face-to-face interactions at healthcare facilities to introduce themselves and their services to the community,” says Eric Misselwitz, senior director of field support at BrightStar Care, who was part of the team responsible for this initiative. “In most states, however, this was no longer feasible as COVID-19 posed tight restrictions, especially in the healthcare realm. To combat this new challenge, and to ensure our new franchise partners are still able to make those important local connections, we created a PPE introductory plan, giving franchisees the opportunity to deliver gift baskets full of masks, face shields, hand sanitizers, gloves and other items to local healthcare providers.”
Misselwitz, who coaches and supports new franchisees from the day of signing through their official openings and beyond, says providing necessary PPE to other healthcare providers has helped BrightStar Care franchisees foster connections in a time of need.
“In a time when obtaining PPE is challenging, this initiative has helped new owners become invested in their communities and exhibit the brand’s patient-centric business approach all in one,” he says. “The local healthcare providers are appreciative of our proactive approach. A notable example is a thanks a franchisee received from a hospital system through its Facebook page, which explained that procuring PPE has been a major challenge and they saw us as leading the charge.”
After seeing success, the brand plans to continue the momentum of this project giving new and existing partners the opportunity to build lasting relationships while providing materials needed to combat COVID-19.
For more information about the BrightStar Care franchise, call 877.689.6898 or visit brightstarfranchising.com.
– Jessica Jones