FirstLight Home Care

CINCINNATI — FirstLight Home Care, a leading provider of home care services, announced today that Kristen Duell has joined the company as the Executive Vice President of Experience and Innovation.

“We are excited to have Kristen join our team,” said Glee McAnanly, President and CEO at FirstLight Home Care. “She is a dynamic leader passionate about enriching the client, caregiver, and franchisee experience. Her vision and commitment to shaping the future of the home care industry through disruptive ideas will undoubtedly impact the growth of our franchise owners.”

Duell has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. She joins FirstLight from Home Care Pulse, where she acted as Chief Marketing Officer.

Recently Duell was selected as one of Aging Media’s 2023 Future Leaders, under 40, in Home Health and Home Care. Duell is dedicated to continually looking at ways to innovate using technology and improve the experience of clients, caregivers, franchise owners, and partners.

With her commitment to driving transformative initiatives and promoting a culture of innovation, Duell will play a vital role as FirstLight expands into new markets and continues transforming the care continuum.

“I am thrilled and honored to work with every aspect of FirstLight Home Care,” said Kristen Duell. “My goal is to explore innovative ways to differentiate us while enhancing overall satisfaction. The home care industry is at a pivotal time in which we must think and do things differently. Our aging population demands it, and FirstLight is up to the challenge. I look forward to helping accelerate that change.”

McAnanly explained, “We are excited to have the experience Kristen brings to the business as we prepare to announce other key initiatives during our national conference September 28-30 that will further enable our franchise owners, their caregivers, and team members.”

CINCINNATI — The International Franchise Association (IFA) has named Don and Craig Randall, owners of multiple FirstLight Home Care territories in the Carolinas, as a 2022 Franchisee of the Year. The Randalls were honored at the 63rd IFA Annual Convention for being outstanding franchise establishment owner-operators.

“Franchisee of the Year recipients represent the best in franchising,” said Matthew Haller, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association. “This is the highest honor IFA awards to individual franchisees, and local business owners like Don and Craig Randall exemplify the power of franchising and its positive contributions to communities around the world.”

The Franchisee of the Year Award recognizes leading franchise owners from IFA member brands whose outstanding performance and contributions help protect, enhance and promote the franchise business model. Nominated by their parent company, individuals are selected for service to their communities, fostering a strong and vibrant workforce, opening the doors for career growth and entrepreneurship, and supporting their fellow franchisees.

This father-son team operates six territories, including Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Beaufort, Simpsonville and Greenville, SC, and Wilmington, NC.

“Don and Craig have an outstanding team of professionals who’ve been providing clients and families with compassionate home care for more than 10 years,” said FirstLight President and CEO Glee McAnanly. “This team continues to live our mission and core values every day. We are grateful for the service they provide to individuals in their communities and for the ongoing support they give to our franchise network.”

There are approximately 800,000 franchised businesses across the U.S., providing over 8.4 million direct jobs and generating over $800 billion in economic output. According to Oxford Economics, franchising on average provides higher wages and better benefits than non-franchised businesses, as well as greater entrepreneurial opportunities to minorities, women, veterans, and other underrepresented communities.

Matt Paxton joins FirstLight’s President and CEO to surprise the winning caregiver on National Caregivers Day.

WINDHAM, Maine — FirstLight Home Care, an award-winning provider of home care services, has named Marketa “Kitti” Tikander as its National Caregiver of the Year.

Kitti was presented with the honor during a National Caregivers Day appreciation event at FirstLight’s Windham office. She was nominated for the award by Jessie Gartland, Managing Director of FirstLight Home Care of Southern Maine.

“Kitti oozes compassion, integrity and genuine kindness in her heart,” said Gartland. “She has worked for us for more than eight years and always embraces each client and family we match her with. Kitti never fails to see the light in everyone, something I wish I could harness and share with others. She is a true caregiver at heart.”

Nearly 50 Caregiver of the Year nominations were received from FirstLight offices across the country. Nominees were evaluated on service excellence, quality of caregiving skills and bringing the FirstLight culture to life. Kitti was one of three finalists this year.

Matt Paxton joined FirstLight’s President and CEO, Glee McAnanly, in presenting the prestigious award. Matt helps families find the upside of downsizing. His public television show, Legacy List with Matt Paxton, stresses the importance of sharing family stories above holding on to objects. FirstLight Home Care is a proud supporter of this Emmy-nominated series.

“Throughout my career and personal journey, I’ve seen the positive impact professional caregivers have on families,” said Paxton. “It can be stressful caring for a loved one. The comfort, support and peace of mind caregivers like Kitti offer families are invaluable. I’m so thankful FirstLight asked me to be part of this special recognition.”

Owners Peter Gartland and Carol Larkin and their dedicated, caring team have provided in-home care to adults in their community for over a decade. For more information, visit  SouthernMaine.FirstLightHomeCare.com.

The national home care company recognizes Cathy Cahill for her selflessness in caring for clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MCHENRY, Ill. — FirstLight Home Care, an award-winning provider of non-medical home care, has named Cathy Cahill of McHenry, Ill. as its National Caregiver of the Year.

Cahill was recognized during a ceremony at FirstLight’s national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah last month. She was nominated for the award by Sande Sherman, the owner of FirstLight Home Care of McHenry County.

“Cathy is the embodiment of what people look for when they want to hire a caregiver,” Sherman said. “She is selfless, flexible and invested. When the husband of one of our clients was hospitalized due to COVID-19 complications, Cathy put her life on hold to stay with his wife, who has dementia and was also COVID positive. Cathy even slept in the same room with the wife to ensure her safety and comfort.”

“Cathy is also our go-to when we need someone to fill in. She really gets to know her clients’ special preferences and brings them their favorite ice cream, soup or candy bar,” Sherman said. “She is a treasured member of our FirstLight family and absolutely deserves this recognition because she is living our culture every day.”

Nominations for the award were received from FirstLight offices across the United States. Caregiver of the Year nominees were evaluated based on dependability, advocacy, empathy, quality of service and compassion toward clients.

FirstLight caregivers help seniors and other adults in need of assistance with personal care and household duties such as cooking, cleaning and running errands. The FirstLight franchise network includes nearly 200 independently owned and operated home care locations across the U.S. and Canada.

For more information on the McHenry County location, visit McHenry.FirstLightHomeCare.com.

National home care provider announces new President and team members in Field Support, Operations, Healthcare Strategy.

CINCINNATI — FirstLight Home Care, a leading provider of home care services, has named a new president and announced strategic personnel additions to its leadership team that will help drive the company’s continued long-term growth.

Bernard Markey, Managing Partner Board of Directors for FirstLight Home Care, said, “Acquiring the right talent is one of the most important contributors to growth. These leaders possess the qualifications, expertise and determination to help propel FirstLight into even more success as an organization.”

Glee McAnanly was recently appointed President. She has been leading the company to help drive sustainable growth and further FirstLight’s long-term vision and Culture of Care. Glee brings a wealth of experience, including more than 30 years in franchise leadership and vast expertise in owner operations. Previously Glee was Chief Development Officer and Chief Franchisee Relations Officer for ServiceMaster’s five franchise brands.

FirstLight Home Care’s Business Development Team has expanded significantly to provide consistent operational support to franchisees across all regions.

Mark Vanase was hired as Executive Vice President of Business Development and Franchise Services. He supports the business development team to facilitate franchisee growth, while also ensuring a commitment to policies, processes and leading practices. Vanase worked with the ServiceMaster family of brands for 25 years and has extensive experience managing large field operations teams.

Kevin Samov joined FirstLight as Business Development Director for the Central Region. He is responsible for helping franchisees maintain thriving home care businesses through strong operational practices. Previously, Samov was Senior Manager of Franchisee Training for all ServiceMaster brands, where he focused on new owner development and on creating sales processes and strategies for ServiceMaster Restore.

Joni Hemmis was hired as Business Development Director for the East Region. Hemmis leads field support efforts to maximize the success of franchise territories, from driving business growth to helping franchisees achieve operational excellence. She has 20 years of experience working in the home health care field, having owned an independent full-service home health care company for 14 years.

FirstLight also added to its Healthcare Strategy Team, hiring Kelley Hill, MSN, RN as Executive Director of Compliance and Clinical Services. She serves as a clinical resource, guiding franchisees through the licensing acquisition and accreditation process and collaborating with the FirstLight leadership team to integrate holistic compliance initiatives. Hill has been a Director of Nursing and she held managerial positions in Emergency Services with several hospital systems.  Most recently, she was National Director, Clinical Innovations & Design for a leading in-home healthcare, hospice and home care company.

“This team is already demonstrating a strong commitment to our core values. There is no doubt their proven success of growing businesses from the operations side of both the franchisor and franchisee will continue to help take this company into the future,” Markey said.

FirstLight Home Care CEO drives nearly 1,500 miles to recognize Stephanie King for outstanding dedication, service and integrity.

OMAHA, Neb. — FirstLight Home Care, an award-winning provider of non-medical home care, named Omaha resident Stephanie King its 2020 National Caregiver of the Year. Stephanie, with FirstLight Home Care of Omaha, was presented the accolade this week during a personal visit from the company’s CEO and co-founder Jeff Bevis, along with his wife, Maribeth.

The Caregiver of the Year award is usually presented at an annual gala during FirstLight Home Care’s national conference. However, due to COVID-19, the conference was postponed. Jeff and Maribeth wanted to give Stephanie the recognition she deserved in person, so they hit the road and made a special trip, driving nearly 1,500 miles to honor this special caregiver.

FirstLight has more than 5,000 caregivers nationwide, with nominations for the award coming in from all over the country. Caregiver of the Year nominees were evaluated based on dependability, advocacy, empathy, quality of service and compassion toward clients. Stephanie was nominated by FirstLight Home Care of Omaha owner Jaye Firmature McCoy.

“Stephanie has been making a difference in people’s lives for a long time, and she absolutely deserves this honor,” said Jaye. “She came to FirstLight nearly three years ago with 15 years of in-home care experience. Back then, we had no idea the impact she would have on our clients, our office staff and our business.”

Jaye goes on to say that Stephanie has excellent personal and companion caregiving skills. She embraces every client as if they were her own family, and she connects with them on a personal level. She not only cares for her clients, but she also provides warmth, understanding and support to the family caregivers she works with every day.

“Stephanie is intelligent, intuitive, kind, compassionate, hardworking, reliable, cheerful, and physically and emotionally strong. And she handles every situation with impeccable grace and patience.”

Jaye added, “We are so grateful that the CEO of our franchise organization drove such a long way to personally present this award to our Caregiver of the Year. It really validates how much we truly do believe, from the top down, in our Culture of Care.”

FirstLight caregivers like Stephanie help seniors and other adults with many needs – from personal hygiene and household duties such as cooking, light housekeeping and running errands, to respite and dementia care. For more information, visit Omaha.FirstLightHomeCare.com.

Leading non-medical home care company expands across North America to deliver quality personal and companion care services.

CINCINNATI — FirstLight® Home Care, an award-winning provider of non-medical home care, is pleased to announce it is expanding its caregiving services to Canada. Sam Riad, CEO of Comfort of Senior Living, has signed on as a master franchise and will operate as FirstLight Home Care of Canada.

Riad currently operates 10 Comfort of Senior Living retirement communities across the Province of Ontario. The master franchise agreement will allow Riad to introduce the FirstLight Home Care brand and deliver the company’s non-medical home care services to a brand-new market.

“We are thrilled to bring our FirstLight brand to Canada,” said Jeff Bevis, CEO and Co-Founder of FirstLight Home Care. “International expansion has always been part of our strategy, and we believe we have found a solid master franchise partner in Sam Riad. He has extensive experience and a deep understanding of the industry, established relationships in the market and the infrastructure for rapid growth. And we share a similar mission, culture and calling to care for aging seniors and other adults in need of extra support.”

As a notable and award-winning home care company, FirstLight provides exceptional care for seniors, veterans, people with disabilities and individuals who are recuperating. FirstLight’s national network of franchises is dedicated to the health and well-being of others by delivering compassionate and quality services to individuals in the place they call home.

Riad and his team will bring the same culture of care and commitment to quality service to residents in Canada by offering FirstLight’s companion and personal caregiving services to adults who need assistance. The partnership is a natural complement to existing demand and future growth in Canada.

“We recognized the tremendous success of FirstLight in the U.S and realized how beneficial this model would be to the Canadian market, especially with the recent increasing trend of older adults wishing to stay at home longer,” said Riad. “We are passionate about helping individuals in our communities, and FirstLight sets the pace by offering innovative home care services that ensure people in need receive premium care.”

Canadian CEO Brad Rye will lead the implementation of FirstLight Home Care into Canada. Rye has owned and operated various Homes for Special Care for the past 30 years. He is co-founder and former president of the Ontario Homes for Special Needs Association (OHSNA), representing 500 homes and 5,000 residents across Ontario. Recently working with the Ontario government, Rye assisted in the development and implementation of a resident-focused model of housing and services.

FirstLight Home Care of Canada has plans to open six locations immediately across Ontario, with an aggressive vision to establish 150 more locations through expansion and franchise opportunities across Canada.

Since opening its first franchise location in 2010, FirstLight Home Care has experienced steady growth and is now serving clients in 220+ locations in more than 30 states throughout the U.S. This is the company’s first international expansion to Canada.

For more information, call (855) 420-6900 or visit FirstLightHomeCare.com/Canada