By Lisa Carolin
Our Family Friend is a private-duty companion care agency with a growing number of clients.
That’s why the company opened an office in Chelsea on Jan. 1, five years after it opened its first office in Hillsdale.
Dee Petry owns the business, and Lori Peterson is the vice president of operations. Word about the company has spread by word of mouth, and with the growing population of senior citizens, the need for such a service continues to grow.
“We’ve had a lot of growth in this area, particularly at the Chelsea Retirement Center and Silver Maples,” said Peterson, who said the company covers Washtenaw, Lenawee, Jackson, and Livingston counties and has caregivers located in all of those areas.
Our Family Friend provides caregivers to clients in private homes as well as at retirement facilities in independent living, assisted living, and memory care. One-on-one care is what’s provided, whether someone has had recent surgery or needs more care than staff provides at a retirement facility for example.
“It can be rewarding working with memory care patients because we can be with them in a way their families can’t,” said Peterson. “Another branch of our organization works primarily with traumatic brain injury clients to stay safely in their own home and help with day to day tasks. We have specially trained caregivers to work with that population.”
Our Family Friend offers simple companion care, such as playing cards with someone, as well as coming to someone’s home to help with whatever they need-showering, cooking, and/or cleaning for example. Caregivers can also drive clients to the grocery store or to doctor’s appointments. They offer round the clock care, but they do not do any medical care.
“If we can keep someone safely in their own home, we want to do it,” said Peterson. “We do whatever we can to keep them comfortable where they are.”
Peterson says what distinguishes Our Family Friend is the company’s structure.
“We have a director in each of our two regions – Hillsdale and Chelsea,” she said. “Under those directors, we have several client care managers who oversee the caregivers. A client care manager meets with a family and/or client, assesses their needs, then goes to our pool of caregivers to find someone who has the right skill set and personality to be with the client. We look at both the physical and emotional needs of the client and make sure that we’re matchmaking for the best fit.”
Our Family Friend was awarded the best small business award for 2018 in the greater Washtenaw area through the Michigan Small Business Development Center.
This year, the company received a sizable grant from the state of Michigan Going PRO Talent Fund for training and development for existing and future hires.
“It’s one thing to have a caring heart, but it takes an additional skill set to work with someone who has dementia,” said Peterson. “We’re seeing more Alzheimer’s and dementia in the aging population and we need to increase the training of our caregivers.”
Our Family Friend has an office at 114 N. Main Street, Suite 8, in the Sylvan Building in Chelsea.
To learn more, you can reach the company at 734-224-8158 or at www.ourfamilyfriend.com.
