Name: Caring Senior Service.
Owner: Bridget Johnston Holden.
Location: 100 Cherokee Blvd., Suite 206, Chattanooga.
Opened: January 2013.
Service: In-home, non-medical care for senior citizens; includes meal preparation, transportation, medicine reminders, light housekeeping, assisting with dressing, bathing and hair.
Prices: $15-20 an hour; 4-hour minimum.
Staff: 2 full-time staff, 10 part-time caregivers.
How it got started: Holden says she found the business when she was looking for someone to help care for her mother. "They took such wonderful care of my mother, and I believe that everyone should have access to the same quality service," she said. "If you are looking for someone to take care of a senior, we are the only company that does national background checks. That's huge. You don't want just anybody in your home."
Initial investment: Around $50,000.
Five-year goal: To move out of the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Business Development Center and establish her own office space.
Why Chattanooga: "It's a great market. There are a lot of people retiring here that aren't originally from this area. There is a huge need, a huge market, and as baby boomers get older, it will be even bigger."
Specialties: "All of our clients receive an individualized service plan based on input from them, their family and our professional recommendations. We go in and do a home safety evaluation to see what in the home needs to remain the same or change. It's a highly personalized service, and we try to match the caregiver with the needs of the client."
Website: caringsenior service.com.
Phone: 423-826-0266.
Shelly Bradbury joined the Times Free Press as a business reporter in January 2013, after starting with the paper as a general assignment intern in July 2012. She is from Houghton, New York, and graduated from Huntington University in Huntington, Indiana, with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and minor in management. Before moving to Tennessee, Shelly previously interned with The Goshen News, The Sandusky Register and The Mint Hill Times. Outside the newsroom, Shelly enjoys ...
