Part Of The Family

Anyone who has ever visited with relatives in another part of the country or another part of the world has likely experienced the reassuring effect of being around family and friends in a different and less familiar place.

Before I moved to California, I spent my formative years in the Chicago area. I used to look forward to going back to Chicago to visit friends and family, but as I get older, there are fewer friends and family to visit, and the city feels less and less like my old home town. Most of my recent visits to the town have been for funerals.

So when ComForcare, the national home care company that I belong to, decided to hold this year's annual conference for its franchise owners in Chicago, I wasn't all that excited.

Now, having just returned from the Conference, I have tell you I was very pleasantly surprised --- not so much by the locale and climate, but by the overall experience. This is the fourth ComForcare conference I've been to, and yet again, I was impressed by the great commitment of my fellow ComForcare franchise owners to delivering in-home care services in a manner that ensures clients, family members, and caregivers/employees are treated ethically, with dignity and respect. Though the conference is built around learning about the latest trends in home care management, and sharing tips and techniques that make for high-quality operations, the actual result of having all the owners together is so much more.

On the third night of this year's conference, just after the annual awards banquet, one of the newcomers, a husband of a franchisee, introduced himself and said "wow, what a great family ComForcare is." He was absolutely right.

My office serves the North County area of San Diego, and occasionally my clients move to other areas of the country, either permanently or for seasonal vacations. It truly creates a sense of family to know (as I do) that there are over 80 ComForcare offices around the country (and around the world -- there's new offices in Canada and Great Britain), that I can rely on when making out-of-area referrals. And over the past four years, there have been many times when I've called upon a fellow franchise owner's insight, experience and advice in dealing with problems I've faced -- much as anyone would with a good friend or family member.