Weird title, huh?  It may seem odd for a company to make New Year’s resolutions.  Aren’t those just for individuals–to get a fresh start by focusing on health and other worthy goals (and to recharge the economy buying gym memberships and exercise equipment)?  Well…the reality is that companies are (or should be) goal-focused…and like our individual New Year’s  resolutions, it is important to set those goals but also check in on our progress and readjust throughout the year.

I recently read a fun article about quarterlies, discussing the more realistic and achievable concept goal setting for each quarter (when you read some of the examples, you’ll see they tend to be much more measurable–a vital part of goal setting).  As a home health business, we tend to look at an overall plan for the year but our goal setting and reviewing is done in both quarterly and monthly chunks.  In home health care in particular, you have to be willing to readjust to different forces, especially those dictated by your customers and staff.

We won’t bore you with all of the specific business goals we have for our Clearwater home health company, but rather wanted to share some of the broader themes behind where we are going and what we hope to achieve–for you!

Why?  Because we believe home health care is a very personal business, and you need to know who we are and why we do what we do.  Transparency may be a buzz word in business today, but it really is essential in a business like home healthcare.  We want our customers, professional colleagues and staff to feel part of what is going on in our company–and to feel free to ask any questions or to give us honest feedback any time!

So, here is our overarching New Year’s Resolution for 2013 and how and why we hope to make it happen with our specific goals (and we hope you will help keep us accountable on these!):

To continue focusing on making things EASY (or easier…) for you. 

1.  For our caregivers: our mission is to create an environment where we set our team members up for success empowering them to provide the best in home care to the community.  As we focus on this mission, we continue to work towards ways to make things easier for our caregivers to succeed.  We are fortunate to be in the home health business at a time when technology can help us to be more efficient.  Some don’t see the place for technology in a “low tech”/personal services business–we don’t see thriving without it.  At EasyLiving, we already use systems like telephony, care planning/client systems online, and we’re rolling out a comprehensive intranet to provide additional tools for our caregivers.  We’re also working on ways to make our application process easier for new potential caregivers.

2.  For our clients and families: the point of all that we do is to provide the best home care services to you.  When we envisioned EasyLiving, we wanted to make care more customizable and improve the user experience.  Our goal (so eloquently captured in our Eldercare Peace of Mind video) is for those we work with to know we will take care of things and solve your concerns–therefore, peace of mind.  We’ll be sharing a lot more about this in the weeks and months to come, so keep an eye out!

3.   For our potential customers and families seeking help: we have a dedicated Senior Care Consultant who is available to talk any time, to answer your questions about eldercare and home health care or set up a free in-home assessment.  We also will continue to build our web resources around the issues that families tell us are most pressing to them (and we’d love to hear your input!).  We will also work to simplify and better organize our information, so that it is in the most readable, easy-to-use format for you!

4.  For our professional colleagues: we are fortunate that most of our business comes to us via word-of-mouth, both from current/former customers and professionals in the community.  We are grateful for this, and will work hard to continue earning this trust.  Once again, we know–when you need help, you just want help…you want good service, quick response, someone to take care of your clients and families.  You need a solution for: that patient who is doing great on new medication but eating poorly because he no longer cooks; the family who is in town and completly stressed about what will happen when Mom leaves the hospital; the long-time client who everyone knows should give up driving.  We want to continue building hassle-free solutions for you and your patients/clients.

Now we ask you, what can we be doing better?  Do these goals fit with the problems you need solved?

And, what are your resolutions (or first quarter goals) for 2013?

We welcome your input, public comments below–or hey, it’s EASY to give us a call any time for a quick answer or immediate help at 727-448-0900.

Do you like what we have to offer on our blog, think we’re doing a good job covering senior care, home health and caregiving issues?  We’ve been nominated in the Best of Senior Living awards and would appreciate your vote!