What I love most is the satisfaction I get when I see a resident move in to our home, settle in, and blend in with other residents and begin to regain some of their strength back. I love the joy and contentment I see in the faces of residents' families when they know their family member is well taken care of.

​Also, I am a father of two girls, ages 5 and 8 years old, and I love sports - especially soccer and basketball. 

Orchard Adult Care Home: A Serene Place to Call home
Where Seniors and Adults with Disabilities Receive the Care and Respect they Deserve
Phone: 503-618-1133
[email protected] 

Article by guest author Valli Brunken, MBA, BSN, RN, owner of Nightingale Consulting.

I get this question quite a bit and there are several options for the LPN who is owner/operator of an AFCH.

1. Let the LPN license lapse and not renew (focusing only on the owner/operator role of their AFCH). This is not my recommendation but is certainly an option. Please note that as an unlicensed person the former LPN could provide the same clinical care that the unlicensed personnel does, but no Nursing tasks can be performed without delegation by an RN.
2. Continue as an owner/operator and work “on the side” as an LPN in a setting where you can continue to gain practice hours for nursing license renewal and where you can be directly supervised by an RN.
   
   
3. Enter into an LPN-to-RN bridge program to become an RN. In these programs, you can receive an Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN) which will then allow you all the privileges of an RN (including performing your own AFCH nursing delegations to unlicensed staff).  This can then be a stepping stone to pursuing the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). This is the step that I most often recommend. It is available in most community colleges and some online programs.  It typically takes 18 -24 months to complete.  If you are doing it to provide a higher level of care or for supervising your staff and residents, it’s possible it could be considered a business expense and deducted from taxes (consult your tax accountant to be sure). 

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​Ultimately, I strongly recommend getting the BSN eventually because many settings are requiring it and you never know what you’re going to want to do down the road.  It’s always best, in my view, to give yourself as many options as possible for maximum flexibility in your nursing practice.

Here is a short list of some local programs in Oregon that offer LPN–to–RN Bridge Programs (these are not all-inclusive):

• Mt. Hood Community College
• Clackamas Community College 
• Chemeketa Community College 

I was born in Romania, as are many providers, and that is where I earned my nursing degree. Shortly after, I escaped the Communists by migrating to Belgium for about a decade. I went back to school in Belgium and France and got two master’s degrees, one in geriatrics and nursing home administration, and another in business administration. I speak Romanian, French, and English. 

I came to the United States in 1995, and in 1996 I fell into working in an adult care home by accident – a friend begged me to work in his house so he could go on vacation. I agreed and quickly I discovered it feeds my soul. Because Romania is a culture of multi-generational living where we care for our elders, my background made it feel like a natural fit. I love helping people when they most need it, and I found the relationships that would form with the elders very meaningful. Six months later, I opened my first adult care home. I now have three classification 3 homes, and there is nothing else I’d rather be doing. ​

Updated and reposted from March 2019.

You’re thinking of opening your own adult care home for seniors and individuals with disabilities. Congratulations! This is an exciting decision. Maybe you’ve worked as a caregiver for several years in an adult care home, assisted living facility, nursing facility, or as an in-home caregiver. Perhaps you've worked as a nurse and would like to take it to the next level and be your own boss.

You’ve now decided you’d like to take the next step and become an adult care home provider with your name listed on the license. You most likely feel passionate about caring for seniors and individuals living with disabilities. This is great, though this is not a decision to be made lightly. Owning your own adult care home business and being a caregiver for someone else are two very different experiences with their own unique challenges and benefits. 

When I started my own business in 2018, I had a vague idea of the level of commitment it would take, but in retrospect, I really had no idea. I consistently work more than I've ever worked before in my life. I haven't taken a true vacation in four years, and I regularly work 12-14 hours per day and work at least six days per week. Like most small business owners, I work a lot, but I also recognize I have the luxury of having some down time because I'm not caring for others. I've heard this same feedback from new providers, as well. They didn't realize how much time owning their own business would take, especially a business where you're providing 24/7 care to other people. ​

​Frankly, running a small business is not for everyone. Sometimes the best advice I can give someone is to consider a different path. Often, providers mention they spend a lot of time on business management, rather than solely direct caregiving. If you simply love being a caregiver, you might want to consider remaining a caregiver and working for someone else, but working in a capacity with more responsibility, rather than owning your own business. If you have management and leadership skills, you're highly organized, have strong ethics, and you're business-minded while also passionate about high-quality care, then owing a care home business might be the right move for you. It's an added benefit to have prior experience running a small business.

By guest author Alexis Baker, MT-BC with Bridgetown Music Therapy

To help support you in providing beneficial music activities for care home residents, Bridgetown Music Therapy has created an engaging online music program for senior care homes. As a licensed and board-certified music therapist, my focus is on improving older adults’ quality of life through the intentional use of music. Our high-quality videos are designed to promote active and engaging experiences that include singing, movement and relaxation. We provide life enrichment through meaningful music activities that are enjoyable, easy to engage with, and effortlessly accessible. Our mission is to spark JOY with engaging music classes for older adults, and we would love to be a part of serving your residents!
​
If you’d like to give Bridgetown Music Therapy a try, click here to get started with your free trial. New content is released weekly! 

A Few Tips - sometimes we just need to be given permission to try something new. So, I hereby grant you full permission to make music with residents! Additionally, here are a few tips that might further help you push through any initial discomfort or unfamiliarity:

• Keep it simple – don’t feel like it needs to be a performance.
• Don’t be self-conscious. 
• Don’t shy away from doing something simply because you’ve never done it before.
• Something is always worth trying. You never know what you might discover or the positive outcome that may result, so don’t write it off before you even give it a try. 
• Have fun!

The benefits of music are abundant and far-reaching. Music can create connections and spark joy. Music is fun and engaging. It’s a natural motivator for the mind and body. Music really makes a difference!


Connect with Bridgetown Music Therapy on Facebook and Instagram. Interested in services? Visit Bridgetown Music Therapy to become a member [affiliate link]. 

My husband and I arrived together in the United States from Kenya in 1995. We flew into Los Angeles with only $70 between us, and I was 9 months pregnant. We started our lives in the United States in California but moved to Seattle, Washington two years later.
 
Being African immigrants, we are used to taking care of our elderly and I helped to take care of my grandma when I was a little girl. We didn’t have nursing homes in Kenya then. When our parents grew old, we’d take care of them. It was a new experience for us when we came to America and realized we could work in care settings to take care of elders. We decided to move from California to Washington because most of our family was in Seattle.
 
I started working as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and started working in a nursing home in 1997. We recognized that it is easy to get a job as a CNA and raise a family. Within a few weeks, you can be working with a certificate from the state. While raising a family, we found this to be easier than having an office job, especially arriving from Kenya. I then began working in in-home care and was also working at an adult family home. I worked as a CNA for a total of six years.
 
My husband was in a different field before we started this business, mostly in computer software engineering and health information management systems focused on global health. Switching his career to be part of this business was a challenge, but he fit in quite fast,  and I value his support.

I was encouraged by my manager at the time who was a registered nurse (RN) and was the owner of the adult family home I was working in. She encouraged me to go to school to become a licensed practical nurse (LPN). She saw something in me. In fact, she once told me if she ever got ill or needed care, she would want me to be her nurse. After graduating as an LPN, I worked at a home care agency for six years while pursuing my RN degree.
 
After graduation, I continued working for the home care agency. Soon thereafter, I went back to the same school to get my bachelor's degree in nursing, BSN. Soon after graduation, I started working at Valley Medical Hospital, a University of Washington affiliate. I worked there for six years - three of those years were in the intensive care unit (ICU). I worked there up until January of 2021, which was right before starting our Troutdale Adult Home Care business in Oregon. 

As compared to institutional care, you can care for people in a more person-centered way. For example, regarding a resident's diet, the idea is to create an environment that is as like a family home as possible. Serving only five people we can really tailor the menu to the residents' desires, so this is never a problem.
 
Because it is a home-like setting, we can be more flexible in involving the special and important family and friend connections. We feel it provides better outcomes for the residents in this type of care setting. We have live-in caregivers, and they get to know the residents in a uniquely special way, as compared to many other places where turnover is high and the few caregivers working must care for so many. There is more consistency here, and this is good for everyone. 

Because of my experience and training I can move into any high-acuity care situation with a resident and provide the right care to them with confidence, ease, and experience. When giving reports or communicating with the healthcare teams, I understand the language and can interpret important information. This is information such as what to ask and how to use my voice as an advocate, and this can make things so much clearer for everyone. This matters for quality of care. This experience and skill set makes a difference.

We live where we work. Having the flexibility makes a real difference and I enjoy being my own boss. Countless times in my career my patients or residents have told me they cannot do what I do for people, and they don’t know how I do it. It is in those times I know I am making a difference, and we get to make this difference in our own care home and do this together.

We have four kids: three boys, and one girl. In this country, there is the old motto from the Army “be all that you can be,” and as immigrants, we feel we are here to achieve our dreams. Now, we are doing just that, and we know we cannot do this where we come from. Also, as immigrants, we are so very grateful to have the opportunities we've had and to create the life for our family that we want.
 
Together, we notice some challenges in this business. Finding caregivers is one of the biggest and we know this is a problem in many different healthcare settings. As a community of care home providers, we do not have a voice yet. We, and some other interested providers, are looking to gather and create a Council of Providers and have a seat at the table at both the state and county level to create necessary changes in the industry.
 
You can reach out to Margaret at [email protected].