Daughter on Call redefining the face of health care

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This article was published 03/11/2018 (2709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local home care business is looking to redefine the services available to those in need.

Daughter on Call first launched in November 2012. CEO Gail Freeman-Campbell wanted the opportunity to give clients home care that felt like family, in place of a faceless facility.

“It’s set up like a general real home, it’s just bigger.” Freeman-Campbell said. “It’s lived in.”

Freeman-Campbell, a nurse at the time, was looking for a career change and had family members that required different forms of home care. She also had a diploma in business.

“The government program just didn’t fully cover the types of things that they needed. So I started looking into other options,” she said.

Beginning research and travelling across Saskatchewan and Alberta to learn more, Freeman-Campbell gradually began taking the steps to launch her new business.

While working with Prairie Mountain Health and the provincial government, she soon found that she was breaking ground with Daughter on Call.

“We’re the first one to do something like this in Manitoba,” said Freeman-Campbell.

It proved challenging being a pioneer of her industry in the province, she said. Freeman-Campbell had to almost create a new language of business, but she remained steadfast in her passion to provide options for those requiring home care, be it seniors or the disabled.

It was a huge learning curve, but based on guidance and insights from clients, Freeman-Campbell has been able to help the company bloom.

Starting with one casual employee offering traditional home care, Daughter on Call first started visiting clients in their homes and senior retirement buildings. That employee is still with the company.

She often found that people Daughter on Call had been caring for in their homes would reach a point when they needed more than that, and at the time the only other options were personal care facilities. While there were a selection of services available, there was a gap in the services required by seniors and people with disabilities.

Listening to her clients and family, Freeman-Campbell set out to create a personal care home that matched their needs. Not one to take a challenge sitting down, Freeman-Campbell set out to fill the gap.

Her past experience as nurse has aided the launch of Daughter on Call, helping her to be solution-oriented when it comes to clients’ needs and care.

“Nurses can be quite creative and they know the things that are working well and the things that are not,” Freeman-Campbell said.

The company soon branched out receiving contracts with a regional health authority in the province and attending to all the personal care homes in Brandon. Daughter on Call now has more than 80 employees providing personal services across Westman.

“That’s only to grow because of the other homes that we are building in the next year,” Freeman-Campbell said.

In November 2017, Daughter on Call opened the doors to their first personal care building, the Kirbyson Home in Brandon. The company has continued to grow since that time.

“It was fabulous; it was a vision I had for quite a few years. To see it built and open and running the way I envisioned it was a pretty good feeling,” Freeman-Campbell said.

One of the key aspects of Daughter on Call is they are able to provide a more comfortable setting for clients in comparison to government-run institutions, she said, adding that this includes allowing couples to stay together in homes.

“When you’ve been married to someone for 70 years, that’s like an arm or a leg. They are vital to your being,” she said.

Daughter on Call remains focused on providing freedom and purpose to their clients; an especially important service when elders seem to be cast aside in society.

Freeman-Campbell cited the experience of seniors placed in government institutions where they lose the right to decide their schedule, what they eat, if the want a pet and so on.

“Those are all things that we do in our home. Our clients tell us,” Freeman-Campbell said. “We do things that each of our clients would have done in their own homes.”

Freeman-Campbell has set out to create a personal care business that creates a home for clients that is part of the community, in place of a strictly regimented and segregated facility.

Many of the activities such as crafts, card games and checkers are initiated by clients. Clients can also help prepare meals, inside the great big home.

Staff and volunteers bring children to the facilities, giving them a chance to mingle with elders.

“It’s just those simple little things … the smiles on both on their faces is great,” Freeman-Campbell said.

Using an example of a gentlemen staying in the Kirbyson Home, Freeman-Campbell explained how the practices used by Daughter on Call breeds trust with clients, and helps give them purpose.

A recent client in the house had been kicked out of two institutions prior to moving in with Daughter On Call.

“Thing’s weren’t looking good,” Freeman-Campbell said.

Taking the time to meet with him and his family while he was in the hospital she was able to gauge his concerns with a friendly conversation.

It became clear the man had a bone-deep distrust of personal care facilities due to his experience in the health care system. He had even been forced into a wheelchair during his stay, taking away his ability to walk.

“I recognized that he was lonely, that he had no purpose and he really wanted to get out of that wheelchair,” Freeman-Campbell said. The care home worked hard to regain his confidence, answering every call and need.

Within about six weeks of living with Daughter on Call he was back on his feet, and his trust in service providers has slowly began to be repaired.

This lack of trust in the health care system is a common issue Freeman-Campbell has encountered with clients.

Her home care’s ability to regain this trust is most likely why it has experience such rapid growth.

The services offered by Daughter on Call has struck a chord with aging baby boomers, and Freeman-Campbell is amazed at the incredible growth the company has experience over the last six years.

Three homes are set to open next year in Westman, the business is continuing to grow.

Freeman-Campbell is also looking to expand her services into Saskatchewan and Alberta sometime in the near future.

“I have almost every week a community that calls me and says, ‘can you have a Daughter on Call built,’” Freeman-Campbell said.

»ckemp@brandonsun.com

»Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp