Wellness at Home helps clients live independently, age at home
Pine Island Wellness at Home owner and operator Jody Franke said the need for growth brought about the name change for her business to Wellness at Home Senior Concierge Specialists.
After Hurricane Ian, disaster struck her business: first, in taking clients off of Pine Island; and, second, in the damage that she and other residents encountered as a result of the storm. Because it has been nearly four years since Ian blew through town, Franke said, she has found it is best not to talk about the storm outside of Pine Island because people may not have experienced it first-hand.
The storm made an immediate return to business impossible for her, but in an attempt to do what she feels she was called to do, Franke found a deep-down determination to serve her clients again.
“Having employees and running Wellness at Home at the capacity that it was before just wasn’t going to happen for a while,” she said.
For a time, Franke worked alone doing anything necessary to get the job done, but found that she could not do it all. Finally, this year, it has all come together to make it possible for Pine Island Wellness at Home — renamed as Wellness at Home Senior Concierge Specialists — to be fully operational again.
Franke has brought life back to her business, which helps people who need varying degrees of assistance to stay independent and age at home. She has enlisted the help of trusted physicians, such as Dr. Daniel Hanley and wife Dr. Nadia Hanley with Ancuram Family Medicine, for critical care management (CCM) services.
“This is what our clients need most of the time,” Franke said, adding that she often ends up collaborating with Ancuram Family Medicine to provide quality care to better serve her clients.
She said she is looking to cover much more than Pine Island geographically as she is aware of the needs of clients, as well as potential future clients who may live on the mainland.
Some of the most important questions regarding her work are concerns people have about how much they or a loved one might need assistance, Franke said. In describing the lengths of how far Wellness at Home will go, she said it will do anything and everything to help a client remain independent at home.
“We do independent or assisted living in home care support on your terms,” Franke said.
This care, she said, is completely unique and private. The work is classified as concierge, meaning it happens through clinical health services as an advocacy. Franke explained when an individual goes to a facility, staff help with food preparation, providing transportation to doctor’s offices and coordinating home health services.
“All of our service providers are heavily trained in how to use durable medical equipment with transportation,” she said.
The ability to maneuver and also to use a two-wheeled walker can be a tremendous achievement for someone trying to regain or maintain their independence, Franke said. She noted there is no current program that specifically covers this.
“We want to promote independence to help each person at any stage, even if they have dementia,” Franke said.
Wellness at Home offers services such as fall prevention training, transportation, meal planning and preparation, home safety assessments, and home maintenance programs. She added there are continuous home exercise plans, which allows her service providers to continue training with clients after they have left a home health agency.
“We also do collaborative in-home doctor and in-home health visits. We are able to do that because we work closely with our local physician offered CCM,” Franke said.
According to her, aging at home can be a welcome reality for many people.
For more information about Wellness at Home Senior Concierge Specialists, visit https://www.wellnessathomeconcierge.com/ or contact 941-202-4005; if calling, please leave a voice message.
To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email