Based in Omaha, Nebraska and with 23 locations across the United States—from Oregon to Massachusetts and many states in between—A Place at Home stands behind its “We are CARE” philosophy in which the company describes as its commitment to the core values of being Compassionate, Accountable, Respectful, and Ethical.

Because these values are incorporated into every interaction A Place at Home has with families it serves through its franchisees, it is imperative that its employees and caregivers are well trained and knowledgeable on every aspect of senior care, and that each franchisee can efficiently track and recognize each caregiver’s level of expertise.

A Place at Home co-founders and childhood friends, Dustin Distefano and Jerod Evanich, experienced firsthand that senior-focused care in America was failing. After several attempts to find acceptable care for their loved ones, Dustin and Jerod founded A Place at Home and soon learned how urgently other families wanted senior-focused care that is kind, comprehensive, consistent, and continuous. They began franchising in 2017 but wanted to ensure that all caregivers representing A Place at Home, regardless of which franchise location they worked with, were the best in the senior care business. They turned to CareAcademy.

Quality training to carry forth A Place at Home’s CARE philosophy1

According to the AARP, three in four seniors want to stay in their homes and maintain their independence as long as possible. Many have varying needs and require different levels of care. But one thing is universal: When a family considers in-home care for a loved one, they want trustworthy professionals experienced with dementia, Parkinson’s disease, immobility, and other challenges faced by seniors.

A Place at Home and its franchisees work with families and seniors—whatever their goals may be—to ensure clients at this stage of life are treated with the utmost compassion and safety. The organization provides in-home senior care, coordination, staffing solutions, and senior living alternatives consultation. “Some of our clients may want to begin with in-home care for a little bit, and then they need to move to a senior living community,” said Aubre Phillips, A Place at Home’s Brand Engagement Specialist. “We help them with that process as well. We are there for them at every step.”

And at every one of those steps, A Place at Home needs expertly-trained staff to carry forth its CARE philosophy. With that in mind, the company knew it needed to replace its previous educational platform, which was deemed cumbersome, inefficient, and left caregivers and their supervisors guessing about which courses to take and how to track caregiver progress.

They discovered CareAcademy’s specialized programs, which include training courses on certain disease processes like Parkinson’s, stroke, dementia, falls, and hospitalizations.

“These issues require quality, in-depth training,” explained Phillips. “I didn’t want our caregivers trained by a quick little YouTube video that goes over the basics. During our search, we didn’t see a whole lot of thorough, quality training out there until we found CareAcademy.”

Consistent, streamlined training across all franchise locations

For A Place at Home, consistency across franchise offices was critical, and one of the reasons the company committed to CareAcademy. Its unified caregiver training platform delivers a positive, consistent experience across every office and every client. Franchises with locations across multiple states and payor types are configured so that each location meets their state’s unique requirements. Additionally, there’s full performance visibility across all franchise locations, allowing owners to stay on top of critical training metrics for caregiver progress tracking.

“For any franchisee concerned with consistency and making sure they’re up to speed with their regulations, CareAcademy makes it easy—especially when it comes to reporting,” said Phillips. “If they get audited, CareAcademy’s training reports are easy to pull and you can see which caregivers have completed trainings, and who hasn’t.”

Credible training that integrates into existing operations with simplicity

Credible training that integrates into existing operations with simplicity
Phillips also pointed out that A Place at Home was able to easily integrate CareAcademy’s training into their existing operations. With a wide variety of state-required trainings available, A Place at Home valued the ease of course selection and was confident in the content, as CareAcademy’s courses are authored and taught by subject-matter experts.

“The credibility of the CareAcademy courses is what really stood out to me,” said Phillips. “It’s reassuring that our caregivers are learning from someone who knows what they’re talking about. CareAcademy is awesome, and it’s made things so much better for us at A Place at Home.”