Today we’d like to introduce you to Blessing Agu.
Blessing, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The idea for KindTouch began 17 years ago after surviving a difficult twin pregnancy. One of my girls was born without a heartbeat and needed to be resuscitated. She was later admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator, and fed through a feeding tube for a few days. After we were discharged home from the hospital, we received one or two visits from home health nurses who would come to check on the babies, and this was a welcomed help especially for a new mother who was scared for her babies, and had her hands full with twins and a 2-year-old sibling. Once the twins were stable enough, I had to work, and I chose home healthcare because of the flexibility which allowed me to schedule my hours and still be able to care for my children. As I worked in home health, there were certain things that I observed and wished could be done better.
And, as I listened to some of the parent’s concerns, I began to see myself in those parents, and I also saw my children’s faces on each one of those babies. I knew I could bring both my personal and clinical experience to help create a home care agency for children that could solve some of the gaps that I was observing and experiencing in the field. For instance, there was a need for a pediatric home care agency that could provide case management services for the family, such as coordinating the multiple doctor’s appointments, helping with finding community resources, ordering equipment etc. in order to help parent provide better care for their children at home. This was especially needed for the non-English speaking families and the very poor among us who could use a little bit more hand-holding to overcome the challenges of caring for a fragile child. I also wanted to provide a warmer working environment where the nurses and nursing assistants who serve these families in the field did not feel disconnected from the office staff etc. So, on October of 2015, KindTouch Healthcare Services was born.
Has it been a smooth road?
I am not sure that “smooth” is found in the entrepreneur’s dictionary! heck no! This has been a challenging journey. In 2015, I was raising a family of 3 young girls, with one of the twins still battling respiratory issues that required breathing treatments at home at least 3 times a day, and needing to see her doctor weekly. I was essentially the sole provider for our family, and attending graduate school for a PhD in healthcare management, working part-time at the children’s hospital clinic while teaching as an adjunct faculty at a nursing school all simultaneously. All without being able to obtain a starting capital, so I had to work to provide the capital to start and operate the business. I don’t know how I did it except that I was passionate about serving others, and I believed in myself and the vision of what I could offer the community, and a strong faith that I was heading in the path that God had for me.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
KindTouch Healthcare Services is a Pediatric Home Care Agency that specializes in providing skilled nursing, private duty nursing, and personal support services to fragile children between the ages of 0-21 years in the comfort of their homes. We also provide skilled nursing services while the child is at school. We utilize highly trained pediatric Registered nurses (RN), licensed practical nurses (LPN) and Personal Care Assistants (PCA) to provide excellent services to children and their families. We believe in a “holistic approach” so it’s not just about administering medications, feedings and other therapies which we do well, but we also help struggling families to access needed resources such as medical equipment, food, etc., while teaching them how to cope with managing the needs of their fragile child at home. We work hand-in-hand with parents, hospital case managers, doctor’s offices, therapists, insurance companies and other health care professionals to ensure that our little ones receive all the care they need to keep them from being recurrent hospital visitors while providing comfort and peace of mind to their families.
I am most proud of our team members. Both the administrative staff and the field staff. They each show up to work daily with great compassion, dedication and kindness to all our clients and their families. We like to call say it’s “the KindTouch Way” The act of caring from the “heart” sets us apart from others. We never meet a family that we could not help. We go out of our way every day to make sure that a child’s nursing needs are met. We set appointments with other specialties if needed, get prescriptions filled, drive long distances to pick up and deliver medicine and babies’ milk to make sure they get their feeding on time, hunt down medical equipment, and many times without pay. It’s just about being kind to others as we would want others to do for us and our children.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta or the State of Georgia as a whole is the place to be if you are an entrepreneur. There are so many resources available and so many people to serve if one has a heart of service. However, you have to be willing to start first, then comes the help sometimes. After all, being an entrepreneur is the ability to find a problem that you believe you can solve. Our city is a melting pot of culture and history. My advice to new entrepreneurs who wish to make Atlanta their home is to connect with other business owners. You can and will learn from everyone! Be humble and accommodating and be willing to get out of your comfort zone.
Pricing:
- Our services are covered mainly by Medicaid and private insurance. There are some instances of self-pay, but we can help qualified families apply for and receive Medicaid insurance which will help pay for their services. In most cases, it will cost the family $0
Contact Info:
- Address: 690 Hillcrest Road, suite 400.
Lilburn, GA 30047 - Website: www.kindtouchhealthcare.com
- Phone: 470-545-1629
- Email: info1@kindtouchhealthcare.com
- Instagram: @ktouchhealthcare
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/KindTouchHealthcare/
- Twitter: @KindTouchHCS
Image Credit:
Thanks to Mathew and Ashley Montes for helping with the photos.
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