Dairyland Peach Sections Business Profile 2019 | Página 13

Dairyland Peach Business Profile 2019, Page 13
Alternative Senior Care provides
peace of mind for families
When Cindy and Mike Karasch of Alternative
Senior Care meet with potential client families they
know firsthand what they are talking about. Both of
them lost their mothers last year, and were able to
keep them in their homes, through a team effort, us-
ing family, caregivers and hospice to make that hap-
pen.
Cindy is the founder of Alternative Senior Care,
which is now in its 14th year, and is located at 418
10th Street South in Sauk Centre, with an auxiliary
office in Alexandria.
A native of Sauk Centre, Cindy worked as a certi-
fied nursing assistant and various other jobs, before
earning her degree in occupational therapy at age 40.
She worked for the West Central Education District
as a special education certified occupational therapist
assistant. She filled in for therapy at area assisted liv-
ing and nursing homes.
“As I was working in therapy, I was seeing people
going home from the hospital after some sort of ill-
ness. But, were they going home and able to take care
of themselves completely? I started looking into what
home care meant,” Cindy said.
That led to the founding of Alternative Senior
Care in 2005, and an affiliation with Seniors Choice,
a care membership company in California.
“The Seniors Choice helped me get it off the
ground,” she said. “The Senior’s Choice members
glean information from one another. Larger and
smaller businesses all around the world are doing the
same thing and we help each other.”
Mike, also a Sauk Centre native, lived in the Twin
Cities for 30 years, working in graphic arts, retail and
adult education sales.
The two met and were married in 2010. Mike
moved back to Sauk Centre and joined Cindy at Al-
ternative Senior Care as the marketing specialist.
The company began with eight caregivers, Cindy
recalls, and she not only did caregiving, but the mar-
keting and bookkeeping. The staff now includes 10
people in office and 95 caregivers, along with two reg-
istered nurses and two licensed practical nurses. The
nurses set up medications, help with staff training, do
staff supervision and some assessments. All nurses
hold CPR certification.
“We help families go through their trials. They
usually call us when there is an emergency,” Cindy
said. “We go out to do a free, no obligation assess-
ment. We sit face to face and ask a lot of questions.”
The assessment includes looking at the home, as-
sessing what resources are available and working out
a schedule that is unique to each family.
“We do whatever they want,” Cindy said. Some
require around the clock care. Some may need just
Alternative Senior Care office staff includes front row (from left): Janeen Mitchell, Lainie Berg and
Sheila Towle RN. Back row: Mike Karasch, Cindy Karasch, Brenda Stone, Paula Bromenshenkel, Dorie
Twist and Lisa Dreger RN.
weekly help with cleaning. Some need personal care,
or medications assistance.
Schedules are flexible — it’s one of the core values
of the business. With 250 clients and 95 caregivers,
Cindy is thankful for computer scheduling, and that
caregivers can check in and out via phone to the on-
line scheduling system.
“We are proud of what we have built here, and we
want to maintain the culture that we have,” Mike
said.
“We are called to provide passionate care and peace
of mind to all who desire to live at home,” Cindy said.
“We have the experience of helping our own par-
ents, we understand what it is about,” Mike said. “We
are here to provide quality care for families and help
them on their journey. It’s the whole reason we come
to work each day.”
Caregivers at Alternative Senior Care range in age
from 18 – 80. All have flexible schedules. All receive
15 – 18 hours of initial training, and then required
ongoing training. Office staff are versed in how to
help families, to really listen and help people find an-
swers to their problems.
Alternative Senior Care covers a five-county area
including Stearns, Morrison, Todd, Douglas and
Pope counties.
The company holds a comprehensive state license
for home care, homemaking and nursing service.
“It’s a lot of red tape and rules,” Cindy said, but
they daily live by their mission statement: “Guided
by faith we are called to provide compassionate care
and peace of mind to all who desire to live at home.”
418 10th St So • Sauk Centre, MN
320.352.3350
www.alternativeseniorcare.net