faris flournoy
BY LEAH S . BETHEA
Primecare Home Care Services is a company that today serves every county in Georgia and will soon expand to other states , but it all began when two teenage brothers saw a need from within the walls of their own home .
The story began when Caleb Flournoy and his brother , Joshua , were just in high school . Their grandmother , who had been living in South Carolina , was struggling with the effects of Alzheimer ’ s and dementia , and so their mother moved her to their home in Baldwin County . The two assisted their grandmother with daily tasks like housekeeping and meal preparation until their mother ultimately hired a caregiver .
“ That was our introduction to homecare ,” Caleb says .
It was an impression that made a lasting effect on the brothers .
Caleb and Joshua went off to college , majoring in biology . Caleb ’ s ambition was to be a physician , but an internship with a homecare company would ultimately change the fate of his career and path in life .
“ That internship led me into going and experiencing what homecare was , and from that internship , I just remembered the services that we provided for our grandmother ,” he says .
Having gone through the Baldwin County School System , Caleb and Joshua saw that there was need in their own community that was being underserved . And so together , the brothers founded Primecare Home Care in 2007 . At just 21 years old , Caleb was the company ’ s first CEO .
Fast forward 15 years down the road from their beginning in Baldwin County , and Primecare now employs just over 1,300 individuals in the state of Georgia . Joshua has since branched off into different business avenues , and the siblings ’ older brother , Faris , now serves alongside Caleb as CEO and co-owner .
As business owners , the two must understand every facet of the operation – from finance to human resources and marketing . A lot of those things , they say , they learned on the way up .
“ We remained a student of the industry ,” Faris says .
They ’ ve studied business models of other successful operations such as Chick Fil A and the Honda Corporation , learning what the industry giants do to stay ahead . Their own business model is one they say that they built around customer service , which they realize begins with the individuals that the employ . Now with four office locations in Georgia – Macon , Thomson , East Point and their headquarters in Milledgeville - they have about 35 team members who operate in administrative and management positions , as well as directors of operation , human resource managers and finance directors , among other positions .
Through the years , the growth they ’ ve experience is something they prepared for with consistence in their policies , foundation and team building .
“ I think that we were prepared for the growth , and we just knew that it was going to be a matter of time …,” Caleb says . “ We knew that God had his hands on us and that we were here for a purpose . We did not know how quickly it would grow , but we knew that it would grow eventually , and so we just stayed the course .”
Faris says one of the accomplishments he is proudest of is something that happened just before the Covid-19 pandemic began . In February of 2020 , he says business was going well , but he and Caleb were looking for an opportunity to serve the community at a larger level . It was during that time that they were introduced to a program called Structured Family Caregiving . It ’ s a program that allows family members to actually receive compensation to care for their loved ones . Primecare was just the third agency in the state of Georgia to be approved to provide Structured Family Caregiving .
“ One of the proudest moments that we ’ ve had thus far is being able to , in the midst of Covid 19 , grow another department , being able to hire over 800 team members just within that department within a year and a half span …,” Faris says . “ That ultimately allows them to be able to create lasting memories with their own family members instead of
44 Milledgeville Scene | 20 Under 40 2022