After a lifetime in the world of business, Alan Brown is finding a growth market and necessary niche in home care giving needs in Fairfield County.
At 70 years of age and after two full careers working for American Home Partners, where he worked as a portfolio director and IBM where he had a focus in international business development, Brown has opened a Danbury location of home care service BrightStar.
The franchise company based in New York City, provides healthcare staffing and medical and non-medical homecare to private clients within their homes around the clock.
“Healthcare doesn”™t really address these needs, said Brown. “We”™re what”™s called private duty, which is translated as private pay. Medicare doesn”™t pay for it and it won”™t.”
BrightStar also offers supplemental healthcare staff to corporate clients such as hospitals and nursing homes as well as care-giving capabilities for children.
“It”™s great after a long business career to be able to walk home and feel that I”™ve done something good to help people,” said Brown. Brown has 40 employees under his location in Danbury. There is also another BrightStar location in Norwalk, owned by Peter and Maureen Moore.
The latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that care giving is predicted to be the second fastest-growing field over the next decade.
“There”™s a need, and it”™s going to be growing,” said Brown, who had worked with a franchisee broker, before deciding BrightStar was the right fit.
“As a business development person in whatever industry, that”™s always job one, where is your customer going to come from,” said Brown. “Nationwide, the personal and home-care aide classification is expected to grow by more than 50 percent between 2006 and 2016.”
Brown has been actively building relationships with hospital discharge planners, nurses and social workers.
“These professionals understand the value we offer,” said Brown. “Often the primary caregiver is the family, and they are the ones who really need some help.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that”™s an increase from 767.000 to a projected 1.15 million jobs. The bureau also reports that beginning in 2011, baby boomers will turn 65 at the rate of 10,000 a day.
According to a study done by the AARP, 90 percent of aging parents are not willing to leave their home for care.
“I”™m one of them,” said Brown. “This service and business that I”™m a part of can help people stay where they want to be, that really hits home for me. It”™s important work.”
