Home Instead Senior Care in Halifax, Nova Scotia
In June 2003, Jeanie Burke introduced Home Instead Senior Care to Nova Scotia. Since then, it has become a dedicated team of more than 150 staff and CAREGivers who care for over 150 seniors throughout Metropolitan Halifax.
Jeanie is originally from Ontario and has also spent time living in Edmonton, Alberta. Jeanie’s parents, after retirement, moved to her father’s childhood home on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. After paying them a visit, she fell in love with the province and decided this was the place she wanted to call home.
Jeanie has always been an entrepreneur at heart. The idea of being able to control her own destiny very much appealed to her. It didn’t take long for her to open her first business; a small seafood restaurant. She eventually came to the decision that she wanted to do something more meaningful. Entrepreneurship was more than just making money to Jeanie; she wanted to do something she felt passionate about.
When considering what to do, she kept thinking back to her days in Alberta when her parents were so far away. What would have happened had one of them gotten ill? What if they needed someone to take them out for groceries or to appointments? She considered how many other people had senior parents who lived far away and shared the same concerns she once had.
When she learned about Home Instead Senior Care she was impressed from the beginning. Jeanie contacted more than two dozen Home Instead Senior Care franchises to find out if anyone had anything negative to say about the company. She felt that there had to be at least one person with a negative comment, but after a while, she gave up. It turns out there were no complaints to be found.
In the early weeks, the business was a one-woman operation. She was busy getting the word out, booking clients and recruiting caregivers. By September the phone was ringing off the hook. She interviewed people as often as possible and gradually built up a core of great employees.
Jeanie has countless wonderful memories of her time with Home Instead Senior Care and is looking forward to many more. At the end of the day, Jeanie goes home to her family knowing that she and the staff at Home Instead Senior Care have made a difference in the lives of families caring for an older loved one.
