After providing at-home care for her ailing husband for more than two decades, Lisa Cassidy set out to empower both patients and health care workers to receive and give the best care possible.

In launching Bucks County-based Empowering Care Solutions, LLC in the fall of 2021, she aimed to connect health care workers more easily with clients seeking at-home care. 

“I want the clients to feel empowered by having control over who’s coming into their homes. They get to pick their person,” Cassidy said, adding that the home health aides and nurses also have a say. “They get to choose their rate of pay and hours as well as their clients.”

Cassidy’s business serves as the referral network bridging clients and health care workers. The Upper Black Eddy resident personally meets with clients to assess their care needs – which may range from companionship, to nursing assistant, or a nurse – and then provides contact information for people whose skills match their needs.

In all, she has close to 200 health care workers in her database. Before referring any to a client, she interviews them, calls references and runs a background check to be sure they not only have the skills, but the personality needed. 

“(Clients) meet with them on their own and do their own interview,” she said. “It’s super important that everybody’s happy on both ends. I vet the client and the caregiver. I don’t want to send the caregiver into a home I haven’t been in.”

Soon after starting her second business (she also launched a physical therapy business, Lisa Cassidy Physical Therapy, LLC, in 2015), Cassidy sought mentoring support from SCORE Bucks County mentor Brian Sciarrotta. Together they devised a business plan, a business model, and set Cassidy’s rates for meeting with clients and assisting with health care referrals and placements. 

Sciarrotta brought in SCORE mentor Howard Coff to offer insight. Coff had previously owned a home health care franchise and was able to shed light on differentiators between that agency and Cassidy’s business. In an effort to provide a team approach to mentoring, Sciarrotta also connected Cassidy with SCORE mentor Dick Kroger whose financial background was beneficial as Cassidy secured a line of credit.

“I am confident this business will continue to grow and thrive,” Sciarrotta said. “We are joking about her taking this business and selling it in five years so she can retire. But there is a serious tone to the prospect of doing just that.”  

Cassidy has plenty of entrepreneurial experience to fall back on. When she started her physical therapy business it was out of necessity.

“I was taking care of my husband who was on a ventilator at home,” she said. “I couldn’t really be an employee because I was at the mercy of a nurse calling out.”

Fast forward to now and Cassidy is helping other caregivers realize the flexibility of a schedule and pay rate they set themselves. 

“A lot of people want to hire privately, but don’t know where to find the caregivers,” she said, adding that she wanted to do more than offer an internet database. “Many times people don’t know exactly what kind of care or even how much care they need. As a consultant, I can identify their needs and steer them toward the right person to help them.”

Empowering Care Solutions serves clients in Upper and Central Bucks, as well as parts of Montgomery County and the Lambertville area in New Jersey. Eventually, Cassidy hopes to bring on someone to help her run the business, which would allow its expansion to King of Prussia and West Chester. 

She credits Sciarrotta and her other mentors with providing guidance and ongoing support throughout her business journey.

“SCORE’s been amazing,” Cassidy said, adding that Sciarrotta assisted her in setting a fee structure. 

“Brian really pushed me to emphasize that I am a consultant when I go out to meet my clients. I assess their function and mobility and make recommendations for appropriate equipment and home set-up. The goal is to make my clients as safe as possible through education, equipment and assistance.” 

Learn more about how SCORE mentors help local business owners at SCORE Bucks County.