The nurse who started it
Dana Whitfield started Our Home Healthcare because 4 agencies failed her father
Dana Whitfield, RN, BSN, is the founder and Director of Nursing of Our Home Healthcare, a nurse-led home care agency in Edgewater, Florida. She started it in March 2014 after her father came home from a stroke and 4 agencies sent a different stranger every week with no nurse checking on him. She still visits clients.
In her own words
Why did a hospital nurse start a home care agency in Edgewater
In 2013 my father had a stroke. He was 81 and he had lived in the same house in Florida Shores for thirty years, and the one thing he said clearly in the hospital was that he was going home.
So we took him home. Over the next six months four agencies sent us caregivers. Some were wonderful. Most were strangers, a new one every week, and in six months not one nurse came to the house to look at him. I was a hospital case manager at the time. I knew exactly what good care looked like, and I could not buy it for my own father.
I started Our Home Healthcare in March 2014 with three caregivers I had worked with for years and my own car. The rules were the ones I wanted for Dad. A nurse on every case, the same faces every week, and a phone that a person answers. Twelve years later we have 64 caregivers and I still keep those rules myself. I visit clients. I answer the night line one week in five.
If you are where I was in 2013, call us. You will get Jordan or me. We will come to the house tomorrow. And we will not send anyone to your father that I would not have sent to mine.
Dana Whitfield, RN, BSNFounder and Director of Nursing
Dana and her father, 2013His house in Florida Shores, the year of the stroke
Her credentials and her rules
Who is the nurse in charge at Our Home Healthcare
Dana is a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She spent 20 years as a floor nurse and then a hospital case manager in Volusia County before she started the agency. She has been its Director of Nursing since March 2014. The 3 rules she set that month still run every case.
years as a floor nurse and hospital case manager in Volusia County before 2014
the year Dana started the agency, in March, with 3 caregivers and her own car
caregivers she leads today, every one an employee she would let into her father's house
A nurse on every case
Every client gets a registered nurse case manager, including people who only want company and help with the house. Priya or Dana writes the plan of care, visits at least every 30 days, and is the person you call when something changes. Florida asks for a nurse visit every 60 days. Dana set the rule at 30 because in 6 months nobody came to look at her father.
The same faces
A primary caregiver and 1 trained backup, picked by Jordan for the person and not for the shift. In your first 90 days you meet at most 3 caregivers. 4 agencies sent Dana's father a new stranger every week. That is the thing she built the agency to stop.
A phone that a person answers
(386) 272-6048 rings in the Edgewater office in the day and to the on-call nurse at night. No answering service, no phone tree, no voicemail. Jordan answers most calls. 1 week in 5 the voice at night is Dana's.
What she does today
Does the owner of Our Home Healthcare still see clients
Yes. Dana visits clients every week. She does many of the first in-home assessments herself, with Priya doing the rest, and she is one of the 2 nurses who sign off every plan of care. 1 week in 5 she takes the night line, so the nurse who answers at 2 am may be the founder.
She also runs the agency as a nurse would. Priya reports to her. Carla's 2-week onboarding was written with her. Jordan's rule about 3 faces in 90 days is her rule. Her husband Tom runs the office, the billing and the insurance paperwork so she can be in the houses and not behind a desk.
weeks Dana answers the night line herself
families Our Home Healthcare cares for in a typical year
Dana on the Edgewater riverfrontThe agency has been on US-1 in Edgewater since 2014
What families say
A nurse picked up at 11 at night, and the price was the price
I called at 11 at night because Bill fell. A nurse answered. Not a service, a nurse.Joan, Edgewaterwife
They told me the price on the website and that was the price. Nobody else would do that.Steve, Oak Hillson
Talk to us
Tell us what is going on. Jordan calls you back within the hour.
Send the form or call (386) 272-6048. If it is after 5 pm the on-call nurse picks up. Nobody at Our Home Healthcare is paid on commission, and there is nothing to decide on the first call.
Ask about care for someone
About 1 minute. We call you, you do not have to call us.
3 ways to reach a person