Business

By Erica Grundin, Greeley Tribune
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) ― People told Denise Swingle she couldn't start a home health care business because she was "just a nurse." She smiles when she talks about it because she now leads one of the top-rated home health care companies in the country.

Swingle started Caring Hearts Home Health six years ago and since opening, it has been deficiency-free in state recertification surveys, which audit agencies to make sure they properly care for patients.

After working as a registered nurse for two home health companies that closed their doors, Swingle and several of her friends decided to continue caring for their patients and start their own home health agency.

Frustrated by home health care companies that kept closing, the women decided that if they had their own company, they couldn't be closed down. So in 2001, Swingle and a business partner, who has since retired, began Caring Hearts.

"We don't follow corporate rules," said Adrienne Roth, an RN and friend of Swingle who joined Caring Hearts shortly after it opened. "And we've thrived."

Thrived is a great word for what Caring Hearts has done. The company was rated in the top 100 home health agencies in the country by Outcome Concept Systems. Only one other Colorado agency made the list, Parkview Homecare in Pueblo.

After its initial certification in 2001, the company received three deficiency-free recertification surveys from the state and was awarded three years without surveys. The state does not currently license home health businesses, but it conducts surveys for those agencies that want Medicare and Medicaid certification. Colorado legislators are expected to introduce legislation to license home health care businesses next year.

Caring Hearts is currently waiting to be surveyed again sometime between now and February, but Swingle is not worried.

"We do what we do, and we pay the bills," Swingle said.

Swingle gets help from Sherri Shovlin, who tracks the company's finances. Both women believe that medicine should not be approached the same way business is, and they say that is the reason for their success.

"You have to be passionate," Shovlin said. "You won't become a millionaire."

Swingle is a nurse, and her philosophy of home health is focused on patient care, not profits. She also takes care of her employees by giving them full-time positions and benefits. This is unusual for home health agencies, which usually pay nurses on a per-visit basis. Swingle employs about 50 people, some part time and some full time.

"I like being listened to; Denise is very responsive," said Ellen Williams, an occupational therapist and fellow entrepreneur. Williams owns an oriental medicine practice in Windsor and works for Caring Hearts part time.

Williams said at Caring Hearts, nurses are able to give clients care that is specific to their needs, so the nurse who is best at hand therapy is given those cases. She also enjoys being able to help clients with a holistic approach instead of just treating their wounds.

"We hire people who do it for the right reasons," Swingle said of the nurses at Caring Hearts.

Nurses, Swingle said, are the backbone of the medical industry and home health allows them to spend one-on-one time with patients. She said she believes the home is the best place for people to heal. As baby boomers age, the demand for home care agencies will skyrocket.

"We help people learn to live with their disease," Swingle said, adding they can't fix everyone. In fact, Caring Hearts often refers patients to hospice or nursing home care. Swingle said patients find it easier to accept when one of her staff suggests hospice because clients know they care.

Caring Hearts is based in Greeley, and Swingle, Shovlin and Roth all live here. Swingle has no plans to expand to a national company, or even expand beyond northern Colorado.

"We would like to share what we do in the Fort Collins-Loveland area," Swingle said. She hopes to develop a formal education system to teach nurses how to work and care the way Caring Hearts does. Swingle wants to empower other nurses to start companies like Caring Hearts.

Swingle, Shovlin and Roth said after opening Caring Hearts six years ago, things just fell into place. Anytime they needed an employee, a new client or even a break, they've always received what they needed.

"We just have your regular ups and downs in business," Shovlin said.

After starting the company, Swingle went about nine months without a paycheck, but she was able to pay her employees. That was as rough as it's been.

Swingle doesn't take much credit for starting Caring Hearts. She said she couldn't have done it without Shovlin and Roth.

"It was meant to be. I guess this is what God wants," Swingle said.

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