FirstLight Home Care franchise Targets Pacific Northwest for Expansion

In eight years of franchising, FirstLight Home Care has established more than 230 territories in markets across the United States. There’s little mystery to franchise’s rapid growth. The need for elderly care, after all, is not limited to one particular market, and it’s estimated that 10,000 people in the U.S. turn 65 every day, that vast majority of whom will require care and prefer to stay in-home.

Still, there are markets that FirstLight has yet to penetrate, and the franchise is moving aggressively to fill those gaps. First up, the Pacific Northwest, where FirstLight is currently seeking its first franchise owners in Oregon and Wyoming.

According to FirstLight Home Care Director of Franchise Development Scott Oaks, those three states are well primed for this franchise opportunity.

“We’ve done a lot of research, and we’ve seen the need for us there,” Oaks said. “Our target demographics are well represented in the Pacific Northwest, now it’s just a matter of finding the right franchisee partners to introduce us to those markets.”

FirstLight Home Care’s franchisees in the Pacific Northwest will also benefit from the franchise’s existing accounts with national insurance providers. Oaks says those partners recommend FirstLight to potential clients all over the country, and once new territories are established in the Pacific Northwest, they will immediately be supported by those partnerships.

“We work closely with a number of insurance companies,” Oaks said. “When one of their patients needs home care, the insurance provider will recommend the closest FirstLight office. The partnership is negotiated all at the corporate office, and then the franchisees build those relationships locally in their community.”

According to Oaks, FirstLight Home Care’s biggest advantage in any market the franchise enters is the quality of its services.

“We hear time and time again about poor treatment, extremely high caregiver turnover, and no measuring of service levels in our industry,” Oaks said. “We have made a name for ourselves by offering high-quality, high retention of staff, compassionate care. That’s what families are looking for, and that’s where we’ve really excelled.”

“One thing that can be very upsetting for a family is when a caregiver quits and they have to find a new one,” he said. “High turnover is a real problem in this industry, but not for FirstLight. In the past four years, our franchisees have seen an 85-percent plus, retention rate among caregivers. Obviously, that’s great from a staffing perspective for the franchisee, but it also helps us build strong relationships with our clients.”