Right at Home Franchise Owner Serves Fellow Veterans

As a Right at Home owner of over 10 years, Mike Steiner has dedicated much of his time to improving the quality of life for older adults, including many fellow veterans wanting to age comfortably in their homes in his community. Now, Steiner will be furthering his impact beyond his clients’ homes by participating in the upcoming Lake County Honor Flight.

“Mike Steiner will be one of the 25 guardians who will be accompanying our 25 veterans on the upcoming Lake County Honor Flight #25, August 2-4, 2024,” said Lake County Honor Flight’s Board President John Passanante. “As a veteran himself, it's pretty certain Mike's bond with Bernie, our only WWII veteran on this flight, will be a little extra special. Without guardians, Honor Flight could not be possible. Their commitment is to ‘serve those who have served us.’”

“The Lake County Honor Flight is an incredible program that honors veterans by flying them to Washington, D.C., for a three-day visit to various memorials dedicated to their service,” Steiner said. “As a U.S. Navy veteran, it’s a huge honor to be a part of this mission and serve as a guardian and an even bigger honor to be matched with a 98-year-old Marine who served our country during World War II.” Steiner explained that he is very familiar with the Honor Flight and has helped multiple clients who have attended over the years.

Veteran support background

Steiner’s history supporting veterans runs much deeper than his recent involvement with the Lake County Honor Flight events.

After spending four years with the U.S. Navy, including time spent aboard the USS Puget Sound (AD-38) working as a data systems technician and a successful run on the U.S. Navy wrestling team, Steiner found his way to Motorola. While he oversaw major projects and had an important role in the early stages of technology development, he was not as connected to the veteran community as he would have liked. When corporate restructuring ended his 20-plus-year career with the company, Steiner began to seriously think about what he might do next.

“I was wondering what to do with the rest of my life and decided to look at franchising. As a project manager, acting as a general manager on various projects, I felt I could be successful in my own business. I love helping others, including my mom and my step-mom. Then I found Right at Home. Now, after 11 years in business, we’re a top-rated agency in Lake County, and we’re the only agency that has received both Home Care Pulse’s Provider of Choice and Employer of Choice awards for nine consecutive years.”

Right at Home business

While Steiner provides support to a wide range of clients through his Right at Home business, he has found his way back to the veteran community and become increasingly passionate about helping them stay safe and comfortable while aging in their homes for as long as possible.

“I work with a lot with veterans and their families to help them better understand and use their benefits. Most of my (veteran clients) often don’t know that their benefits can be used to pay for our services, and tapping into those can save families thousands of dollars per year,” Steiner said. “Veterans will often say things like, ‘I don’t want to use it.

I don’t need it, I don’t deserve it, let other veterans more deserving use these benefits.’ I take this as a personal challenge and love sharing the possibilities with them and reminding them that, whether they volunteered or were drafted, they wrote that blank check to Uncle Sam — they put themselves and their families at risk and now it’s time for them and our government wants to help. These are benefits they earned and deserve, and they should use them which can help not only them but their families.”

Serving as a guardian on the Lake County Honor Flight is just one of the ways Steiner works to support veterans to help in the final chapter in their lives.

During the trip, his primary responsibility as a “guardian” will be to stay with the veteran he was matched with the entire time and ensure his veteran has the best possible experience as possible while they visiting the Arlington National Cemetery, Military Women’s Memorial, Marine Corps War Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Wall and more.

While the Honor Flight is meant to celebrate the 25 veterans taking the trip, Steiner noted that attending as a guardian is literally a bucket-list item of his — demonstrating just how dedicated he is to supporting and serving.

“In my early days, as I learned more about Right at Home and started working more with lots of older veterans, it felt so good to be able to help them maneuver red-tap at this stage of their lives,” Steiner said. “Since then, I’ve become even more involved in the veteran community and beyond.”

In the in-home care space, this level of passion and dedication is important. Many caregivers agree that the work, while incredibly rewarding, can also be grueling at times. Having the intrinsic motivation to continue serving others is what makes great caregivers so great, and Steiner has continually demonstrated this drive in his own work.

In addition to his ongoing support of fellow veterans and choice to step up and support a fellow veteran for the Honor Flight, Steiner is a board member of AgeGuide, Continuity of Care (Lake/McHenry County), Grayslake Exchange Club and his local Chamber of Commerce. He is a Certified Dementia Practitioner and Certified Senior Advocate, serves as co-chair of the Home Care Association of Illinois Legislative Committee and co-chair of the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Senior Advocacy Committee, and is an appointed member of Right at Home’s Strategic Leadership Council.

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