Getting to Know RAH President Dan Parker

April 01, 2011

1) Describe Right at Home as a business. Did you find it, or did it find you?

Right at Home is an international provider of non-medical in-home care services for seniors and disabled adults.  As a company we strive to help our clients stay in their homes as long as possible.  We do that by recruiting, training, deploying, and supervising caregivers who can provide a wide range of services.  These services range from companion care to personal care and include, light housekeeping, transportation, errands, meal preparation, up through transferring, bathing, and incontinence care.

 My wife Jill and I decided we wanted to start our own business and we laid out certain parameters we thought would be important to our success.  One of those parameters was that the business should cater to baby boomers.  We chose to seek a franchise model for a new business because of the improved success rates new owners see over starting a new business from scratch.  Once we identified senior care as the industry we wanted to play in, I used my experience as a senior operations manager from my years working in Silicon Valley to research and compare the market segment and choose a partner that we wanted to align ourselves with.  We chose Right at Home because of the people we met there.  We attended a “Discovery Day” in Omaha, Nebraska where we met the senior management team, and just as importantly, they had a chance to evaluate us as potential new owners.  A big part of Right at Home’s culture is insuring that new franchisee owners meet stringent standards financially, but more importantly that they have the character to uphold the excellent reputation that Right at Home enjoys in the industry.  So I guess you could say that we found our new business rather than it finding us.

 2) How are you involved with both the community and your clients?

 Our local Right at Home team has and continues to be very involved in our local community and I have the pleasure of personally supporting many of these efforts.  We have supported a number of different support society’s including the Alzheimer’s Aid Society, The Alzheimer’s Association, The Multiple Sclerosis Society, and others.  Each of these societies holds a number of fund raising events each year and we are involved with those.  We just recently had the privilege of sponsoring the “UC Davis Mini-Medical School event with nearly 500 participants attending the five Saturday educational classes that teach seniors about healthy aging.  When our business was starting out I had the privilege of working directly with our clients and their families, determining the amount of care they required and helping them to match with an excellent caregiver from our team; it was very rewarding.  As our business has grown and we have added staff, I do not get out to meet directly with our clients as much I did in the beginning.  I don’t feel too bad though, we have an awesome staff, who have providing care deeply imbedded in their DNA, so I know that our clients are getting the best care available. 

 3) Why is your Right at Home team the best in the business?

 Caregiving is not just a job.  In each orientation class I speak to our employees about how “if you do not have a heart for caregiving” you will not last very long in this business.  We look for that in each new applicant and have built that into the culture of our company.  We love our clients and their families and they always come first.  Every decision we make as a team is seen through the prism of “what is in the best interest of our client.”  We also made the determination as a team that we are always ready when our clients and referral sources need us.  You can call our office at 7pm Sunday evening and speak to one of our staff members, and if you need it, you can have a caregiver in your home within hours; this is our culture.

 4) What life accomplishments are you most proud of?

 I am the proud father of two beautiful daughters, Katy and Lyndsey.  Lyndsey has just recently married her high school sweetheart, Robby, and she also joined the team here at Right at Home.  I was nervous to hire my daughter, although I was pretty certain she would do a great job.  Hiring family and friends has always been something I have tried to avoid for obvious reasons, but I am proud to say that she is having a positive impact as a member of our staff and we are very happy to have her.  My daughter Katy and her husband Jimmy just bought their first house and we are looking forward to helping them to make it just the way they want it.  Both of my daughters have been discussing starting their families, I guess it was inevitable that I would become a “grandfather”, you know, I guess I am ready for that.

 5) Who is your role model in life – and why?

 Without a doubt, my Dad, Richard Parker of Cicero NY.  When I was growing up, my father was the best known, non-faculty parent in our high school.  He did this because he was so involved with his kids and their sports programs.  As such, he got to know many of the athletes in our high school and still runs into people in our home town who remember “Mr. Parker” and how he cheered and supported their efforts.  My Dad always made time for his kids and likes to joke that he “wore out four cars” picking us up from practice after school.  I suppose that I took that somewhat for granted when I was a kid, but as an adult and a father myself, I now realize how much sacrifice and effort he put into being our Dad. 

 6) What is your hidden talent?

 Honestly, I can’t think of a thing…

 7) What’s your favorite place to eat out locally?

 This question is easier, The Kitchen, my wife Jill introduced me to The Kitchen several years ago on my birthday and it was a wonderful experience.  I loved the different courses and the theater they create while being right in the middle of the action as the Chef’s prepared our meal.  I also really liked being able to go back into the kitchen and watch the Chef’s at each of their stations working their magic.  It was a wonderful meal and a fabulous way to celebrate my birthday.  I have had the good fortune to go back several more times; I don’t think I could get tired eating there.

 8) What’s your favorite memory of working with your Right at Home clients?

 Fortunately, it is a re-occurring one, it is when a family member speaks with us after losing a Mom or Dad because they want to tell us personally how much of a positive impact our caregivers and the service they provided meant to their Mom or Dad and the rest of the family.  It is really what our business is all about.  We want to help folks stay in their home as long as possible and be as independent as they can be.  Most of our clients start out being resistant to having someone come into their home to help them, but once they meet our caregivers they begin to appreciate how much easier things are on them and their family. 

That’s our goal – “Improving the quality of life for those we serve” – we really do believe that.

 9) What’s your favorite local business other than your own?

 Being an avid golfer, anyone of dozens of very good golf courses here in the Sacramento area.  When I lived in the Bay Area, we were also blessed with good golf courses, but they were very expensive.  Living here in Sacramento, I get the best of both worlds, great golf courses at reasonable prices.  These are my three favorites here in the area: Dark Horse (Auburn), Winchester Country Club (Auburn), and Morgan Creek (Roseville), but there are many more…

 10) And finally, customer service is…?

 A culture; either your company has it, or it doesn’t.  This culture starts at the top in any organization and must be driven down through the ranks on an on-going basis for it to exist.  At Right at Home we are determined that our client’s best interest is our focus.  This is not always an easy task, sometimes the clients best interest is not in what might normally be considered the best interest of the business. 

I believe that what you sow, you reap; we focus on our client’s best interest and trust that in the end, our business will succeed because of it.