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Caregivers take step beyond typical tasks

When she owned a craft store on Yarmouth's Main Street, Maureen Sullivan found that her shop had become a magnet for a group of elderly women who lived within walking distance. Their visits were not just about shopping. They wanted to get out of their homes and interact with people.

"A lot of them were lonesome," Sullivan said. "I thought to myself, 'Gee, maybe there is a need out there that is not being met.' "

That classic entrepreneurial revelation led Sullivan to sell her shop and open up a new company, Just Friends Inc., which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

The Yarmouth-based company today has 23 part-time employees and provides nonmedical services to the elderly and people with debilitating diseases, such as Alzheimer's.

The "friends," as Sullivan's employees call themselves, offer an array of services, such as reading aloud, playing cards, preparing meals, doing the laundry and driving people to errands and doctors' appointments. Some visit every morning to get people started on their day. Others visit once or twice a week.

The $17-per-hour fee may seem like a lot, but the service allows people to stay at home and avoid moving to assisted living facilities, which are much more costly, said Carl Barker, whose wife, Nancy, suffers from Parkinson's disease.

"Without these kinds of services, she probably would not be able to stay home much longer," Barker said.

Just Friends, one of 95 registered personal care agencies in Maine, is an example of a small business filling a void created by changing demographics. The state's population is aging rapidly, and adult children increasingly are living far away from their parents. The migration goes both ways. While children are leaving Maine to pursue careers, parents are moving to Maine to retire.

U.S. Census Bureau statistics document the shift. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of Maine residents age 55 and over jumped by 13 percent, while the number under age 55 declined by 3 percent. By 2015, one in three Mainers will be age 55 and older.

Sullivan, 56, said her employees often serve as the "eyes and ears" of clients' out-of-state children. They report on how their parents are doing, and also keep in regular communication with their clients' social networks in Maine.

Her job, she said, is hiring the right people and pairing them up with the right clients.

"It's a new match-making service," she said.

She looks for employees who have big personalities and are quick to smile. Most are semi-retired, minimizing the generation gap between them and their clients. They earn $9 an hour and get additional money when transporting clients.

A typical employee is Carol Elliott, 66 of Cumberland, a former stage actress who moved to Maine three years ago from Denver, Colo. She works 24 hours a week for Just Friends. She now has two clients but has had as many as six.

A current client is an elderly woman in Falmouth who has Parkinson's disease. Elliott visits her every morning and gets her out of bed and dressed. After breakfast, they go on a walk together.

One client, she said, would always say the same things on their daily stroll, usually at the same point on the route. Rather than get annoyed, Elliott turned the repetition into a fun routine.

'It was just like a play," she said. "She was saying the same lines."

Another employee, Jane Gabrielson, 45, of Yarmouth, said the chores she does, such as folding laundry, are just "make work" that provides the setting for social interaction, which is what many elderly crave.

"It's something you do while asking about their lives," she said. "It's an opportunity to connect."

Sullivan, who is a certified personal trainer, also offers her clients fitness evaluations and recommends an appropriate exercise routine. When her clients become so frail or sickly that they need more care than her staff can offer, she helps them move to the next level of care, such as an assisted living facility.

Nonprofit organizations, such as the Southern Maine Agency on Aging in Scarborough, offer free home visitation and grocery shopping services for residents in Cumberland and York counties. The agency depends on volunteers, and it can take several weeks for the agency to match volunteers with seniors, according to agency officials.

Sullivan said she doesn't have a waiting list and can give clients more consistency. In many cases, her clients have had the same caregiver for many years. Because they are paying for the service, she said, her clients have more control over the schedule and who will work for them.

Sullivan said the business gives her a fairly modest income, similar to what she earned while running her craft shop. She said her primary motivation is not money but bringing people together.

"It is really about establishing friendships that last," she said.

Carol Elliott, right, an employee of Just Friends Inc. of Yarmouth, walks a trail with Elizabeth Hamill near Falmouth House at Ocean View on Thursday. Just Friends offers nonmedical services, such as going for walks, to the elderly and persons with debilitating diseases.

Just Friends hires people with big personalities who are quick to smile, such as Carol Elliott, left, seen here with client Elizabeth Hamill in Falmouth.

Maureen Sullivan