How to Start an Adult Day Care

Business Overview:

If you enjoy caring for others and are looking for a truly rewarding business opportunity, you should learn how to start an adult day care. These days more and more families include three generations living under the same roof. Often both parents go off to jobs during the day and the children go to school. Families don’t want to leave an elderly family member in the home all day with no one to talk to and no way to get around. This is why learning how to start an adult daycare is one of the most worthwhile business ideas available for someone interested in providing a valuable service to the elder generation. Adult daycare facilities are designed to give elderly people a place to go during the day where they can socialize, participate in planned activities and have their general health supervised. Adult day care is similar to elder care except instead of you and your staff traveling to the homes of your elderly clients, you provide an area in your home or in a separate building where multiple elderly people gather. The level of health service you provide can range from administering medication to having a nurse on staff who can check vital signs and perform emergency lifesaving procedures. The start-up costs involved will be determined by the scope of your business model. You can care for a few clients in your home which would cost next to nothing. However, if you want to operate a larger business, you can buy or lease a separate building to house your care center. You would need to hire a full-time staff to assist with the administration and social planning. To add value to your business and create an opportunity to increase your profits, you could add transportation to your list of services. If you’re unable to do the driving yourself and your business model doesn’t allow for the added expense of drivers and cars, you can contract with a bus or limousine service to handle your transportation needs. Another way to branch out with a current business is to expand a children’s daycare business to include seniors. Day care centers that provide services to both children and older adults see benefits to both generations. Studies suggest that kids who have daily contact with seniors are almost a year ahead of preschoolers who are in standard day care facilities. They also have better manners, are able to work together, can use words to describe their emotions and they play well in social situations. As you can see, the options are abundant when considering opening an adult day care center. Regardless of your business model, the real winners are the elderly adults.

A Day in the Life of an Adult Day Care Business Owner:

If you operate your business from your home, your day will begin early, making sure your home is clean and tidy and ready for your clients to arrive. If you operate your business from a separate building, you and your staff will prepare the facility for the day and begin welcoming your customers. If you offer pick-up service, you or your drivers will arrive at customers’ houses at scheduled pick-up times and transport them back to your facility. Throughout the day, you will either directly participate in or oversee planned activities, games and the general welfare of your customers. At the end of the day, your customers will be picked up by their families or your transportation service will take them home.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be families of senior citizens who are looking for a great place for their elderly family members to spend the day. Though the family will likely be paying the bill, your customers will also be the seniors since they are the ones who will need your excellent services.

What You Need to Start:

• Business plan
• Space in your home for seniors or a separate building
• Staff (if needed)
• Transportation service (optional)
• Medical professional on staff (optional)
• Business license and insurance
• Entertainment items (outings, games, movies, magazines, books, etc.)
• Computer with finance software

The Good:

• As more and more seniors live with their families, the need for this type of business will continue to increase.
• If running this business from home, the start-up costs are minimal.
• You can easily scale up this business to handle more customers.
• You can hire a staff to help you tend to the needs of your customers.
• It is highly rewarding to offer a high quality care facility for seniors and a solution for their families.

The Bad:

• If you choose to operate in a separate building, the start-up costs can be quite high (building, staff, furniture, etc.).
• Some customers and their families may be difficult to work with.

Resources:

• National Adult Day Services Association
• Association for Senior Citizens
• Senior Citizens Association of America
• American Seniors Association
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Social and Human Service Assistants
• Wikipedia on Adult Day Care Centers

About The Author

---

Templateify

Praesent nec tortor quam. Quisque ac malesuada augue. Sed dignissim gravida odio ut bibendum. Cras fermentum euismod turpis. Nunc nec diam ante, et faucibus ipsum. Etiam imperdiet mattis elit et molestie. Nulla feugiat mollis leo vel egestas. Pellentesque convallis

- Twitter - Facebook - Google+