¶ … Non-Profit Business Plan for Care on the Horizon Imagine a community of elderly people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities. Now imagine that each and every one of them must provide for themselves and their health care by leaving their homes and making a difficult trek to the local health care facility, where they will have to wait in line, sometimes for hours, before they can be quickly seen and just as quickly dispatched back home. What an exhausting way to live -- especially in one's old age, when retirement is supposed to be a more pleasant and less fatiguing way of life.

Such communities exist all over the nation but especially in NY. In many cases, there is no one who can properly look after such people, at least not in the traditional sense, where home care is a natural and effective remedy to such situations. Fortunately, our organization has formed that will help put an end to this state of affairs. The local elderly population in our community can now receive the kind of home care it deserves, as our company has developed a plan to meet the diverse needs of the diverse elderly population in our area. Our team consists of senior citizens, doctors, nurses, psychologists and more -- all of whom are dedicated professionals ready and willing to provide the kind of home care treatment that the elderly generation has been waiting for. There will be no more rushing off to the emergency room or hospital for a simple or routine check-up, no more dangerous situations in which the elderly might suffer a fall, and no more exhausting all-day trips to the doctor's office. Now, with Care on the Horizon, the doctors and nurses are coming to the homes of the elderly.

Company Overview

The motto of Care on the Horizon is "We believe in Care" -- and this is rooted in the fact that at Care on the Horizon we are firmly committed to our belief that health care is not something that should be taken for granted. On the contrary, there is an exacting science to providing adequate and effective health care and doing just that is the mission of Care on the Horizon. We aim to offer serious solutions and exceptional service to individuals in need and view ourselves as the last hope -- the cavalry arriving at dawn just in the nick of time -- the reinforced battalion appearing over the ridge just as the enemy is about to close in. That is our estimation of what we promise to deliver day in and day out. Because of our work ethic, our leadership skills, our commitment to transparency and values and virtue-based system of corporate governance, our company is at the forefront of providing the kind of quality health care that people need, demand, expect and deserve.

Care on the Horizon is a Home Health Care Services for the Elderly Population. Our agency provides nursing, therapy, education, social work, doctors, psychologists and home health aide. The company can meet all the needs of the elderly population and give the level of care, comfort and attention that elderly require. When approaching the horizon of one's life, Care on the Horizon is there to make sure you are taken care of every step of the way.

The Problem, the Need and the Target Market

The elderly population in our community requires special attention and care that only specifically trained individuals who specialize in this market can consistently deliver. Elderly care is indeed a niche market that demands constant qualification and commitment from practitioners, knowledge in the latest up-to-date methods and approaches that can deliver optimum care all the time. The problem is that in this community there are few alternatives to gaining the type of care that elderly persons need, especially when it comes to at-home service. The traditional house-call doctor has become virtually extinct in the modern era -- but Care on the Horizon aims to change that and bring back one of the most important, significant, special and individualized care practices in the history of medicine -- the house-call provider.

The need for this service is well-documented: Kemper (1992), Kornowski et al. (1995), Smeenk et al. (1998), Szebehely and Trydegard (2012), and Ventura et al. (2014) all show that home-based care can meet the previously unmet needs of both patients and practitioners by affording better palliative care in a more rewarding situation and environment. The study by Ventura et al. (2014) especially shows that home-based care is something that could completely revolutionize the way we currently think about medicine and health...

As far as elderly persons are concerned, home-based care is not only wanted, it is needed -- for elderly people are no long in the prime of their youth and have a very difficult time moving from place to place. Thus, it just makes sense that a service provider be able to come to the aid of the elderly community and give to them what so many other people who are not even old so eagerly desire: effective care and treatment.
Located in Rosedale Queens within close proximity to Franklin Hospital, which will serve as a referral base for the agency, Care on the Horizon is well-positioned to cater to the needs of the local community. Thus, the target market for this initiative is the local elderly community within a reasonable radius of the Care on the Horizon/Franklin Hospital locale. Since consumers are typically referred to us by NY state, physicians and other health care professionals, our target market includes these consumers as well.

Solution: Product and Services

The solution to the needs of elderly patients in our community is palliative home-care provisions that Care on the Horizon specializes in bringing. Care on the Horizon utilizes e-medicine and telehealth in order to bring 21st century technology to elderly patients in their homes rather than forcing these same patients to go to hospitals for treatment. Telehealth allows for records to be digitally stored in the cloud database system and accessed by practitioners and providers who are essentially on the go. It also greatly facilitates home health care professionals by making it easier to retrieve and update records without having to wait on transferences or rely on third parties.

The home care that Care on the Horizon will provide is a unique service in the community that truly puts the patient first. It is also geared towards providing the elderly and loved ones with information about how to better prepare themselves in precautionary ways -- such as by guarding against falls, which is one of the most devastating impacts that elderly can receive. Thus, by educating elderly and those who visit them about what to watch out for in order to prevent falls, Care on the Horizon also takes a preventive approach to providing care in the community.

The service is a 24-7 service that is specifically situated to be on-call at all hours of the day so that if there is a need for service late at night or in the early morning or even during the day, someone is there to take the call and route the patient to the correct service practitioner. With on-the-go specialists coordinating with Care on the Horizon, the agency is equipped to meet all the needs of elderly patients within our radius.

Competition

Competition to Care on the Horizon is minimal as there are virtually no other home-based health care providers who provide the level of robust, specialized, experienced and practical care that our team of professionals can deliver around the clock. The nearest competitor in terms of providing home care to the local elderly population is hospice but hospice is geared more towards end-of-life care, whereas Care on the Horizon is dedicated to all aspects of elderly care, not just terminal care or end-of-life care. Thus, Care on the Horizon could be utilized by early retirees and late-in-life individuals who need care at home.

Other competitors are smaller, private institutions that provide a kind of day-care service for elderly patients, wherein a person is hired simply to stay with the elderly individual through the day and sometimes through the night, but these caretakers are not trained or equipped to provide the kind of specialized care that the professionals associated with Care on the Horizon can give.

Team

The Care on the Horizon team consists of all types of individuals. The non-profit organization was started by five different owners: a social worker, a nurse, a doctor, a psychologist and a senior citizen. Thus, every aspect of the service was determined by a unique stakeholder in the enterprise -- or, in other words, every stakeholder is represented in Care on the Horizon -- from the elderly patient himself to the care provider.

Today, the team consists of these same groups, with nurses, doctors, psychologists, and social workers participating with senior…