Colleen O’Dowd Arranging Quality Care For Elderly A Satisfying Pursuit

When the elderly can no longer care for themselves, Colleen O’Dowd reaches into the gaggle of social services and pulls out a solution.

After nearly a decade of work in nursing homes, homeless shelters and social agencies, O’Dowd heard the call of older people who needed help finding someone they could trust.

“And I thought, hey, I could do that,” O’Dowd said. Elder Care Specialists sprang to life in April 1995.

As the baby boom generation slides into maturity, the need for quality care of the elderly increases. With specialized care in nursing homes costing around $3,000 a month, even the largest savings account can be depleted quickly when someone loses the ability to care for themselves, O’Dowd said.

“If a person can stay at home, it makes a big difference for them,” she said. Her clients are often reluctant to call her only because they’re not used to asking for assistance.

“People don’t want to ask for help,” she said. “They grew up during the Depression and they’re not used to asking for help. They’re very prideful, and it’s difficult for them to reach out and ask.”

When they do, O’Dowd has a bevy of choices at her fingertips. She can place someone in a reputable nursing home, or, more often, she assesses each person’s needs and hires someone to live with them at home or visit them each day.

“Some of the elderly just need companionship,” she said. “One woman called me up and it turned out she just needed a social life. Of course, I didn’t charge her for helping out with that.”

But more often there are serious problems at an elder’s home. O’Dowd spends hours with the person to get an idea of what they need, then begins an exhaustive screening process.

To select the right care provider, O’Dowd’s draws on her degree in criminal justice and years working as an evidence technician, as well as her knack for knowing people and an ability to sense their character.

When hiring someone for a part-time caretaker job, she culls through about 100 applications. The field narrows quickly, as candidates fail to show up for interviews or don’t exhibit the necessary compassion the job demands.

“I had one gal show up in a studded leather jacket and some old ripped jeans,” she said. “That’s just not the way you want to start with a potential employer.”

The fact that she gets so many applications for caretaker positions each time she places an ad reflects North Idaho’s high unemployment rate. The jobs, depending on how much skill and training each requires, can pay as much as several thousand a month.

O’Dowd charges $250 for placing one employee, and $500 for doing a search for a live-in helper.

The most difficult part of screening potential caretakers is assessing their honesty. O’Dowd’s had to fire just one of the 85 or so caretakers she’s hired for her elderly clients. That person was adored by the elderly women who were O’Dowd’s clients, “but the girl was very manipulative. We just had to get her out.”

Petty theft and more serious crimes are big issues for liveat-home caretakers. O’Dowd winces when talking about elderly people who conduct their own searches for people to help them out.

“The most rewarding part of what I do is when I can link up two families who stay in contact with each other for years,” she said. “Often the person I place in the home becomes an adopted member of that family, and there becomes a bond that lasts.”

North Idaho has some fine facilities for elderly care, but for a price. O’Dowd sees her business expanding as more elderly see the financial wisdom in remaining at home.

For many in O’Dowd’s generation, “sandwiched” between the baby boomers and Generation X, they have financial responsibility for their children as well as their aging parents. Through her service, O’Dowd tries to give peace of mind for those who want to trust the people looking after their parents.

O’Dowd learned much about the challenges of elder care when she ran her own nursing facility out of her home. “You have to practically be a psychologist to understand these people with dementia,” she said. “It’s very difficult sometimes. You have to be able to find out what’s wrong with people who don’t always tell you.”

She has taken her knowledge to scout the groups of people who apply for caretaker jobs. North Idaho remains flush with “some very great people for this kind of work,” she said.

O’Dowd would like to expand the business some day, possibly even franchise it around the country. She’s writing a handbook for the elderly on how to screen a group of people for a caretaker job.

O’Dowd fits her interviews and follow-up visits while raising a teenage son. Her daughter recently married. A Pocatello, Idaho, native, she returned to Idaho from Arizona in 1985.

In the free time she finds, O’Dowd likes to read, work out and “do basically anything involving the water.”

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