Treating clients as family
by Mark H. Stowers
The Bolivar Bullet
Time waits for no one it is often said. Aging can be hard but there is help. Magnolia Home Care, in business since 2000, has been helping people age with ease. Karen Barr, owner, originally had set out for a life in accounting but changed her major while at Delta State to Social Work. Her fire to work with the geriatric population was lit while working for a local nursing home. But, it was a class outside of her original accounting set that turned her around.
“The epiphany happened when I found myself enrolled in Alinda Sledge’s first night class – Introduction into Social Work,” said Barr. “I remember sitting in the front row of the first class she taught at Delta State. After listening to her talk, I knew I had found what I had been searching for – I finally knew what I wanted to do. I had found something that really interested me and created a great desire to learn. I wanted to be a social worker.”
After graduation she worked in the medical social work field for two decades before deciding to create her own business.
“While working at a rather large home health agency, daily, I could see patients who needed more extended periods of non-medical service than what a home health agency could provide due to the restrictions of Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurances,” she said. “After very serious consideration, I decided to give it a try. With the encouragement of my family, I established Magnolia Home Care in June of 2000. The first day I ran an ad in the paper, my phone started ringing. I had my first patient.”
Today, Barr has more than 30 employees and helps geriatric patients across the Delta. These include Certified Nursing Assistants, Personal Care Attendants and some care givers who have years of experience.
“You have to know how to deal with different personalities and adjust accordingly. It’s a very personal job and you become attached to your patients. We provide non-medical care in their home helping them attain maximum level of independence wherever they are,” said Barr. “We make a difference every day in someone’s life. Husbands and wives, sons and daughters find comfort in knowing the care their aging or disabled loved ones receive on a daily basis is provided by Magnolia Home Care.”
Magnolia Home Care provides in-home, non-medical care that includes daily living activities such as bathing, dressing, meal prep, light housekeeping, errands, medication reminders and more.
“We can care for them in the hospital or nursing homes and even assisted living but it’s primarily in their own homes,” she said. “Each patient’s care plan is individualized to their specific needs. We want them to do as much for themselves as they can but we also want them to be safe in doing so.”
With a minimum of 20 hours a week, Magnolia Home Care can go up to 24/7 care as well.
“We are truly “Caring for your loved ones like they were our own.” I have been very blessed to find something I absolutely love doing while helping others in the process. My daddy always said, “If you do something you love, then it really doesn’t seem like work at all.”
To learn more, give Barr a call at (662) 719-8491. Caring for your loved ones like they are our own, Magnolia Home Care.