Teaming Up with Spoon River Home Health

March 20, 2007
Pat Abernathey

Farmington, IL - Spoon River Home Health of Farmington, Illinois and Caring Senior Service of San Antonio, Texas announced today the formation of a partnership to provide in-home personal care throughout Illinois.

Spoon River Home Health, which currently provides skilled-nursing services and in-home personal care, will separate the two businesses. Spoon River will continue to focus on providing reliable, high-quality nursing services, while Caring Senior Service will take over the in-home personal care services.

The new partnership will use the Caring Senior Service name for the personal-care business, and will open three offices on April 16 which will serve residents in Bloomington, Farmington, Galesburg, Normal, Peoria, Springfield and surrounding communities.

Susan Platt, R.N., founded Spoon River Home Health in 1993 after realizing the need of rural residents in Central Illinois for in-home skilled nursing services. While the company rapidly grew, Platt became overwhelmed with requests for non-nursing personal care – duties such as bathing, dressing, meal preparation, light housekeeping and errand running. Under the umbrella of Spoon River Home Health, Platt formed a personal-care division to handle these requests.

Today, Spoon River Home Health employs 130 people in Central Illinois and serves hundreds of patients throughout the region. The growth on both sides of the business led Platt to look for ways to grow the personal-care portion.

"While these businesses both do their work in people’s homes, they are very different in terms of structure, billing and services provided," Platt said. "In order to grow both sides, we have decided to partner with Caring Senior Service so total focus can be given to nursing and in-home personal care."

Caring Senior Service is a national leader in providing the highest level of reliability in personal care. The company began in 1991 in Odessa, Texas and has since grown to 23 offices throughout the United States.

"This is a great opportunity for Caring Senior Service," said Jeff Salter, CEO and Founder of Caring Senior Service. "We move into Illinois as a partner of a very successful company. Building on the great work Susan and Spoon River Home Health have done, Caring Senior Service will continue to provide Illinois residents with the highest level of in-home personal care."

For More Information Contact:
Pat Abernathey
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
210-226-6393 / 210-275-3122
pabernathey@caringinc.com