One of my favorite movies is Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail. Not only because Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks might be the most lovable duo to ever grace a movie screen, but because it was a script and a story that made heart sense. The characters cared.
One of the best exchanges in the film happens roughly three-quarters of the way through, as Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox are chatting. (Spoiler alert: this movie came out in 1998, so I don’t feel bad saying the independent bookstore folded.) Joe notes that it wasn’t personal – his superstore taking over the neighborhood- and Kathleen retorts smartly: “All that means is that it wasn’t personal to you. But it was personal to me. (…) Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.”
I’m not certain that America’s rom-com king and queen had anything to do with the beginnings of San Juan Capistrano’s newest franchise of Home Instead, but I can tell you with one-hundred percent certainty that it began by being personal.
Jim and Candice Kordenbrock moved to sunny Southern California more than 20 years ago for a short-term assignment, and never went home again. Planting roots in San Clemente was a no-brainer after surviving repeated winters in Upstate New York. Their kids spread out among Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School and San Clemente High, and Jim and Candice got to work: emerging from an esteemed military career into the world of marketing, advertising, and executive management.
As a Captain in the United States Army, Jim is no stranger to taking a leadership role – and the couple overflow with qualities like integrity and compassion. Qualities which lend themselves well to a trajectory into home health care.
Becoming the owner and president of Southern California’s Home Instead wasn’t a mistake: Jim’s desire to build a business alongside the world’s most respected and leading provider of in-home care services for seniors came from professional career learnings and personal experiences caring for loved ones.
“My father battled Alzheimer’s disease for years until he died at the age of 92,” says Jim. “I saw the impact, stress, and sadness that it caused my mother, my family, our friends. My mother passed away exactly one year and two months after a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.”
One might be tempted to walk away from such an experience with a mistrust of healthcare practitioners, but instead, through all of it, Jim “experienced the compassion, love, care, and commitment from caregivers who knew what to say, how to say it, and when to say it: even if (we) didn’t want to hear it.” Home Instead has a proprietary approach to the care they offer, which creates a trusted, compassionate, high-quality in-home elder care experience.
The realities of aging aren’t always glamorous. Many fall out of touch with even the closest family members, or can’t keep up with social activities in the same way they once could. The common activities of daily living can be grueling, but caretakers who step in and build a lasting relationship with family and elderly alike retain dignity for those they care for. Cared for means that elderly remain active, which makes a difference in creating opportunities for them to help themselves, creating resilience, independence, and confidence. If managing pain or a chronic health condition has become a burden on the family, it can be draining for everyone involved.
The relief an on-site caretaker brings ensures the burden is lifted, all while ensuring person-centered care “is tailored to the individual’s needs.” After all – it might be business, but it begins and ends with being personal.
