Nightingale's Nursing soars despite tough times

FLORENCE — Nightingale’s Nursing is a home care provider that has seen good exponential growth even with the downturn of the economy.

The recession was something that actually allowed the company to grow while many other companies had to cut back, owner and CEO Gloria Kasler said.

AT A GLANCE

NAME: Nightingale’s Nursing & Attendant Care Services Inc.
Established: December 2001
Address: 2721 David McLeod Blvd., Florence (corporate office)
CEO: Gloria Kasler
Number of employees: 607
Product/specialty: In-home caregivers for personal and/or skilled care
Web: http://www.nightingalesnursing.net

“We started getting higher level calls from human resource departments from other companies and applicants looking for work,” said Kasler, a registered nurse.

Up to that point, Kasler said, she was doing employee recruitment the old-fashioned way, by listing open positions with Web sites and classified advertisements. People with nursing skills who had been working for other companies were now out of a job and were coming to Nightingale’s Nursing for work.

The applicants weren’t only nurses, either.

“We were having applicants with a lot of experience with Internet technology, too. Previously it was difficult to recruit for these positions but especially nursing,” Kasler said.

The increase in applicants allowed Kasler to remove her listings for employment from Web sites for RNs, licensed practical nurses and personal care aids.

Now with upturn of the economy, Kasler said, her business continues to grow steadily. One reason for that is the incentives she offers to employees.

“I think some things that we offer to employees like paid days off with good evaluations, retirement through profit sharing, health insurance and paying time and a half for holidays helps keep employees happy,” she said.

Now that growth was knocking at Nightingale’s Nursing’s door, Kasler said she wasn’t afraid to admit she needed a little help. That help came from her husband, Tom, a 40-year Georgia-Pacific employee who retired as director of Dixie Cup in Darlington and joined her company in July.

“It was a little terrifying at first, but he’s here to keep me from having a heart attack, and that’s his goal,” Kasler said with a laugh.

He brought to the table a vast knowledge of non-patient related issues such as compliance and consistency.

He also is the unofficial chief financial officer who pays the bills and works with all the different insurance companies to get a good rate.

“We’re a unique business because a lot of our revenue comes from state funding (Medicare),” he said.

Nightingale’s Nursing can also be considered unique because of the family involvement that has helped the company grow. Kasler’s two daughters, Brandy Strong and Babbette Yates, Babbette’s husband, Chris, and Tom’s sons Jeffrey and Nick also work for the company. Brandy and Babbette both work in the Charleston office, along with Kasler’s son-in-law, Chris.

“It’s been fabulous working with both of them,” Kasler said.

Tom said they all have a good working relationship. “It really gives us a sense of community and an intrinsic built-in loyalty, trust and dependability,” he said.

Another reason for growth is the fact people continue to get older and have needs for health care, Kasler said. It’s cheaper to send a home care professional to a person’s residence for a few hours than to have to look at putting a loved one into an assisted living facility or a nursing home, she said.

Nightingale’s Nursing offers a wide range of services to assist in home care, Kasler said. Some of those services, aside from the usual medical needs, are bathing, dressing, transportation, meal preparation and exercise program supervision, among others.

Although senior citizens are a part of the clientele, there is a wide range of clients who aren’t seniors. The nurses are able to care for quadriplegic, autistic, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy patients, too.

“What we do is send qualified, competent and insured individuals to someone’s home in order to help them with activities of daily living that they need to remain at home,” she said.

All of Nightingale’s Nurses have obtained home health aid certification from the state. In addition, the nurses have written, verbal and hands-on testing in-house to ensure they’re ready to work with patients. Whether the client is rich or poor the client has the same level of care and that allows us to cater to a broad spectrum of care,” Kasler said.