BrightStar Care Appoints Chief Development Officer; Addus Promotes SVP to Executive Vice President

BrightStar Care names chief development officer

BrightStar Care has named Pete First its chief development officer.

“Pete came to BrightStar Care with more than two decades of franchise experience under his belt and he quickly took the brand to new heights,” Shelly Sun, founder and CEO of BrightStar Care, said in a statement. “I am thrilled to be welcoming Pete to the C-Suite, and no one is more qualified and equipped to run our franchise development team and efforts and continue the growth of our two newest brands — BrightStar Senior Living and BrightStar Care Homes — than he is.”

Chicago-based BrightStar Care is a home care and medical staffing franchise with more than 365 locations nationwide. The company provides medical and non-medical services to clients in their homes, as well as supplemental care staff to corporate clients.

First has served as senior vice president of franchise development since 2018.

In his new role, First will be in charge of recruiting new franchise owners for all three of BrightStar Group Holdings brands: BrightStar Care, BrightStar Senior Living and BrightStar Care Homes.

Additionally First will be at the helm of operations for BrightStar Senior Living and BrightStar Care Homes. He will also support the brand’s expansion into new markets and territories.

Addus adds executive vice president

Addus HomeCare Corporation (Nasdaq: ADUS) has promoted Monica Raines to executive vice president, chief compliance and quality officer.

Raines has over 20 years of experience advising health care companies and 10 years of compliance experience under her belt. She joined Addus in 2016 and previously served as senior vice president, chief compliance and quality officer.

“We are delighted to promote Monica Raines to this important senior leadership role at Addus,” Dirk Allison, chairman and CEO of Addus, said in a press release. “She brings the right combination of direct compliance experience and regulatory legal background to this position as well as a strong working knowledge of our operations. Addus has experienced tremendous growth and success since she joined the company.”

Frisco, Texas-based Addus provides home care services – including personal care, home health and hospice – to approximately 45,000 consumers through 211 locations across 22 states.

Help at Home appoints new board member

Help at Home has appointed Dr. Christina Jenkins to its board of directors.

Jenkins is a venture partner at Phoenix Venture Partners. She leads investments in seed and early-stage digital health and hardware-enabled platform companies used for diagnosis or monitoring.

She also serves on the boards of several venture-backed companies, is a board advisor to Independence Health Group — parent of Independence Blue Cross and Amerihealth Caritas — and advises C-suite health care leaders in health system redesign, integrated care strategies and clinical value improvement.

Additionally, she was the founding CEO of OneCity Health, a population-health focused subsidiary of NYC Health + Hospitals.

“I am excited to have Dr. Jenkins join our board of directors,” Chris Hocevar, CEO of Help at Home, said in a statement. “She brings a wide range of health and value-based care, as well as technology platform experience, which will deepen the board’s depth and breadth in areas critical to driving our company’s evolution.”

Based in Chicago, Help at Home delivers in-home and community-based care to 67,000 patients through its locations, which span across 11 states.

HomeWell Care Services hires senior director of training

Erika Ehlers has joined HomeWell Care Services as its senior director of training.

The Burkburnett, Texas-based home care franchise HomeWell has 50 locations representing over 100 territories across the United States.

Ehlers brings 25 years of training experience to the role. She recently served as vice president and learning lead at T. Rowe Price.

Before that, she held leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline, Choice Hotels International and WoodSpring Suites.

“I’ve worked across many different industries and was drawn to HomeWell because of its mission, its people and its community of owners,” Ehlers said in a press release. “I’ve been struck by how collaborative they are in sharing knowledge and learning from each other. Their desire to help others extends to their peer relationships as well—and for a learning professional, that’s a wonderful situation because peer learning is such a valuable complement to our learning content and facilitation.”

American Advantage Home Care names director of nursing

American Advantage Home Care Inc. has appointed Andrea MacLeod as director of nursing.

In the new position, MacLeod is responsible for overseeing patient services and supervising clinical personnel.

“Caring for people is Andrea’s calling,” Cleamon Moorer Jr., president and CEO of American Advantage Home Care, said in a statement. “Her broad, diverse experience, combined with her empathy and compassion for others, has prepared her to meet the unique challenges of providing superior care for American Advantage Home Care’s clients.”

Dearborn, Michigan-based American Advantage Home Care provides skilled nursing, rehab and specialty care services to nearly a dozen Michigan counties.

Previously, MacLeod has held registered nurse or nurse practitioner roles at BelleCare Medical Clinic, Livernois Family Medical Service, Havenwyck Hospital and St. John Moross Hospital.