Kelsie Reed Blakeney, a registered nurse with nearly a decade of experience, has founded Ablake Healthcare in Columbia, South Carolina, to provide compassionate and comprehensive home care services for seniors and their families.

Drawing on her extensive background in critical care, Blakeney aims to address the challenges families face in caring for elderly loved ones. She offers a range of medical and non-medical services designed to support and enhance their quality of life.

“My time in the nursing profession has been nothing short of amazing, and my experiences with patients and families have given me a much deeper understanding of what it means to be a nurse,” Blakeney told Home Health Care News. “While critical care was rewarding, I felt in my heart that I was meant to provide a different type of care — care that reaches communities, care that gives back and care that treats your family as my own.”

After transitioning to long-term and community care, Blakeney observed the challenges that families encounter while caring for their loved ones.

“Caring for an elderly or disabled family member can be overwhelming, and many families are not prepared to provide the necessary level of care,” she explained. “Making the decision to place a loved one in a long-term care facility can be heartbreaking, and these facilities are often prohibitively expensive, leaving families feeling overwhelmed and unprepared.”

Recognizing the increasing demand for affordable and reliable care for seniors and their families, Blakeney founded Ablake Healthcare, an agency that serves families in several South Carolina counties, including Chesterfield, Lancaster, Marlboro, Kershaw, Darlington, Florence, Richland, Lexington, and York.

Ablake Healthcare provides 24/7 availability and a comprehensive range of skilled nursing and therapeutic services for individuals recovering from illness or surgery, as well as those managing chronic conditions. Their offerings include Alzheimer’s and dementia care, fall prevention, meal preparation, respite care, medication management and post-operative care. They accept clients through private pay, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Before launching Ablake, Blakeney vowed to uphold the mission of providing clients with the best possible care.

“We ensure high-quality service by conducting in-home client assessments,” she stated. “These assessments are carried out by one of Ablake’s registered nurses to gather all necessary information for effective client care. Once the assessment is complete, we initiate a client-caregiver match, enabling us to pair our clients with a dedicated caregiver who best meets their needs. Our clients are assigned a primary caregiver to foster trust and enhance overall quality of care.”

In addition to ongoing training and education, such as CPR and first aid, caregivers receive training in client safety and managing chronic conditions at home.

“As a critical care registered nurse, I am primarily responsible for meeting our patients’ needs,” Blakeney stated. “From life-saving measures to daily activities such as bathing and feeding, we do whatever is necessary to meet their specific needs. My experience as a nurse has influenced the services our agency offers, ensuring that our clients are always at the center of the care plan. Sometimes, they may be completely dependent on our services, while at other times, they may only need companionship for a day. Regardless of the specific need, our clients and their families can depend on Ablake to provide exceptional care.”

Ablake Healthcare plans to expand its services to include skilled nursing care, along with physical, occupational and speech therapy, according to Blakeney. During the next five years, she hopes to add non-emergency medical transportation and establish an adult day center to encourage social engagement among seniors and their peers.