Support Systers, LLC -- News

New Jersey Business Monthly
August 18, 2003

Where Social Work Meets Health Care
A Startup targets the special needs of in-home patients and their families
by Wamiq Chowdhurry

Annandale, NJ – Stephen Kane knows how hard it can be to balance caring for an elderly loved one with working a full-time job. In 1991, Kane’s mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. His parents, who live on Long Island, have since suffered from prostate cancer, bladder cancer, and heart attacks.

Kane, 49, and his sisters have thus had to juggle caregiving responsibilities with their jobs, with all the time and stress that entails. He has brought president of Support Systers, an Annandale company whose approach combines social work with home health care. The idea is to provide the total care package for patients that families are typically unable to give.

Support Systers sends its 10 registered nurses into homes to handle tasks ranging from administering injections to organizing insurance payments and accompanying patients to medical appointments. “Most of our patient interactions happen in a treatment facility setting,” says Kane. “We ask questions, get clarification, and help the patient and the patient’s family understand just what is going on.”

Founded in 2000 by social worker Ann Picardo, who has been a psychotherapist in private practice for 15 years, Support Systers is still just getting started. The company, which charges $75 an hour, has 15 clients and expects revenue of $250,000 to $350,000 this year. “Our focus right now is on the top line and we are achieving significant growth there,” Kane says.

Kane, who had been chief marketing officer for PWI, a Red Bank software company, was looking for a change when he heard about support Systers. His contact was his wife, Kathy, who was a Support Systers nurse and is now a vice president. “I was extremely enamored of the type of care the company was providing,” he says.

Support Systers aims to relieve what it calls the productivity crisis that befalls firms whose employees must manage the health of their loved ones. One 1999 study found that virtually everyone who has done this has been forced to alter his or her work schedule.

The study, whose sponsors included MetLife and the National Alliance for Caregiving, found that 18% of those surveyed had to take leaves of absence and another 13% had to quit their jobs altogether.

The study questioned 55 people over the age of 45 who had experience work disruptions while providing care for six months or longer. On average, respondents to the poll spent eight years at the task and some had spent more than 16.

Support Systers matches its nurses with patients by gauging the patient’s medical and emotional needs. A cancer patient would be matched with a nurse skilled in oncology; an elderly person would have a nurse experienced in geriatrics. But the emotional aspect can be just as critical as the medical one.

“Some people need somebody who is really providing a lot of TLC, while some need someone who is more of a taskmaster to make sure they’re taking their prescriptions and things like that,” says Kane. “ We try to navigate the emotional side as best as possible.”

The firm’s clients include Carl, a detective for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, whose job precludes the use of his last name. Carl’s wife was diagnosed with a malignant tumor of the voice box in May and underwent tracheotomy surgery. “ Obviously the care required afterwards was quite intense,” says Carl. “Originally we had a visiting nurse, but they were limited in what they could do.”

That led him to Kane’s company. “To be honest with you, I wouldn’t even want to think about how it would have been without Support Systers,” Carl says. “They assisted with our three small children and they took care of medical issues.” When a complication developed and his wife had to be rushed to the hospital, their Support Systers nurse met the family in the emergency room.

Support Systers currently works with Hunterdon Medical Center. “They approached us with their service, and we really felt it would be a valuable service to our patients to provide continuity of care from inpatient to home care,” says tom Ollis, director or program development at Hunterdon. “The feedback has been excellent.”

Kane says the company aims to find ways to accommodate clients who can’t foot the bill. And he is trying to persuade more insurers to include Support Systers in their coverage. “When people are in compliance with their doctor’s orders, the incidence rate of being re-hospitalized for the same thing declines significantly, “ Kane says.

Support Systers also seeks partnerships with visiting-nurse associations which the company first saw as rivals. Support Systers would step in to provide ongoing special care to patients referred by the associations.

Kane plans to strengthen the company’s presence in New jersey and then expand to other states. He says doctors from as far away as Virginia have contacted him with requests for Support Systers services.

“Our standard mode of working is to look at a county and see how we can work with the key medical centers,” Kane says. He would particularly like to expand the company’s service to Long Island, wher his parents continue to battle their ailments. “It would be a godsend,” he says.

HOME