Hello. My name is Lyle Fester. We own A-Plus In Home Care here in Fresno, California.

We started the business in 1999, so we’ve been in business for 25 years. We service the local community.

We live in our community as well, and we have done this for many, many years.

The A -Plus Story

In 1998, my father passed away. He was 65 years of age. He was pretty much riddled with cancer throughout. My mom and myself were his primary caregivers. It was very challenging because it’s tough to be a caregiver and also a family member as well.

Sometimes they say, “You hurt the people that you love the most,” and some things were said that weren’t meant, and it became very difficult. So my mom came to me and I was working at a closed-door pharmacy selling the program and selling durable medical equipment as well, and she came to me and said, “Hey, let’s start a business.”

I said, “What kind?” And she said, “Let’s do some in-home care, because, honestly, it was you and me with your dad.” I said, “Sure, let’s do it.” The business started in 1999. It was kind of built around my father and a lot of hospice and different things like that that we really felt there was a need for in our community.

When we started, there was one agency in Fresno other than us, now I think there’s 43. So we were one of the very first. We were the first mom-and-pop, first local company. The other company that started before us was a franchise.

The story has come full circle. My mom passed away three years ago.

So the business has come around full circle, but we still carry the passion and the love for folks that need help in our community with our veterans and our seniors, and even people short term, whether it be surgery, post-surgery, just recovery, people getting out of the hospital.

Sometimes our shifts are short, sometimes they’re long, but that’s kind of our story and how we got started.

What’s Special About A Plus?

I think what’s special about our agency is we are not a franchise. We’re a local company that supports our local community.

The owners live in this area, and I think that truly makes us special.

In our agreements, we have a 24-hour cancellation notice. We don’t hold our clients into any long-term contracts. Some of our competitors will hold them in two weeks up to 30 days, even if services are no longer needed. So the 24-hour cancellation notices is really a big thing.

Also too, we know our community. We know the ins and outs, we know the Veterans Administration, we know our hospitals. We know things that your average person does not know, and we can assist our seniors with just direction.

And sometimes, you know what? There’s no money to be made, but if we can direct somebody in a way to help them better their lives, that’s what we do.

We go out and do assessments. Our assessments are free of charge. There’s no additional charge for us to go out and meet with clients. All of our visits are made in person, which I think is really good. It’s not via Zoom or anything like that.

We have a local office here in the Fresno area. Our clients, our caregivers come in often, so they frequently visit us. And I think our connection with our caregivers is really important for our business to succeed. I feel that we take very good care of our caregivers because they’re our frontline people. Those are the people that take care of us, and we take care of them. So, I think setting us apart from everybody else besides being in business 25 years, anybody that’s been in business 25 years, honestly, you’re doing some things right.

We have an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau, and again, we do a lot of volunteer work within our community as well.

What Do You Look for in a Caregiver?

As far as our hiring process goes, we have a three-part hiring process. The first process is done over the phone. We have a sheet that we go down. It’s a list of questions and the questions that are asked such as,

“Do you have hospice experience?

Can you change an occupied bed?

Have you ever used a Hoyer lift?

How are your cooking skills?”

Because a lot of clients that’s important to them is to be able to cook.

Just basic questions like that. If that goes well, we invite our caregivers in for a one-on-one interview. They’re interviewed by one person within our office, and after that interview is done, another person in our office interviews them as well. So it’s a three-part system to make sure we’re getting good quality caregivers.

I’m a firm believer, and I tell our staffing managers this, “When we hire people, we need to hire them as though our employee would be taking care of one of their loved ones.”

I have felt that for years in my hiring process is I would be comfortable with this person taking care of my mom and my house.

So, I think that sets us apart as far as our hiring process. Some people we just have to pass on because of their skill level. They may not have a driver’s license or they’re just not feeling it. They’re in it more for the money than what’s in their heart.

Years ago, there’s a movie that I watched, and I use this often, Jerry Maguire, at the very end of his movie, he says, “If you don’t have it right here, it doesn’t matter what you have here, you’ll never have it here.”

So I’m looking for people that have passion, kindness, caring in their heart, and a desire to help people.

Okay, the best way to get a hold of us is you can call us directly. Our phone number has been the same for 25 years.

So, again, that’s pretty well branded within our community. You can email us, you can look at our website, you can look at our Facebook page.

All those ways are really important in contacting us. If you want to just come into our office and sit down with us and have a chat, that’s another way to do it as well.

Again, our doors are open for anybody that comes in that just wants to talk and that needs help.