Always Here Health Care Finds Inviting New Home on Church Court

By Seth Daniel

The commute couldn’t get easier for Brooke Martindale and her husband, Terry, who work and live in Charlestown, operating Always Here Home Care from a new location on Church Court – just a few blocks from where they make their home.

Martindale started the business in 2009 after watching her grandmother go through a very difficult medical situation that required home care. For several years, they operated out of the Warren Street office building, and one year ago moved to Church Court.

Coming to Charlestown to live and work has been a great decision, Martindale said.

“We love it,” she said. “We’ve been in our new location for about one year now. It’s really working out and it’s wonderful for our staff. It’s great for the caregivers because we’re T accessible.”

Living around the block, her husband and two girls find that things have become very center around the Town.

“It makes life very easy,” said Brooke. “I can run home and check on the kids when I want. We wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Martindale formerly worked in the finance industry in New York, and found an opportunity during the Great Recession to open her own business in the non-medical home-care industry. She had witnessed her grandmother have a stroke and need home care. She said the companies were just not very good and she believed she could create something better.

Since 2010, she’s been growing the business with her husband, and they now employ 100 caregivers and serve clients within a 30-mile radius. Caregivers are coordinated out of the Charlestown office, but serve clients all over the Greater Boston area. Services include everything from providing company for a few hours to having 24-hour caregiving. About 80 percent of their clients suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease.

One of the innovations Martindale brought to the industry was a client portal where children or loved ones can log on and read the notes diligently written by the caregivers. That, she said, allows family to be involved in the situation, even if they aren’t able to be right there.

“We have children of our clients who are in Los Angeles, Korea and all over the world,” she said. “It’s a way to be part of the care and allows them to share in the care and communicate directly with a caregiver.”

Also, caregivers have a GPS system that they are on, and Martindale also said they are very selective in hiring – accepting only about one in 50 applicants.