Today we’d like to introduce you to Brett Jensen.
Hi Brett, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Price, UT. I spent my youth helping my parents help those members of the community and our church who were disabled, needy, and elderly. I have been a registered nurse for 12 years with several years of experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and home care. When I started as a nurse, I could not help but see there was a deficit in the healthcare system in the Castle Valley.
After patients would go home from a facility and home health companies were done with their care, there was nothing else to help. This gaping hole that these patients would fall into would leave many at home with little or no help, creating a situation where they would be readmitted to the facilities for the same or worse problems. I saw this problem and found a personal care agency called A Caring Hand with an opening for a nurse. I started working for them, commuting to Utah County several times a week for 18 months until they agreed to start an office in Price.
After 1.5 years in Price, the company was sold, and the new company closed the Price office and tried to run it from Provo. However, despite good intentions, rural communities are very different from Urban areas, and doing business in these rural areas is an art, harder to understand by those not raised in it. The day they closed the Price office, my wife stated in the parking lot, “I wish we were in a position to just start up a company ourselves.”
After taking some time to receive training in Healthcare Marketing, Healthcare Administration, auditing, state survey training, and Financial and Business training specific to a Personal Care Agency. I Developed a Rural expansion model that allowed for rapid growth in rural Utah.
When the circumstances were right, my wife, Tara brought her skill in accounting and newly acquired training in medical billing and we decided to open our own company and focus on high-quality client care, and excellent pay and benefits for staff.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth Road? My wife and I laughed when we read that question. This has been the hardest thing either of us has ever attempted. This journey has been full of disappointment, anxiety, hardship, sacrifice, long days and nights, wonderful moments and relationships with clients, exhilarating highs, and devastating lows.
My wife said at one point “if I knew how hard this would be I don’t think I would do it again.” It has been hard. We started in July of 2020, during the dark early days of the pandemic. We started with 4 employees including my wife and me. The other 2 had lost their jobs due to Covid and we started with very little, other than a promise of salary and benefits eventually. This constitutes our Core Management team. We had wonderful encouragement and help from family and friends.
We also had a generous local investor who helped greatly. My wife continued 2 other jobs part-time and I was employed by a wonderful Hospice company and worked in Northern Utah and Idaho. With this wage, we were able to scrimp together enough for payroll, with no salary for my wife or me. Working away from home 4 or 5 days a week, and working 40+ hours a week on Blue Tern including working shifts with clients, was all part of this journey.
After a few months, we realized that Blue Tern was suffering from My conscious travel out of the area. We made the hard decision to lose that income before we could pay ourselves a salary. I then put all my energy and time into growing the company quickly. It is still hard sometimes, but it is our passion to help those in need.
We’ve been impressed with Blue Tern Home Care, LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We performed in-home personal care for people with disabilities and special needs. We send in trained caregivers compliant with state and local health department guidelines, to perform bathing, toileting, hygiene, grooming, housekeeping, laundry, dishes, meal prep, and planning, mentoring, and queuing. It is our goal to provide this care in a safe consistent fashion, providing a safer and healthier home environment.
Another goal is to become the premier provider of personal care in Eastern Utah by providing exceptional care, performed by well-trained compassionate caregivers, who are well paid and compensated for excellent work are known for our compassionate understanding that these clients are more than just a paycheck. Each client and their families are unique and have complex needs, where a one size fits all approach is not an option. Our approach incorporates working hand in hand with the local health care system, statewide support systems, and companies that are willing to serve this rural community.
I am proud of our brand because, despite being a new company, people in this area have heard of us. I have heard many variations of “That new home care place blue road or blue corner, bluebird, something like that” It makes me laugh every time I hear it and it makes me feel good when people tell me about this blue company, and they don’t know I own it. I hear great things about how positive our employees are, and the difference it is making in people’s lives.
We provide these services including Grocery and pharmacy pick up free to our Medicaid clients. And most of all we can provide these cares free of charge for those who qualified, up to 7 days a week for years.
What matters most to you?
My family and the welfare of my employees and clients are what matters most to me. I have worked and paid taxes in one form or another since I was 12 years old. I know how hard it is to find a good job in rural Utah. I know what it is like to struggle financially for years. I know what it is like to have a large family with young children and feel like you will never be able to get out of debt or have a better life. I know how humbling it is to receive help from family and friends.
I know how it feels to work 40, 60, 80 hours a week for companies and people who don’t know or care how much it takes out of you. I also know what it is like to work for people who care and do all they can to make their employees’ lives better. This is why we pay the high wage we do and offer the benefits we do for our employees.
As my wife and partner have told our employees several times “we would rather each employee have $10,000 in their savings account than have one million dollars in our bank account.” It matters to me that we are putting 10s of thousands of dollars into the local economy each payday.
Contact Info:
- Email: brettj@blueternhc.com
- Website: blueternhc.com
- Facebook: Blue Tern Home Care
Image Credits
Autumn Jensen Logo by Sign Edge
