Comfort Care Homes provides long-term memory care

Charles and Doug Stark, father and son, were Little Caesars Pizza franchisees in the early 1980s in Wichita when both of Charles Stark’s parents developed Alzheimer’s disease at the same time.

The family was determined not to put them in a nursing home and that led to a business idea. At the time, there wasn’t a legal way to have group homes for dementia care in a residential neighborhood.

They got that approval and, in 1993, Charles and Mary Lou Stark, with their son, Doug, founded Comfort Care Homes.

Today, Doug runs the company, with some help from his managers. It caters to residents with varying forms of dementia, housing them in groups of six to eight in single-family homes in residential neighborhoods.

Best business advice you have received: (Doug Stark) The way we have always operated this company, from day one, is the motto that my dad started with: If we make every decision in the best interest of our residents, all else will follow.

Best business advice you have given: I despise the word “problem.” To me, a problem is an opportunity. If something is not right, one person is going to come in, “Oh, Doug, we’ve got a big problem.” No, we have an opportunity to change something that obviously isn’t right. To me it’s more positive.

What sets your company apart? Smaller is better when talking about dementia. The reason, when my grandparents passed, that we didn’t go to the state and say “Hey, can we go build an assisted living center?” is because that is counter-productive to somebody who is thoroughly confused.

What have you learned about your company by going through this process? Our goal is to be the premier provider of dementia care. … I just all of sudden looked back at this little bitty company that now how has close to 100 employees and what our standards are, and the letters and comments from families, and the quality of the caregivers, and I went: “Oh, my God, we’re there. We made it.”

Why do you prefer to run your own business as opposed to working for someone else? I ventured off with Bill Gardner, the graphic designer, to St. Louis to start a concept that we were going to take to the world. But I was the under the thumb of another gentleman, and both Bill and I, after 18 months, went, “We’re out of here.” … That was the most miserable 18 months of my life.

How has your business changed in the digital age? (From Robert Miller, director of development) I think for the most part it has improved the quality of our communication and our ability to exercise services so that our time with residents is with our residents and not pushing a lot of extra paper.

What's your company’s next goal? We do have a licensing program, and we are wanting to expand that license program. … I am just so passionate about what we do and how we do it, theoretically I would love to see a Comfort Care Home in every city across the state.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Comfort Care Homes provides long-term memory care."