Richmond-based AT Home Care making a difference

Edward Kassab wanted to find a way to make a difference -- and give back.

As a student at Penn State University, Kassab worked as an orderly in a nursing home as part of a community-service project.

After receiving his master's degree in vocational rehabilitation, he worked as a nursing-home administrator in Pennsylvania and North Carolina before moving in 1989 to Richmond, where he worked as an administrator for two long-term-care facilities.

"At the age of 35, I decided I couldn't do long-term care anymore," Kassab said.

"For me, it didn't feel like I was giving back," he said. "It felt like I wasn't doing anything to impact people's lives, and I wanted more."

He accepted the position of administrator for Nurses House Call, a home health-care agency in Richmond, and worked for the company for more than three years.

"A friend suggested that I could do this on my own," he said.

In 1994, Kassab did. He started Richmond-based AT Home Care (short for its original name as Advanced Technologies in Home Care Inc.) with his brother, Curtis, and Barbara Wilson, the firm's director of clinical services.

"I started on a wing and a prayer and $30,000 from the bank," said Kassab, AT Home Care's president and CEO.

To generate an income, Kassab worked part time as a referee at Richmond Volleyball Club.

"I did that for the first year," he said. "That's how I fed myself."

AT Home Care provides home health-care services that include skilled nursing, home health aides and rehabilitation care provided by physical, occupational and speech therapists.

In the past year, it has added psychiatric care to its roster of services.

The company has grown from two offices to seven across Virginia. Since 2006, its annual patient load has increased from 256 people to 364. Company revenue has grown an average of 17 percent each year.

In the next two years, Kassab hopes to expand the company once again by adding two locations outside the Richmond area.

The company's first office opened in Ashland in 1994. By 1995, Kassab moved the office to Cary Street and then eventually to the company's current location at 4116 Fitzhugh Ave.

In addition to nurses, he began hiring physical and occupational therapists as well as home health aides.

Leeanne Sarkees of Chesterfield County used AT Home Care's services in July while recovering from a total knee replacement. The nurses and therapists the company provided were excellent, she said.

"They were always positive and professional," Sarkees said. "They kept on top of my insurance and kept me informed."

The culture created by AT Home Care is family-oriented. Kassab, who promotes a casual atmosphere by wearing his Penn State sweats to work, asked his parents to join the business. His mother, Jane, handles medical records at the Richmond office, while his father, Ed, is a courier.

Nancy Downey of Colonial Heights noticed the family-friendly customer service after her knee-replacement surgery in February.

"They called me before I went for the surgery to say they would be here when I got home, and they called in the hospital to check on me," she said. "The day after I got home, the nurse was here checking everything. The physical therapist was here the following day."

She felt comforted by the attention she received.

"They were wonderful," she said.

To keep and attract employees, Kassab likes to be creative with the company's benefits. Kassab found a way not only to motivate his employees but to help the environment.

In 2006, he provided leased company cars for his employees as a company benefit. This year, he traded in the cars for more fuel-efficient models and began participating in a greenhouse-gas emission offset program to reduce the company's carbon footprint.

He also provides gas cards and allows personal use of company cars.

The company has added a wireless communications system that connects nurses in the field with doctors, other clinicians and the AT Home Care office staff. The new system can be accessed by PDAs provided to employees.

As a way to "make a difference," Kassab participates in an international volunteer program called Walking Free, which partners with Norfolk-based Physicians for Peace to provide prosthetic parts for amputees in developing countries.

"They teach people how to tailor-make prosthetics," Kassab said.