We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nadine Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nadine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

My expertise as a PCH owner continued to develop over the years. My experiences in the field and conversations with families and prospective residents and other medical professionals opened my eyes to the fact that there was an increased need for personal care homes for our geriatric community. This prompted me to want to branch out and create more suitable and comfortable living environments where I could extend my trusted and reliable brand of care to other residents and their families. Hence the birth of franchising.

As a pioneer, there was no bench mark or person to look to for advice, as I expanded. I was motivated by need, love and care. I was able to empower other individuals to become franchisee’s, thus creating their individual locations, under the COFI brand.

Today, COFI boasts eight locations across the state and has been able to maintain 100% capacity.

Nadine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I graduated university with a degree in business. Since then, my entire career was focussed on corporate management in analytics, finance and operations management. At the time, I was living in Jamaica and I centered my life around my career and family. In my later years, I migrated to the USA and as with migrants who first arrived, you don’t start at the top, no even the middle, according to social standards. I started out with caregiving as one of my first jobs. There, I was able to find new meaning to career appreciation as caregiving allowed me to look at the emphatic side of life. You meet many different people, across different cultural backgrounds, and you learn a few things along the way, from both the residents and their families. My experiences, as a caregiver, encouraged me to want to provide a space for persons who have lost the ability to live on their own and to care for themselves.

COFI was established to fill a need. A need to provide a clean, safe environment whose primary focus was to support a frail senior population, a need for someone to build trusting and lasting relationships with them and their families. Our Personal Care Homes are not institutions, they are homes and ,like any home, we want it to be comfortable for both our residents and their families.

COFI has cemented its feet in the geriatric community. Many people know us, not as just a personal care home, but as a home and a home where they can age in place and in comfort. We are proud that we have been able to maintain our standard of care and replicate our model and style across our different spaces, hence reaching more residents and bringing peace of mind to more families.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

In the development stages of COFI, I thought about my own mom and how her needs have evolved as she continues to age. I thought about the emotional aspect of her care and how she would want to live as she comes into this new phase of her life. Having worked as a caregiver, I realized that other families felt the same and I wanted to create a home where our geriatric population could continue to express themselves and live in the comfort of home. As we age, we tend to have a fear of opening up and allowing others to take care of us. In some cases, we fear that we may lose our autonomy and want to retain certain parts of us that make us feel more in control. COFI understands and our system of care is designed to foster a sense of independence, inclusion and community, which allows our residents to live with dignity and age peacefully and gracefully.

We have been able to replicate this standard of care in each of our homes across the state of Georgia This concept and consistency resonate with the geriatric community. It not only sets us apart from other personal care homes but gives their families a sense of security knowing that their loved ones are safe and have the opportunity to flourish in an environment that improves their quality of life.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I began my career as a business professional, however, life would steer me in the path that is truest to my nature, which is being of servitude to others; a nature nurtured by my faith as a Christian. My years of experience in geriatric care have highlighted several areas that need improvement in order for us, as a community, to protect our seniors. This includes ageism and the corresponding challenges faced by the geriatric population. Through personal care homes, we have been able to help to combat these obstacles by creating a space where our residents can go against societal perceptions and live normal and inclusive lives.

I love what I do. It’s less about the financial compensation and more about my ability to share in the lives and well-being of our residents. I believe that our experiences shape us and for that reason I would not change anything.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cofione.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cofi_atl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/COFIATL
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadine-johnson-2276a6214/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FCOFI_ATL
• Other: linktree: https://linktr.ee/COFI_ATL?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=66a9acc0-e8ee-4c5f-8ef2-4431bb4ac05a

Image Credits
Instagram: beautybyshawna for makeup and Tommy.4k for the images