SPEAKER_00: 0:30

My name is Abby Sakariar. I'm a family and psychiatric nurse practitioner by trade, and I'm the founder of Cherished Ants. So we do serve people that need mental health support. Our primary business is providing in-home care support to seniors, and we also support individuals with special needs in our group home, as well as going to their home homes or helping them in the community.

SPEAKER_01: 0:59

Okay, that's awesome. I love what you guys are doing. Thank you. Kind of take me back to how you got started in all of this. Tell me how you got to where you are today.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09

So this February 16th will make it 10 years of cherished hands. And I started a company, I founded a company with the intention of making sure we can actually deliver quality care, but also that we have staff that are trained to go out onto the work. Because my background, I started as a caregiver and the care space. So before I went to school, became a nurse, and went back and become a nurse practitioner. But in between all of this, my primary focus is delivering quality care.

SPEAKER_01: 1:43

Absolutely. I feel like that's just the building blocks of it all.

SPEAKER_00: 1:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:49

And your background as a nurse and psychiatric nurse practitioner plays a strong role in how the organization operates. How has your clinical experience shaped the way that you approach leadership and care?

SPEAKER_00: 2:04

Oh, thank you so much. So for me, because of my clinical and nursing background, it has really helped us to be able to help to improve the quality of life for us clients and anybody that comes through us. Because even on our senior care, on Cherry Science Home Care, where we provide services for seniors, I always say that we are not sitters. We don't just go and sit. We ensure that we do a proper assessment to evaluate what somebody needs, and then we develop a nursing care plan to support their care needs. And the caregiver is trained on those things. So we are really thorough and we ensure that our caregivers and our staff are trained and they know how to support individuals. I always say that we build our company on three legs, and which is we ensure that when caregivers go in the home, we're providing physical activity to the person that we support. It could be just take a walk. It could be range of motion if somebody cannot even get out of bed. And that is what came about our newsletter, where we provide some activities for seniors and individuals with special needs to do by just doing something to exercise the mind. And as well as so you eat healthy, you exercise your mind. So you eat healthy, you exercise your mind, and you do a physical exercise. So we are really taking caregiving to another level. And also we pride ourselves in being a five-star agency review on Google. We have over 100 reviews, and we love to be the benchmark for caregiving.

SPEAKER_01: 3:48

Wow, how incredible!

SPEAKER_00: 3:50

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 3:51

Yeah, I love, I just love your business model with the three core pillars. I just think that's the best way to go about in this field.

SPEAKER_00: 3:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 4:00

And you often speak about the power of keeping the mind engaged and learning something new at any age. Can you explain why mental stimulation is so critical, especially for seniors and individuals with special needs?

SPEAKER_00: 4:15

So it's very critical because so for seniors, especially, when you do mental stimulation or you learn something new, our brain has different neurons. So when you learn something new, your brain is creating new neurons, and those neurons help you get smarter. That is why when you teach somebody something to a child, they learn faster. Because when we are young, we are our brain is able to make multiple neurons quickly. But as we age, those neurons started dying. That is why people started having cognitive impairment. It's part of the reason, not the old reason. However, if you're learning something new, you keep your mind engaged. New neurons started creating in your brain, which doesn't even matter how old you are. So it's very good and it's very important for all of us.

SPEAKER_01: 5:06

Yes, that is such a good piece of information and advice for of all ages, young or old. It's important to keep the mind engaged and yeah, wonderful.

SPEAKER_00: 5:16

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 5:18

And to go off of that, science shows that the brain can continue forming new pathways throughout life.

SPEAKER_00: 5:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 5:25

How do you help your staff incorporate this understanding into their daily interactions with clients?

SPEAKER_00: 5:32

We do a lot of education. I love to teach. That is how much I love to teach. So we ensure that we provide periodic education to our staff to ensure that they know why they're doing what they're doing. Like when they go in the home, like Miss Jones needs to do these activities, they need to go to community, they need to go to the mall, they need to do this. So we ensure that the staff have understanding of why they're doing what they're doing, but we also have different levels of oversight within our company because I do learn it's very challenging to manage people. So you need to make sure you have your dots in the role and you have oversight.

SPEAKER_01: 6:19

Sounds like a very just well-rounded business for your staff to really learn off of, and it's great. And Cherished Hands offers a range of services, including home health care for seniors, support for individuals with special needs, and behavioral and mental health services. How do these offerings allow you to support clients and families in meaningful and comprehensive ways?

SPEAKER_00: 6:45

So Cherished Hands is more than a home care agency. And the reason why I said that is so for us, we are like a one-stop shop for support. So we can support the physical body, we can also support the mind. So this has really helped us, and we have leveraged this to advantage because those services intertwine into each other. If somebody is a senior and they live in the home, and now we maybe the caregiver notice that either the senior or their neighbor looks depressed, we can support them through our mental health services. And also having the mental health background and the nursing background is extremely helpful when it comes to supporting an individual with special needs in our other sister company cherished hands healthcare services, because we are truly able to understand individuals' needs. Because when somebody has special needs, their need is special for a reason. I don't call disability, it's just special need. And if you have the understanding of what they need and you try to figure out what they need, we can truly make a greater impact. And that is why Cherry Chance is the number one choice. We pride ourselves on becoming a household name when it comes to caregiving or supporting the individual with special needs and a new baby with some mental health services.

SPEAKER_01: 8:07

Absolutely. It's definitely a personalized experience and unique. And I love how you just meet everyone where they're at and work from there. Yeah, that's what we do. You emphasize empowering and training your staff, not just managing them. What does empowerment look like in your organization on a day-to-day basis?

SPEAKER_00: 8:27

So for Cherished Hands, we truly pride ourselves in empowering our staff through different ways. So we always say when we hire people that there's opportunity for growth. We teach different skills. In addition to the Maryland Board of Nursing, where the CNA, the nursing assistants, have to meet their requirements. Our agency has our own training that is about certain amount of hours in a year that the staff get trained on different things to make sure they can truly support the client. But in addition to that, we also empower our staff through leadership. I mentor a lot of staff. I've had a lot of people that work for us, that eventually go back to school, or people starting their own business, or doing or becoming part of our leadership. That is one thing that I really pride ourselves in being able to do. We are people that started with us as a caregiver that now that they are managers or team leaders helping in some capacity as a leader in kind of a leadership capacity. So I'm very grateful for that.

SPEAKER_01: 9:32

Such an inspiring team of people you have on your side.

SPEAKER_00: 9:36

They are unicorns. We've improved a lot of people's lives. And I don't think I will ever do anything else than just continue to support people.

SPEAKER_01: 9:56

Of course. I can tell the passion is there, it's your calling.

SPEAKER_00: 10:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 10:02

And many families share that working with cherished hands feels different. It feels personal and supportive rather than numbers-driven. What do you believe sets your organization apart from others in the industry?

SPEAKER_00: 10:15

So, what set us apart is that we do truly understand that one size doesn't fit all, and we believe in the power of communication. So the approach that we use for delivering our care is we meet with the individuals. What is it that you need? What are your goals? And then we build a plan to support those goals so they can reach their full potential. So we don't just say, oh, this is the care plan. No. We sit down with the client, with the individuals, with the seniors, what are your goals? And from our own expertise, we make recommendations to them. I think you can include this, you can include that. Then we implement this plan, then we'll follow up, and then we come back to the table. How is this working for you? If it's not working, what can we tweak? And that is what set us apart because there's human touch in Cherish Chance, no clients is the same, and our clients are no numbers.

SPEAKER_01: 11:15

Wonderful. Said. And Cherished Hands, it's a family-owned business, and your husband plays a key role behind the scenes. How has building this company together strengthened the foundation of the organization?

SPEAKER_00: 11:31

So for I'm very grateful for having Lukman Sakaraya as my husband because we grew up together and he knew that I love to help, I love to work hard, and I'm very empathetic. I have a lot of empathy. So he's actually the one that saw in me, like you have this quality. I know you you will say they're not doing this right here, they're not doing that. Why don't you start your own thing so you can be able to do it the way you want to do it? So even people see that I'm very successful and I'm up and about, but that is the man behind the scene. He's my cheerleader, and is I'm very happy to have somebody like him because he's very understanding that this company belongs to a family-owned business. Even I'm grateful to my children also, because all of them know that Cherry Shan's is our baby. And everybody, one way or the other, has played a role in ensuring that the company continues to grow, and also we pray that we can continue to carry on our legacy. But I'm very happy for the support that I received from my husband.

SPEAKER_01: 12:39

Yes, such a supportive husband and family all together. And it really just reflects in what you guys are doing.

SPEAKER_00: 12:46

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 12:48

In today's economic climate, you shared that gratitude and mental wellness are becoming more important than ever. How do you encourage families and caregivers to focus on well-being even during uncertain times?

SPEAKER_00: 13:02

So, what I will say is, what else you're gonna do? You could stay mad or stay sad. It does not help you. But what I learned from being a business owner and also as a mental health, because I'm a family and psychiatric nurse practitioner, as a mental health professional, like if you focus on sad stuff, the universe will bring more of it to you. But if you are grateful, because it just for it's the nature of human for us to always look around us and see what is not working. But what about all those things? Like all the things that today you are you have, those are the things you want thinking and praying or do anything like, oh, I want this, I want that. But if you come from the place of gratitude, like I just even wake up today, I'm here. Life is good. More good stuff is gonna come to you, and then you help your mental health. Because if you just stay sad, because it's very with everything that is going on now, it's very, it's very easy to get caught up into the weeds and so this, but that is not helping anyone. Again, it's whatever you believe that is gonna happen to you. So I believe, you know, I'm gonna be successful, I'm gonna be healthy, I'm a person of faith and live my faith in God. And I wake up every day as if there's no tomorrow, and I continue to live my life. And I'm giving the same advice to our family and our caregivers and people out there, just continue to live your life. Live from a place of gratitude, that you are grateful for what you have now, and you're gonna see how those things will go ahead and multiply in front of you. Because there's something in our brain called reticular activating system that means whatever you pay attention to, you get more of it. If you go out now and thinking about a red car, you will see that every car, every other car that are going. Oh, why is it I why do I have a lot of red cars? Because that is what you focus on, and that is the same approach that we should use in our life. If you focus on negativity, trust me, you're gonna get more of it. Whatever you put your attention on, you get bigger.

SPEAKER_01: 15:17

Those are the best words of wisdom I think I've ever heard. Yeah, and also the idea of just optimism, too. Always stay optimistic, curious, and ready to learn and take on the new day every day.

SPEAKER_00: 15:30

And also for us as a business owner, because there's a lot of uncertainty with the business. You're talking worrying about the regulation, you're worrying about the stock market, what you know, what the economy is doing. But if you come from when I shift my thinking, I shifted my thinking from worry to projection, and I don't even project anything, then happiness. I just know that it's gonna work out for us and it's gonna work out.

SPEAKER_01: 15:59

Absolutely. I love it. And as someone deeply invested in both care and leadership, what continues to motivate and inspire you to show up for your clients, staff, and community every day?

SPEAKER_00: 16:13

Because I love it. I love it. So when I go to, we do have multiple group homes in Maryland, and I always say when I like the group home is my therapy place. Because when I go, I'm just so happy. Because you're truly making a difference. And even seniors that we support in their own homes, we've supported people that came home on dialysis with the hostomy bag that they couldn't put on and they came all really sick, and we helped them and actually graduated from our care to where they don't need any help anymore. We have people that get off dialysis because of the care that they receive from Cherish Hands. So when I go out every day and with the support of my amazing leadership team and our care providers, and knowing that we are truly making a difference, I'm very happy. That is my motivation. Just because we are making a difference.

SPEAKER_01: 17:12

It truly just feels like a big family.

SPEAKER_00: 17:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 17:15

Ready to take you in with open arms and help you along this journey of healing.

SPEAKER_00: 17:19

And also, I thank everyone that trusted our brand over the years. Because you can go out and say, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. They don't know if you're truly going to do it. But we are one of the companies that keep our words. And we even, when coming to making sure we have staff, we will go ahead and hire and train staff ahead of time, which is a lot of overhead cost, before we actually even have something for them to do. Just for the sake that we can keep our words and be able to have consistent delivery of service. So I thank everyone, I really thank everyone from community partners, I thank my family, my extended family, because I'm originally from Nigeria, and everyone around me, my siblings, my cousins, my mom, my aunt know like the only thing out of my mouth in the last 10 years is cherished hands. And they've been, in one way or the other, been very supportive of what we do. So as we mark in this 10 year, I'm really grateful to my friends and everybody that has helped me, to my charge nurse. Her name is Victorine. She's the first charge nurse I ever heard, and she supported me like I'm a daughter. To all those things, all those people that I mentioned or I don't mention your name, but people that are passed through along the line to the case manager that trusts our brand to community partners. I'm just grateful for all of you because life is good, and I'm grateful. I'm grateful.

SPEAKER_01: 18:51

Wonderful. I know. Everybody has a little peace in just creating the success and just wonderful place that Cherished Hands. And as we were saying, this year marks the 10-year anniversary of Cherished Hands. Looking back, what are you most proud of in the journey so far?

SPEAKER_00: 19:09

So looking back, I'm very proud of the impact that we've made in the community. I'm also very proud of the brand that we built over the years because Cherish Hands is known. And I'm proud of being able to serve like a benchmark for other companies. Because people wonder how they've been able to keep it together like that. So I'm very grateful that we're truly making a difference. And when I look back and just look at the old thing, I cannot believe it. Even though it's 10 years, it looked like it's it's been more than that because it was a lot of work, hard work, a lot of sleepless nights, just trying to figure out how do we move this to the next level. Looking back, it's been a lot, but I'm grateful. I would not trade it for anything else. And I I can just see the next 10 years, which I pray to God to spare our lives, because I know by that time we must have reached most part of the world.

SPEAKER_01: 20:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 20:12

Most part of the world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 20:14

Yeah, look how far you guys have come with the dedication and strive to show up every day, better it every day. It's truly inspiring. Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 20:22

And also if go back and look back, because when we started in the home care space, and we went back and added services for individuals with special needs, we added mental health. And during all this journey, we continue to thrive and make a difference. This is a business that started in our basement, in our first house that we bought. And now we have multiple locations. Uh, we are in multiple counties. So it's just it's very rewarding. And I'm again grateful for to God for giving me this opportunity because Cherry Change has served as a platform to impact people's lives.

SPEAKER_01: 21:00

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00: 21:01

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 21:02

And as you celebrate this milestone, what can the community expect from the upcoming anniversary celebration and the exciting news planned later this year?

SPEAKER_00: 21:12

So I will ask everybody to just stay pulled and see all the amazing things that is that is gonna happen sometime this year, sometime in July. We're gonna have a big celebration. We're gonna invite all the community partners, past clients, present clients, staff, everybody. We're gonna come together in one room and be able to celebrate. And then there's another great news that we're going to announce before the end of the year as we continue to expand our mission and expand our footprints.

SPEAKER_01: 21:44

Okay, a lot of big things coming down the pike. Good for you guys.

SPEAKER_00: 21:48

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 21:49

You've described this year as a season of growth and expansion. Yes. How are you continuing to evolve the mission while staying true to the heart of the organization?

SPEAKER_00: 22:00

One way that we've been able to do this is by building a system. Because I do understand when the company was smaller than this, and I probably have like a few caregivers and clients, I was able to manage them myself. But as the company continues to grow and we expand our mission, we are building a system. So system is standard operating procedure, meaning this is how we do things. Everybody loves ABI. Like, how is Abby doing things? So we are. Writing those things down, we are training our staff. So this year is a lot of training. There will be a lot of more oversight to ensure that we can keep the same quality of care that we deliver when it were just like few clients.

SPEAKER_01: 22:43

You guys are on top of it. I love it. It's a very fine-tuned process. Yes, thank you. For families considering entrusting their loved ones to cherished hands, what do you hope they feel and understand after learning about your work and values?

SPEAKER_00: 23:00

I people trust us. And because they know that we if we say if we cannot help somebody for some reason, I will let them know that we are not a great fit for you. Because we want to make sure that when we say we will be there, we want to be there. This is my analogy that we are not selling food or something that is, okay, if I cannot get like we are not selling coffee. Okay, if I don't get my coffee at this shop, I'm gonna go to the next shop. These are people relying on us for survival when it comes to seniors or individuals with special needs or even somebody with mental health. If somebody is very depressed and they can't get out of bed, they rely on you to show up. So we understand that. And that is why showing up and consistent delivery of service and striving to be a benchmark for caregiving and support service is very crucial. And the family that are looking out for services, if you want your loved one to be in an agency that truly cares, Cherish Hence will be the one.

SPEAKER_01: 24:11

It's the place, it's the place.

SPEAKER_00: 24:13

It's not just because I lead this team, but I'm very happy for what we've been able to do because personally I'm a typeway personality. So our jump, our job is not gonna do it for me. We have to go all the way through and making sure that we can truly deliver what we promise.

SPEAKER_01: 24:30

All in or nothing. Yes. As we wrap up, is there anything you'd like to add that I haven't touched on today?

SPEAKER_00: 24:38

I just quickly want to touch briefly on each area of our business so that people truly know. Because as we, like I said, we have evolved over the years. So we have cherished hands home care, and that is where we provide services for seniors. So somebody that needs caregiving, they need personal care, they need help with shower, bathing, dressing, medication reminders, companionship. That is our cherish hands home care. And through that services, we work with the VA, the veteran administration, we are a provider for them. We work with long-term care insurance, we work with Medicaid, uh, and then of course we do private pay. We do around the clock and there is the nursing oversights. So that is our cherishing's home care. And our next baby is cherishing healthcare services, and that is where we deliver quality care to individuals with special needs. So during that within that company, we provide services like group home, residential services, we provide supported living. We also provide something called community development services, personal support. This is where we can also go into the individual's home or take them into the community to ensure that we help with community integration. So that is our second baby. And our last baby is Cherished Hands Behavioral Health Center. And this company is located in 6201 Greenbelt Road in Greenbelt, Maryland, where we provide mental health services. We provide psychotherapy, medication management, and we also provide something called psychiatric rehab. So, meaning it's like a case management to help somebody that suffers from mental health. This is a Medicare program. So we do private pay. We are credential with most medical insurances. So cherishance in our life, in my lifetime, I'm hoping will become a health system where we can truly even widen our support and be able to meet people where they are.

SPEAKER_01: 26:39

I can definitely see it, no doubt about it. That is for sure in your future. Thank you. Thank you so much, Abby, for joining me on the podcast and sharing your knowledge and inspiring story with us. I wish you and your team the best of luck in all that comes your way in the future.

SPEAKER_00: 26:56

Thank you. Thank you for having me. This it means a lot. Thank you.