“Our company was founded as a direct result of ourexperience looking after my grandmother,” Solometosaid. “My grandparents made a lot of sacrifices for meduring my childhood and when it came time for me toreturn the favor, there was no hesitation. I’m fortunate tohave that life experience and to pass that knowledge andinsight on to our clients. The culture of our company isbased on the value system they taught me. We take careof patients like they are our own family.”

Alliance Homecare even has what is called“The Grandma Rule” (SM).If they interview a caregiverand can trust that personwith their own family, theywill hire them to serveclients and their families.Alliance is dedicated to re-taining this high standard ofcaregiver selection and qual-ity, regardless of the size orpace of the company’s ex-pansion in the coming years.

Led by a renowned team ofcompassionate and skilled caremanagers, Alliance Homecareoffers a variety of services,

including skilled nursing, home health aides, companions,geriatric care management and social work, physicaltherapy, and nutritional counseling. Alliance Homecaretreats and cares for a variety of patients with conditionssuch as Alzheimer’s and dementia, Parkinson’s, diabetes,COPD, palliative end of life care, oncology support, postsurgical recovery, intravenous therapy and traumatic injury.They also provide well-needed companionship or respitecare to family caregivers who need support or just a break.

Gregory Solometo had a great job, working at theformer global financial firm Lehman Brothers, making aliving in the spectacular city that is Tokyo.

But in 2002 he left Tokyo to come back stateside.How could he?Actually, how could Solometo not?Back home in Rockland County, Solometo’s beloved

grandmother, Val Cerny, needed him. Cerny was 84-years-old at the time and living alone in her houseas her network of friends and community faded away.Unfortunately, this is asadly common story forany widow in their 80s.Mrs. Cerny and her latehusband, Raymond, prac-tically raised Gregory.Raymond succumbed toALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)in 1991.

Solometo returned tocare for his grandmotherfor five years. She was anative of a small town inNebraska who moved toRockland County afterWorld War II. At this point,Gregory was working on Wall Street and living inManhattan, yet taking care of his grandmother upstateseveral days per week. During this time, he encounteredthe stresses, challenges and costs of caring for her, both athome, and in a facility. Val Cerny died in May of 2008at the age of 90.

Solometo’s journey taking care of his grandmotherwas the inspiration for starting Alliance Homecare, whichcurrently serves New York City, Long Island and theNorthern suburbs in the Lower Hudson Valley. Expansionplans are underway in 2015 to cover Northern New Jerseyand Southern Connecticut. Alliance Homecare currentlyhas three offices in the area: Woodbury, Long Island,which serves as its headquarters, midtown Manhattan andWest Nyack.

Solometo started Alliance Homecare in 2009 withtwo of his childhood friends, Michele Teter and DianeSirakovsky, who are both Registered Nurses. Teter andSirakovsky both worked at the prestigious New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center in theNeurosurgical Intensive Care Unit. All three of theseindividuals actively participated in the home care ofMrs. Cerny until her passing in 2008 and share the samepassion for providing unparalleled care at home.

PAGE 10 March, 2015 Boomers&Beyond - Westchester

Alliance HomecareTreats and cares for clients like family

photos provided

What services are included with Alliance Homecare?

• Customized Plan of Care

• Top 20% of caregivers in the home healthcare industry

• Continuity of care

• A dedicated Care Manager who maintains communication and collaboration across the family

• Scheduling coordination – proactive and responsive

• Intake and home safety assessment performed by an RN and LCSW

• Monthly in person visitation and additional and ongoing phone call supervision of caregiving team

• Medical supplies management

• Accurate and detailed invoice of services

• Integration with Long-Term Care insurance companies

• Expert’s advise on complex medical equipment for use in the home

• Coordination between Care Managers and patients’ medical team

• Emergency access to an RN Case Manager, 24/7 by phone, text and email

Alliance Homecare routinely receives passionate endorse-ments and testimonials from clients, which include the fam-ily of former New York Governor Hugh Carey, who servedin office from 1975 until 1982. Governor Carey passed awayin 2011 at age 92 and spent his final 2 years under the care andguidance of Alliance and their management team.

From the family of Governor Carey:

“Our priority was a highly competent nursing team; Al-liance provided that and much more, including respect forour father’s dignity and quality of life; consistent com-munication with family members; effective coordinationwith doctors and other healthcare staff. The nursesadapted to challenges with ingenuity, coped with medicalconcerns in a calm and skillful manner, and interactedwith both patient and family with poise and perhaps mostimportant, a sense of humor.”

Solometo says of his grandmother, “She lived a great lifeand inspired us in so many different ways.” Her spirit liveson in the special way Solometo and the proud AllianceHomecare staff care for each and every one of their clients.