By Mason Gravseth and Arielle Windham
Empowered by Ladyboss Lifestyle
Dakota Home Care offers something special for individuals needing in-home assistance—independence. It’s one of the few licensed healthcare agencies in our region allowing patients in the Bismark, Mandan, and Fargo communities to receive care in the comfort of their home, rather than a nursing home or other type of care facility. Compassionate, caring, and award-winning, the company, under the guidance of Beverly Unrath, owner, administrator, and CEO, has helped make a positive impact on numerous patients and families.
And it all started with a desire to offer something more than institutional care to a friend in need.
Compassionate Beginnings
In 2012, Unrath’s sister, Jamie Fleck, was inspired to start Dakota Home Care. Fleck, who was a registered nurse, wanted to help a 37-year-old friend who had a stroke that resulted in locked-in syndrome. This means that she was cognitively aware of her surroundings but could only communicate with her eyes. As a result, Fleck’s friend would need skilled nursing care around the clock.
At that point in 2012, there wasn’t a single agency in North Dakota that provided in-home nursing care. Because of this, Fleck made it her mission to start a home care agency to care for her friend and other people in need in her community. Fleck asked Unrath to join her and help run Dakota Home Care.
At the time, Unrath was working as a member of the National List of Attorneys, concentrating on the credit and collection industry. She’d started with the organization as a freshman at NDSU and had more than a decade on the job. However, like many working parents, she felt the urge to stay closer to home as her children grew.
“I loved it,” Unrath said, “but I had to do a lot of traveling and that was hard when I had children.”
The opportunity to work with her sister providing a much-needed service to her community was appealing. But Unrath knew that passion was only half the recipe for success. She also needed to understand this new industry.
“I did a lot of research on home care,” she said. “I learned that one out of three home care businesses fail and that made me really nervous. Through lots of prayer, soul searching, and talks with my husband, I decided to take the leap and join Dakota Home Care in 2013.”
Learning the business
“I worked really hard to learn about the home care industry,” Unrath said. “The first thing I did was join the National Association of Home Care, and I started attending conferences, webinars, and really anything I could do to learn. At the time, our business was growing so fast because there was a significant need for home care in our community, so I wanted to make sure that I knew everything I could so I could do a great job.”
As with any new business, there were a lot of challenges at first.
“It was really difficult to find the staff at the beginning,” Unrath said. “I remember reading a statistic from the Long-Term Care Conference early in my career that said that turnover for CNAs is 70%, and that was really shocking to me.”
In order to provide the best care for patients, Unrath knew Dakota Home Care would need to find ways to engage and retain employees.
“We work really hard to make sure that we are providing a very caring environment for employees,” she said. “We make sure they have a lot of flexibility and that they have a good work-life balance.”
Dakota Home Care was named 2024 Best of Home Care Employer of Choice, Provider of Choice and Leader in Experience. It was the organization’s third consecutive year for these awards.
Remarkable Woman of the Year
In the spring of 2024, Unrath was selected as Remarkable Woman of the Year by Nexstar. She had the opportunity to go to Hollywood, California, with 112 other women from across the country who received this honor.
“I learned so much from this experience,” Unrath said. “I learned that we all have a voice, and I learned how I can be the voice of my industry. It also gave me the opportunity to collaborate with other providers to talk about issues and advocate for better services and programs in our community.”
For those looking to make a change in their community, Unrath advises that “you can’t do these things on your own, you have to collaborate and get involved with different communities and support systems.”
She also suggested getting involved with mentorship programs to collaborate and get advice from experienced professionals. For more about Dakota Home Care, visit dakotahomecare.com.
Dakota Home Care
dakotahomecare.com