Black Americans make up 9% of the US’s 65+ age demographic. Yet, at just 4.9% they are grossly underrepresented in residential care communities and overrepresented in nursing homes.
Dr. Michelle Rankine is aiming to shift this.
She is the owner of three successful Right at Home in-home care franchises that have grossed over tens of millions in profits. She says she’s dedicated to prioritizing minority communities and bridging the access gaps to quality care with in-home health aides and other vital resources. It didn’t always start out this though.
Prior to purchasing her first location, Rankine had her sights set on finishing her PhD and furthering a career in sports research. A major life event changed completely changed that trajectory, and led her down a path she never dreamed for herself.
“I wasn’t connected to this at all,” she tells ESSENCE. “But I think what ends up happening for most people that enter this field and enter it with passion it that there’s a story behind it.”
While she was studying, Rankine’s younger brother was paralyzed in a car accident rendering partially paralyzed and in need of around-the-clock care. During that period of time, her brother was a paraplegic so her family banned together to accommodate his physical needs, namely by installing ramps and other ADA compliant equipment in their home.
“In the grand scheme of it, my brother regained mobility just four months after being told he would have a 1% chance to ever walk again,” she explains. “He not only walks now, he’s back to his sporty self. But to imagine what his life would be like if he didn’t get well? He was just 22 at the time and was facing what could’ve been a life confined to a wheelchair. That forever changed me.”
After witnessing the miracle, Rankine said she was compelled to help others get the in-home care they needed and decided to embark on an entrepreneurial journey to make that happen. A few short years later, she landed on buying into a franchise of care facilities.
“Franchising, for me, especially with all the challenges business brings and what entrepreneurs have to endure on their own, it is great to have the support of a franchise. I don’t think I would go this journey with all the stresses that I know exist as a solo business owner.”
Never setting out to be an entrepreneur, Rankine said she received counsel from her local Small Business Association office by way of SCORE. The initiative offers business mentoring classes for a nominal fee that’s usually around $5. Rankine said she then learned enough to embark on taking out a business loan and purchased her first franchise.
“Going through through those classes built my confidence and gave me the opportunity to understand my funding opportunities, because at first, I think most people and even myself, I was like, I don’t have all this money to start this. How am I going to do this? And how can I even build up the ramp up until the point where it is completely profitable?”
She shares that the program provided her with a mentor that helped walk her through the upstart funding process and ultimately laid the foundational knowledge she needed to open two more locations in under five years.
Now she’s encouraging others to embark on their own journey to help further the mission to providing culturally competent care to those in need.
“Anyone can do this when your heart is in the right place—it’s so needed. We’re all going to age. We will all need to be cared for. Why not make sure we have the institutions in place to do that for us when it matters most?”