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.”
