COVID has changed how we live in many ways, making it more difficult to do basic things, and Burlington resident Caroline Barrett has used her unique business to help.
Barrett is the owner and operator of Barwood Concierge, a company she started in 2015 “to help others with everyday, day-to-day tasks that can sometimes be overwhelming,” according to the bio on the Barwood Concierge website.
Barrett said she was always the person who would house- or pet-sit for friends whenever they would go away. So she decided to create a business out of helping people with everyday things.
It started out with Barrett helping both busy parents and single people, then she saw that there was a market for helping seniors whose families are busy and can’t do it themselves, helping them with anything non-medical.
“They’re either busy, or they don’t live in the province, but they just can’t get over to them as much as they want to,” said Barrett. “So then they would hire someone like me to take care of companionship, or take them out to the grocery store.”
She also does things like taking seniors to a doctor’s appointment or the hospital, picking up prescriptions, taking pets to the groomers or the vet, house-cleaning services, and helping with laundry.
She says that growth for her businesses has been unbelievable as word of mouth gets around and she gains more of a reputation.
She is also now associated with the Home and Community Care Support Services (formerly the Local Health Integration Network, or LHIN), which has Barwood Concierge on their roster of businesses that help seniors. When someone leaves the hospital, for example, and gets connected with the Home and Community Care Support Services, they will have a list of businesses in the area that can help them.
But just like with her clients and everyone in the world, COVID hit hard.
Those house cleaning services she was offering had to be suspended, and she had to focus solely on the senior care side of things.
Initially, the pandemic really hurt business, resulting in cancellations because of extremely high levels of anxiety and paranoia among her clients as they were scared of having her in their home for fear of even the possibility of getting sick.
“A lot of them have had nobody coming into their home or they have one relative or whatever,” said Barrett. “I was keeping it safe, but they’re worried about bringing another person in.”
But after an adjustment period and with isolation having carried on, Barrett says that the pandemic has helped her business as need for companionship increased, with the number of her clients actually doubling.
“It’s actually busier now than it’s ever been,” she said.
She says that making sure that her clients know that she is taking precautions and being safe has helped keep their minds at ease.
That includes making sure she and other staff are vaccinated, which is another concern for her clients because some of them are already sick and want to make sure the company is doing what they need to keep them safe.
For all of those clients who she meets with and who then call afterwards and say that they want to wait out the pandemic, there are more that realize that they need her services.
Helping these people, especially the portion of the population most vulnerable to the virus, has been a great joy for Barrett. She has been able to form bonds and lasting friendships with her clients.
“I really genuinely become friends with them,” Barrett said. “I mean, I spend so much time with them…it’s like a family member, really.”
