Home Instead Senior Care-Wilmington has new owners.

Amir Ghoddoussi and Tammy Godusi have purchased the home care company’s local franchise, the husband-and-wife team confirmed Tuesday. The transaction was completed June 1 for an undisclosed price.

In business since 2002, Home Instead –Wilmington is among the Omaha, Nebraska-based company’s top-performing franchises, according to Dallas Romanowski, a managing principal of Cornerstone Advisory Partners, who facilitated the sale.

“The franchise has shown growth and has very encouraging market prospects,” Romanowski said.

Original owners Darrell and Sarah Blackman moved to Wilmington from Wichita, Kansas to open the franchise after selecting the location because it was halfway between her native Vermont and Florida, where Darrell wanted to locate. Sarah Blackman said they gave their all to the business for 12 years, but have decided the time is right to hand it off to new owners.
 
“Four years ago my husband contracted MERS [Middle East Respiratory Syndrome] and had to stop working,” Sarah Blackman said. “He has recovered, but was not thriving at home by himself. This is a 24/7 business. It is time for me to step back.”
Blackman said that, when they first started the business, she and her husband acted as backup caregivers as well as running the operation. They ultimately built the business to a size that employs several hundred caregivers.

“I am madly in love with this company,” she said. “We have phenomenal caregivers.”

Godusi said she and her husband were attracted to the business because of her more than 20 years of experience in geriatrics. She is a registered nurse.

“I wanted to get back into this type of work, and use my nursing skills,” Godusi said, mentioning that she has case management experience as well. “It’s a great area to work in; very rewarding.”

Her husband, who has an MBA, has a business development background. The couple are moving to Wilmington from the Raleigh area.

Home Instead is deploying new software throughout its franchise network that will make it much easier for caregivers, clients and client family members to communicate and keep track of each individual’s program of care, Godusi said.

“A lot of things that have been done manually, by checking boxes on a sheet of paper, will now be online and available for the caregiver and the family members to see,” she said, giving as an example family members’ ability to monitor what services have been provided to their loved one on any given day.

Even before the sale was finalized, the couple completed their Home Instead orientation and have been interacting with the local staff, they said.

Home Instead-Wilmington, at 2505 S. 17th Street, Suite 110, provides non-medical at-home care and companionship services that help keep older adults safely in their homes.