Imagine for a moment that you have a neurologically deficient child whose life depends on a ventilator. The doctors advise you to put your child in a long-term care facility, saying your best option is to separate yourself from your child.
Or imagine you are elderly, sick and no longer able to care for yourself. The doctors advise you to transfer to a nursing home, saying your best option is to leave your home and live among strangers.
In either case, is your best option really the best? Casandra Caceres, CEO and administrator for Oasis Home Healthcare, might tell you otherwise.
"In home health, we educate physicians and families about community options and care available for them to utilize in their transfer home," she said. "We facilitate around-the-clock care for our patients in their homes. They don’t have to part with their child, [and] they don’t have to go live in a nursing home. It’s very personal, and a completely different atmosphere from a hospital or long-term care facility."
As a registered nurse with a BSN from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi and 10 years of experience both in home health and at Driscoll Children’s Hospital, Caceres knows the ups and downs of both settings.
"There are so many things going on at a hospital," she said. "I always wondered what happened to the really sick patients after we transferred them to their homes. I love the experience I gained at the hospital; it’s probably what propelled me to do home health, and now I’m getting to reap the benefits. Our patients thrive once they get home because that’s where they want to be."
In other words, Caceres knows she’s in the right place. The Corpus Christi native bought into Oasis about a year ago because she’s passionate about home health, and "I had done home health for years for other people, and I wanted to do it for myself."
The company provides in-house care for "anybody and everybody" from pediatrics to geriatrics, offering skilled nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapies, as well as a number of other services to Corpus Christi and 13 counties in the surrounding area. Oasis also provides care for indigent patients free of charge on a case-by-case basis, which "is our way of helping the community," Caceres said.
While Caceres is passionate about helping people, she’s also passionate about feeding them. Her other passion is cooking, which she combined with her love of business ownership when she bought J’s Place nearly four years ago. The charming café in American Bank Plaza gets its name from her four children, all of whom have names beginning with the letter J.
"I’ve always loved to cook," Caceres said. "I had an opportunity to buy this restaurant, and I bought it, changed everything in one weekend and opened back up. We have daily specials and soups, we have burgers and sandwiches, and we do a lot of catering. We always sell out of our daily specials."
Whether she’s managing wait staff at J’s Place or RNs and LVNs at Oasis, Caceres is a born entrepreneur.
"I like business ownership," she said. "I like making the decisions, and I really like employing people and providing them with a job."
Her employees also have no complaints. Oasis Office Manager Sharon Serna, who has worked with Caceres for several years, says Caceres is popular in the office and describes her as "a great person to work for. She’s always understanding with us, and she’s always there for everybody. She’s very educated, as well, and a great and intelligent businesswoman. She is by far the best boss I’ve ever worked for."
Of course, business ownership has its challenges, especially when it comes to operating businesses that are "two different extremes," according to Caceres. "The restaurant is really laidback; it’s a hobby, and it’s fun. It’s also a cash business, meaning that when we’re done for the day, we’re done. Home health is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It’s much more serious. We have pediatric patients on ventilators and adults on oxygen with complex needs, and we do a lot of wound care. It’s a more tedious daily regimen, and we’ve grown so much since last January, so it’s been a big challenge."
However, when it comes to Oasis, "the biggest issue is finding professionals [who] will work for you," Caceres said. "It used to be because of a nurses shortage, but not so much now; today it’s getting nurses to embrace this kind of nursing. But I think we have an advantage in that we’re a locally owned and operated agency. I find professionals connect with that."
In other words, the RNs and LVNs at Oasis don’t have to worry about getting transferred out of town, as they might if they were to join a staffing agency; they can either work for Oasis full-time or moonlight for Oasis and keep their full-time hospital positions.
Another significant, yet doable, challenge in the beginning for both Oasis and J’s Place was one of the usual challenges faced by novice and veteran business owners alike: competition.
"There are a ton of home health [agencies] in Corpus," according to Caceres, and anyone who’s familiar with the Texas Coast knows the restaurant business in the area is nothing short of a battlefield. However, both businesses have survived and thrived. Why?
Perhaps it’s because Caceres follows her own advice for the future entrepreneurs of America: "You need to be committed to your mission, whatever it is," she said. "You need to be passionate about what you do in order to stay focused on the goal. And just stay persistent. Don’t let people tell you that you can’t do it or that you won’t succeed, because you will."
And Caceres is living proof of that. Although her "hands are full with the four kids, the restaurant and the home health," she finds the work very rewarding.
"The restaurant is fun," she said. "I love to infuse my recipes into the restaurant, and it’s nice to see people appreciate my efforts. And at Oasis, I enjoy knowing we truly make a difference. We really get to see these people benefit from us coming to the home and sending professionals out there to help them in their daily lives. It’s great."
