ANNOUNCING THE WOMAN OF THE MONTH

Meet December’s Fort Worth Woman! Ashley Smith currently serves as the Administrator for ameriCARE Texas Home Care serving the greater Fort Worth area. As a young mom of four (a nine-year-old, six-year-old twins, and a 2 year-old) Ashley describes her home life as chaotic as you would imagine. Both she and her husband Clayton have lived in Fort Worth since they both graduated from the University of North Texas fifteen years ago.

During her time at UNT, Ashley studied Interdisciplinary Studies and began her career, following in her moms’ footsteps, as a Kindergarten teacher. She later went on to earn her Master’s in Special Education with a Diagnostician Certification from Texas Tech University.

Prior to opening AmeriCARE in Fort Worth in 2020, Ashely was both an Educator and Diagnostician in Northwest ISD for ten years. She describes her time there, “As a diagnostician, I administered tests and diagnosed learning disabilities, developed individualized educational plans (IEPs), educated parents and guardians, provided resources, and advocated for students to receive the services that would most benefit their education.”

As we all know, life changes for not just you, but your entire village when you have children. Ashley states, “When we had the twins, my dad retired, and my parents moved closer to help with our kids. After a few years of preschool drop offs & trips to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, we decided to pursue a family business- a dream of ours for some time. When looking for a business concept, we really connected with providing caregiving services because of our personal connection to being family caregivers.”

Caregiving requires care, advocation, and even unsolicited cheerleading. Both Ashley and her dad know caregiving all too well. Ashley describes further, “When I was two years old, my mom (Kelly) who was twenty-five-years-old had a massive stroke. This event changed the trajectory of our family. Kelly had to re-learn how to walk, talk, and write. My Dad (Marty) was her primary caregiver, advocate, and cheerleader on her road to recovery. Anyone who has dealt with stroke recovery can tell you it is not a straight line and requires persistence from the stroke survivor and their support system. Years later, my mom suffered a second stroke followed by a breast cancer diagnosis. We lived the family caregiver role firsthand for many years through each of my mom’s medical events and have a deep appreciation for what that looks like – the struggles and strains. Normal day-to-day activities were a challenge for her, so we did what family caregivers do and provided the extra care needed.”

Some people cave under pressure and others use that pressure to create a diamond. In the Spring of 2020 (pre-pandemic) Ashley and her family decided use their experiences for the greater good. Ashley states, “At the time, home care services were not as prevalent as they are now. Our family would have benefited greatly from the services we now provide. This experience allows us to now connect and empathize with the families we serve because we have been there. We knew there was a great need for trusted and compassionate caregiving services with so many people now wanting to age at home. It was our experience and desire to help others live a better quality of life while aging that inspired us to bring ameriCARE Texas Home Care to Fort Worth. There are so many great resources available for families needing home-based care, and I am on a mission to educate the Fort Worth community on what those are.”

To start, Ashley went straight to the source of what she knows best: stroke recovery. She describes, “As we opened our doors, the first specialty care program we created was a stroke care program that took our family experience with common stroke issues like aphasia, apraxia, mobility impairments, etc., and created a nine-point stroke specific program to train our caregivers on how to approach caregiving for stroke survivors. It’s practical information based on our family’s personal experience over the past thirty five years, but is also backed by science and medical expertise. Each caregiver that joins our agency takes a special set of trainings, including our stroke program training.”

Expansion came both easy and rapidly – square in the face of a pandemic. Ashley states, “In Spring of 2022, we had the great opportunity to expand our business by way of partnership. We met Dr. Rohith Saravanan, MD and his family, and put forth a plan to expand our operations from the greater Fort Worth area we were serving to all of DFW, and eventually Austin, and San Antonio. Dr. Saravanan is a Board-Certified Family Physician with years of medical and business leadership experience. He has brought his medical expertise and clinical oversight to our delivery of care which has made an immediate impact on those we care for. Although our services are non-medical, we believe our physician oversight which allows us to share the science of caregiving with our care team, and tailor advocacy for families truly sets up apart from other agencies. We are committed to creating an organization where high-quality, compassionate care is standardized for all of our future ameriCARE locations in Texas. We are excited to see how we can grow ameriCARE in Fort Worth and into all of Texas in the coming years. “

When asked about what else ameriCARE provides, the answer was lengthy and in the best way. This non-medical home care assists with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as: ambulatory, grooming, toileting, dressing, and eating. Other tasks included in their care are medication reminders, meal preparation, transportation, light housekeeping, rehab/exercise management, and quality companionship. Ashley describes ameriCARE as providing “non-medical home care to older adults and others needing assistance with their activities of daily living that allows people to be happier and more independent at home – wherever they call home.” Ashley is responsible for overall operations of the flagship office located in the Stockyards and owns the business with both her dad and husband.

And her mom? She’s still a warrior. Ashley informs, “Through working with the many great people in the senior care industry, we were introduced to a new stroke treatment at NeuroKinetix (located off Camp Bowie in Fort Worth) that my mom is currently undergoing. It still early, but she is seeing some considerable gains in function, and reduction in pain. We are so thankful to other families, like the NeuroKinetix family, that have used their own personal experiences to create programs and therapies to benefit our local community.”

When talking about Fort Worth, Ashley sees our city in a different view than most. While she loves that Fort Worth is a great place to raise a family, she also has seen with her own eyes that Fort Worth is a great place to age. Ashley describes further “Fort Worth is one of the top cities in the United States to retire! So many business leaders here put more emphasis on fostering a community over competition. There are a variety of incredible independent and assisted living communities in our area, as well as organizations such as UNTHSC, TAGS, Age Friendly Fort Worth, Dementia Friendly Fort Worth, Meals on Wheels, and others designed to support, engage, and care for our older adults. We are currently working to move my grandparents here from South Texas because of the services and options available in Fort Worth! It’s an incredible location to have generations of families together in one place!”

When asked to reflect on her impact as a businesswoman in Fort Worth, Ashley seemed to rightfully and humbly pick the word ‘impact’. She states, “I can feel the small impacts made when I am in the field serving our clients myself or hearing the success stories from our Care Team. I feel the impact when I spend my day traveling with a client to her grandson’s wedding, getting her dressed & taking behind the scenes pictures of the bride and groom. I can feel the impact when I run someone to a doctor’s appointment, shop for their post-hospital discharge necessities, or sit with someone on Christmas. I feel the impact with little things like knowing we offer insurance benefits to our Care Team, and by striving to be an agency where they feel cared for too.” Her goal is to show both transparency and authenticity in everything she does. Her servants heart shines through her words as she says, “I want the people I meet to feel that I am someone who cares about the people we serve, employ, and partner with. I want to connect with others in a way that allows me to learn how I can serve their needs and how we can together serve the needs of the older adults in Fort Worth. The more we grow and show others how they too can share in this impact and joy from serving others, the bigger the impact can be.”

Despite many of our best efforts, aging is inevitable. Places like ameriCARE and hearts like Ashley and her family are what make this process an honorable one. To contact them about your loved one you can call 817-349-9075 or visit their flagship office on Main Street in the Stockyards.