By Amanda Raymond
amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — After having the first medical foster home for veterans in Rowan County, Laretta Angle has moved her home care business to a new facility.

Angle held the grand reopening ceremony for Angels at Heart Home Care at its new location at 1400 N. Main St. on June 3.

Angels at Heart Home Care previously shared a building with another company, but Angle said she had to move to a bigger space because of all the clients she was getting.

“I had so much traffic coming in,” she said. “I actually was working out of my car. I had material in my car, material at my house.”

Angels at Heart Home Care provides companionship, sitter, respite and personal care services to the elderly, people recovering from surgery, veterans and children.

Services are provided in Rowan, Cabarrus, Stanly, Davie, Davidson and Iredell counties.

Angels at Heart offers Medicaid and private care services. With Medicaid, a client can get help with homemaking, bathing, grooming, dressing, using the bathroom, eating, mobility and light housekeeping. With private pay-personal care, clients can get help with homemaking, light housekeeping, bathing, dressing, grooming, eating and mobility.

Other services include errand services, live-in services, incidental transportation and sleepover care.

Angle said she got into having her own home care business while she worked at a home care facility in Spencer. Her husband, Corey, housed veterans at the time and Angle attended one of the medical foster program meetings with him.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the medical foster home program involves a trained caregiver taking veterans into his or her private home to provide care.

At the time, her husband worked long hours while she was not working.

“It was great because (the veterans) became my family,” she said. “So I didn’t consider it as a facility. They actually became my family.”

While veterans stayed with Angle, they got three meals and snacks. Angle handled their medication and took them to doctor’s appointments. For the veterans who were up for it, they even went to Zumba classes with Angle.

“Basically, it was a home setting for them away from home, but just a family setting with me and my husband,” she said.

Angle said at one point she had five veterans in her home at once. She actually had the first medical foster home in Rowan County.

After the second veteran Angle took into her home, and an article in the Salisbury Post, Angle said a lot more people were asking her to care for veterans. After two years of caring for veterans in her own home, she decided to get licensed and move into a different facility.

She now helps train caregivers to provide home care to the community. A registered nurse gives demonstrations. Angle also offers CPR training and continuing education courses.

Though Angle said she was afraid to move into a bigger facility at first, she has been flooded with calls since she moved in two months ago.

At the start of the business, Angle said it was her husband that got her through her moments of doubt and encouraged her to keep going even when clients were scarce.

Now, even larger companies recommend Angels at Heart Home Care.

“I was literally scared, just fear of growing. But I’m grateful,” she said.

Angle will be starting a program in July that will run until December that will provide up to four hours of free home care to low income seniors and disabled adults aged 65 and older. Angle said those in Rowan County who have a monthly income of $600 to $900 can receive personal care services, meal preparation and light housekeeping.

“The thing is, you have to put out in order to not only to receive your blessings, but if it’s in your heart and you’re compassionate about it then God will bless you either way,” she said.

Angle said she wants her business to grow to its fullest potential. She has an upper floor in the building that she is not currently using, but she said she knows God gave her the space for a reason.

She eventually wants to provide franchising opportunities so that her name can be used for more service providers, as well as expanding her services.

Angle does not house any veterans in her house anymore, but she does have a facility with six beds. She is licensed with the VA through the community residential care program.

Angle said, above all else, she wants to help people.

“It’s not about how many clients I have, it’s the people that I can help,” she said.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.