Angela Martin is the owner of Shepherd’s Staff In-home Care. They provide assistance to elderly and disabled adults who want to remain safely at home.
The company was founded in 2011 by John and Angela Martin, who were inspired to start the business by their experiences helping their own parents. The company is based on these five core values, which must be upheld by every employee:
Respect for Human Dignity • Compassion • Responsibility • Integrity • Professionalism.
Shepherd’s Staff In-home Care is licensed by the State of Maryland Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene, Lic. #R3661. The company is a four-time winner of the Best of Home Care “Leader in Excellence” award.
Question and Answer Session
For our Q&A session, our current members submit questions to ask the member of the month. They are a mix of business, personal and random questions.
WBPA: What do you like to do in your spare time?
Angela Martin: “My happy place is the woods, so my favorite thing to do in my spare time is to head up to Catoctin Mountain Park or Cunningham Falls and hit one of the trails. If I don’t have time to do that, I love to take a walk on our property – we have about 9 acres of mostly wooded bottom land behind our house and I love to see the wildflowers and watch how the stream changes course throughout the year.”
WBPA: When did you move to the Walkersville area? What made this area a good choice for you?
Angela Martin: “We moved to Walkersville in February 1978. Our first home was a small split-level in Glade Manor I. By the time Glade Manor II was developed, we had four children, so we moved to a two-story home in the new development. In 1999, we had a home built on a remainder lot in Greenbrier, where we plan to stay for the rest of our days. Walkersville was a great place to raise a family! Between church, GVAA athletics, and the neighborhood, we felt like we knew everyone. It was very helpful when our kids were young — they always knew word would get back to us if they drove too fast or skipped school, so they pretty much had to behave!”
WBPA: What was your first job? What do you remember most about your first job?
Angela Martin: “My first real job was working in an office for the Southland Corporation, which managed about 30 7-11 stores in Montgomery County. This was in Burtonsville, MD, where I grew up. The district managers would bring in the receipts from their stores and I would total them and record the results for the bookkeeper. (This was before computers!) What I remember most was how narrow the profit margin was and how devastating it was for a store manager when a store got robbed. It makes me feel bad for those businesses that are experiencing looting. I don’t think people who do these things realize that they are hurting real people, and their families, by their actions.”
WBPA: What motivated you to (start, get into) this (business, field)?
Angela Martin: “My mother had her first stroke in 1991. She worked hard and recovered well, but she was never the same, and when additional strokes and a heart attack followed several years later, she became unable to take care of herself. My father became her devoted caregiver, learning to assist her with walking and taking over many of the housekeeping tasks, but he also was elderly and couldn’t do it all. I was a member of the “sandwich generation” – I had a preschooler, my oldest was in college, and I had a job, so helping them was a challenge. We needed to hire caregivers, but learned that many were not as dedicated or as well-trained as we liked. Through the years my mother received care, my pet peeve was the lack of respect shown to her and my dad by some caregivers. After my parents died in 2008, I felt called to start a business dedicated to caring for the elderly in the respectful and responsible way they deserved. We founded Shepherd’s Staff In-home Care to reflect our core values of respect, compassion, responsibility, integrity and professionalism.”
WBPA: Describe your perfect customer (Client).
Angela Martin: “Our clients run the gamut from individuals with minor mobility issues to people who need a lot assistance with the activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, etc.) The ideal client is someone who wants to remain at home but who needs some help with the activities we all take for granted, or who who has mild cognitive impairment. Our caregivers can assist with personal hygiene, basic housekeeping tasks, meal preparation, transportation, memory assistance, medication reminders, and safety monitoring. Our care can range from as little as two hours every other week to 24/7, with , but a typical client might need care 4-5 hours a day. three or four days a week. “
