Nonprofit Group Reaches Out to Fill a Need

Company Name: Pathways HomeCare Center Location: Denver, Colo. Main Products and Services: mobility devices, bath safety aids, wound care and incontinence products, aids to daily living, compression and soft orthopedic goods No. of locations: 1 No. of Employees: 9 Web site: www.pathwayshomecare.org

Necessity is the mother of extension. At least, that was the case at Developmental Pathways, a Denver-based nonprofit corporation, which works to provide services and assistance to people with developmental disabilities.

The 37-year-old organization sponsors 20 group homes, a senior day-care program with four sites, an employment service and supportive services for those living on their own or with their families.

You'd think that would be enough for any organization to oversee but the folks at Developmental Pathways saw another need. Many of their clients were having difficulty both in getting home medical equipment and getting it repaired.

“The very people who had the hardest time getting out to do anything were forced to go from store to store to find anything,” says Pam Pressel, adding that the board “didn't like anything they saw in existing stores — not accepting Medicaid, not having things delivered.”

So, in June 2000, the organization extended its reach and opened Pathways HomeCare Center, an HME retail store that carries everything from mobility equipment and stair lifts to women's health products and bath safety items. And it has apparently done it right — Pressel, Pathways' general manager, says the store has already won people's choice awards from area newspapers.

Located just across the street from its parent company, Pathways is in a 20,000-square-foot building that is set up like a strip mall. There's a sandwich shop, a hearing clinic and a pizza place.

But the 12,000-square-foot showroom is the building's focal point. “We wanted to be a completely unique experience for people,” Pressel says. “We always envisioned a large showroom and one that was experiential, so people could walk in to try the products that normally they would only see in catalogs.”

The showroom is set up as rooms in a home — a bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room, office. “In the settings, we have all the things you would find [in a home],” Pressel says, noting that the living room has environmental controls, lift chairs and even large playing cards, while in the office, customers can surf the Internet using a vision enhancer. In a section called “Pathways on the Go,” customers can try out mobility devices on a track with varied surfaces.

The store carries 5,000 items, Pressel says, and many of them are available to customers to take home and try. If a product doesn't suit the user, Pathways takes it back. It's all about helping the customer find the best product to suit his or her needs, she says, and providing a comfortable environment in which to make that evaluation.

“The mission for [Developmental Pathways] and for me was to really give people who are treated the shabbiest — all the Medicaid people and people with developmental disabilities — a store that was accessible,” Pressel says. “Ninety-nine percent of our stuff is at a height so people in a wheelchair can reach [it].”

The consumer reigns at Pathways. “This is all about the consumer,” Pressel says. “It's not about numbers and filling orders.”

Even employee training is built around the needs of the customers. Pressel ensures that each of the eight people working at Pathways is cross-trained. Everyone can do order intake, everyone can show all the products and answer questions about them. Every employee can even fit compression hosiery.

“We bend over backward to take cake care of our consumers,” Pressel says. “It is not unusual for [one of the staff] to take 45 minutes to an hour taking someone around the store and explaining everything. … People can spend a half an hour to an hour with somebody and the customer walks out having spent $15 for compression hosiery. But they come back, and that's my goal.”

And then there's the service department. “We do service and repairs on all the equipment,” Pressel says. “We build custom chairs, so often we're doing a $20,000 chair. We do stair lifts and auto lifts. And those are cash.”

While Medicaid is happily accepted, Pathways is big on cash. “We have primarily cash items,” Pressel explains. “For about the first six months, we were about 80 percent cash. After that, we started building the insurance and other business.” Now, Pathways is running about 62 percent cash business, 22 percent insurance and 16 percent a combination of private pay, rentals and business from other companies.

The business is paying its own way, too. “We've gone from zero [revenue] to $120,000 a month in a year,” Pressel says. “By the 12th month, we broke even.”

Because Pathways is a nonprofit organization, the pressure to make lots of money is absent. “But we can't be a loss leader,” Pressel says. “My goal is to support the programs across the street, not to drain them.”

She is delighted Pathways has been so successful. “My biggest challenge is keeping up with it,” she acknowledges.

Details About Retail

Retail pays, says Pam Pressel, general manager of Pathways HomeCare Center, but it also demands an investment.

“You have to devote the time and the space to it,” she says. “It's very labor intensive. And if you're not willing to have really excellent customer service, you're not going to do well.”

Good customer service means keeping the store open when it is most convenient for the customer, she says. Pathways is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. “We stock at night when we close, we're all working on Saturday,” says Pressel. “Saturday is one of our biggest days. People have walked in and plunked down $5,000 for a wheelchair.”

Going retail also demands advertising. Pressel says she occasionally advertises in smaller papers and retirement community newspapers, but mostly she depends on direct mail. In each mailing, she includes an undated coupon for a 5 percent discount. That serves as a drawing card for customers, she says.
— S.H.

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