Home Instead expands into Europe (8/03)

A Franchise company that provides nonmedical help to the elderly is expanding into Europe.

Home Instead Senior Care has finalized an agreement making Thor Care in Lisbon the Master franchise company that will introduce the services to Portugal.

Thor Care has an option with Home Instead to expand into Spain in a year, said Paulo Neto, one of the partners in Thor Care.

Based in Omaha, Home Instead offers shopping, meal preparation, light housekeeping, errands, medication reminders and companionship through more than 400 Franchises in the United States and offices in Japan and Canada.

It also is seeking to expand into Great Britain.

Home Instead owner Paul Hogan founded the company in 1994 after his family took care of his grandmother for 12 years. Hogan saw the need other families had as they tried to help their elderly parents or grandparents stay in their homes instead of providing care at a nursing home.

Much the same desire is fueling Neto's efforts, Neto said Wednesday.

His friend and partner in Thor Care, Paulo Peixoto, was unable to find help in Portugal for his mother at her home while his father was ill. Now, Peixoto's father has died and his mother is living with him, Neto said.

"Until we have the company rolling, because we're just starting, this is the kind of solution we could come up with," Neto said as he took a break from meetings at Home Instead in Omaha.

Neto and a third partner, Paulo Pinto, have backgrounds in information technology and computer sales. Peixoto was an air traffic controller.

They expect to open their first Portugal office next week.

Yoshino Nakajima, Home Instead's vice president for international development, said Thor Care's experience in Portugal can serve as a model for further expansion into Western Europe and England.