To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Companion Care of Rochester’s rebranding to Blossom: Modern Home Care Solutions of Western New York, we interviewed CEO Chris Gauvin to reflect upon the past year and all the positive changes that have taken place!
What makes Blossom different from Companion Care of Rochester?
“Ultimately Blossom is the growth of CCOR.” When Chris’s father, Al Gauvin, started Companion Care of Rochester in 1997, the company only offered companion services in Rochester, NY. Now Blossom is licensed to provide services in 18 counties throughout Western New York and has offices in Geneva, Buffalo, and Rochester, with an up-and-coming office in Geneseo, NY! “As we continued to grow and evolve and add services, we grew away from the name and the company became more involved throughout the community and in the variety of services that we offered.” Amid all these changes, the goal of achieving “A Better Way” for home care has remained the unwavering guide to everything we do at Blossom.
How has the past year changed the company as a whole?
The past year has been a challenging one given the many obstacles presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Chris explains, “A lot of the marketing and recruiting efforts that we relied on were face-to-face, grassroots kind of things; meeting people, talking to people, getting to know people, and having people get to know us.” However, those personal connections can be difficult to establish over zoom and without being physically present. Despite these adversities, Blossom adapted, exemplifying its second core value, Get it Done, no matter what. Evolving from this past year, Chris is hopeful about Blossom’s future “… in the last two months, I’ve seen this organization and the people in this organization grow and I think things are looking really good for the future.”
What was the rebranding process behind the making of Blossom?
“That process was really involved, we tried to include as many people as we could.” For the rebranding process, there was a diverse group of voices from both internal and external staff. Beginning with the question, ‘what does it mean to be an employee at this company.’" There was an introspective look into the organization and just trying to figure out who we were and who we wanted to be.” Through a lot of back and forth, evaluation, and hard work, the marketing team became the leading force in developing a brand that reflected the company’s core values and attracted people who aligned with those values…a brand that is authentically, wholeheartedly Blossom.
What do you see for Blossom's future as a company?
“I think the future is very bright for this industry.” In 2015, Chris played a significant role in strategic planning meetings for Companion Care of Rochester. A major part of that was establishing the company's mission, which was to be the premier provider of home care services in Western New York. Although Companion Care of Rochester has transformed into Blossom, and the language around the mission has changed, the heart of it remains strong and beating. "Pushing and moving towards the future of being the premier provider throughout Western New York and becoming a trusted source for home care in this region is what I see in the future for this company.” Chris is confident that Blossom has all the pieces in place to further grow the company and continue to achieve its mission.
