Your Mom Deserves Someone She Knows
A worker-owned companion care cooperative in Boulder. Dedicated caregivers who earn real wages, build equity, and actually stay — because they own the company.
Care Shouldn't Mean a Different Stranger Every Week
For Families
You call an agency. They send someone. That person quits in 3 months. A new stranger shows up. Your mom has to start over. Again. Traditional agencies turn over 77% of their staff every year.
For Caregivers
You earn $15-17/hr with no benefits. The agency charges families $33/hr and keeps the difference. You have no schedule control, no ownership, no reason to stay.
For Everyone
10,000 Americans turn 65 every day. The caregiving model is broken at every level. Families can't find reliable help. Caregivers can't afford to stay. The people who need care most get the least continuity.
Companion Care, Cooperatively Owned
Tell Us What You Need
Light check-in? Daily companionship? Help with meals and errands? We match the right level of care to your family's actual situation. Starting at just 5 hours/week.
Meet Your Caregiver
Not a random assignment. A real person in your neighborhood who's chosen this work, invested in the cooperative, and committed to your family.
A Relationship That Lasts
Because our caregivers earn $25-28/hr, own equity in the cooperative, and choose their own hours, they don't quit. Your caregiver today is your caregiver next year.
Care That Fits Your Life
Flexible pricing with no long-term contracts. Scale up or down as needs change.
Peace of Mind
Weekly check-in, light errands, companionship. Perfect for families who just want to know someone's looking in on mom.
Regular Support
Meals, transportation, medication reminders, companionship. The sweet spot for most families.
Daily Living
Comprehensive companion care plus personal care assistance. For parents who need daily support.
Intensive/Transition
Post-hospital transition or complex needs. Temporary or ongoing. Let's talk about your situation.
All care is HSA-eligible, saving you an additional 25-37% through tax advantage. No contracts — scale up or down as needs change.
Traditional Boulder agencies: $29-45/hr. FCC: $25-28/hr. The difference? We don't extract 50% for corporate overhead.
For Families: What Companion Care Actually Looks Like
- Someone who remembers your dad takes his coffee black
- A familiar face at the grocery store, not a stranger with a clipboard
- Medication reminders from someone who knows the routine
- A call to you when something seems off — because they know what "off" looks like
- Help with meals, errands, light housekeeping, and just being there
This is what 15% turnover makes possible. The same person, month after month. Knowing your family, earning your trust.
For Caregivers: Care Work That Finally Values You
Traditional Agency vs. FCC
| Metric | Traditional Agency | FCC |
|---|---|---|
| Pay | $15-17/hr | $25-28/hr |
| Benefits | Minimal/none | Full W-2 (health, dental, PTO) |
| Ownership | Zero | Cooperative equity — you build wealth |
| Schedule | Assigned | You choose your hours and families |
| Relationship | New client every week | Long-term families in your neighborhood |
We're building a founding caregiver team in Boulder. 5 people who want to own their work and build something real.
For Employers: 34% of Your Workforce Is Quietly Struggling
Caregiving employees miss 6.6 days/year. Hidden cost: $5,365/employee. 32% have quit a job over caregiving. Your best people are in crisis.
The FCC Solution
FCC as voluntary employee benefit: HSA-eligible companion care starting at $550/mo. Flexible — employees use what they need, scale as situations change.
- Reduce absenteeism and presenteeism — caregiving employees stay focused
- Improve retention — especially important for women in the workforce
- Tax advantage — HSA-eligible payroll deductions
- Recruit better talent — caregiving support is a competitive benefit
Why a Cooperative?
Where your money goes.
Traditional Agency
Family pays $33/hr → Agency takes $17 (52%) → Caregiver gets $16/hr. The gap is corporate extraction.
FCC
Family pays $27/hr → Cooperative overhead $2-5 → Caregiver gets $22-25/hr. No venture capitalists extracting returns. No corporate overhead eating half the fee. A cooperative means the people doing the care are the people who own the company.
About the Founder
Blaine Warkentine
I went to medical school to become an orthopedic surgeon. Four years into residency, I realized my real skill wasn't in the operating room — it was in the space between surgeons and the companies building tools for them. I became a translator: someone who speaks both clinical and commercial fluently.
That skill built BrainLAB's orthopedic business from zero to $250M. It led to multiple healthcare M&A exits, including HCA Healthcare and Anytime Fitness. And it gave me 20 years watching how health systems actually work — where they innovate, where they get stuck, and where patients fall through the cracks.
The crack I kept coming back to was caregiving. For over a decade, I tried to solve it with software — remote monitoring, AI matching, digital health platforms. Every time, I learned the same lesson: families don't need another app. They need a real person who shows up, who stays, and who gives a damn.
The problem is structural. Traditional agencies charge families $33/hr and pay caregivers $16. That gap — that's why 77% of caregivers quit every year. That's why your mom gets a different stranger every week. Family Care Cooperative exists to close that gap. When caregivers own the company, earn real wages, and build equity, they don't leave. And when they don't leave, families finally get what they actually need: consistency, trust, and someone who knows that Dad takes his coffee black and Mom needs her walk at 3pm.
We're building a founding team. If you're an operations leader who believes care work deserves ownership, or a caregiver who's tired of being treated as disposable — I'd love to hear from you.
Ready to Talk?
Whether you're a family needing care, a caregiver looking to own your work, an employer, or an investor — we'd like to hear from you.