🔒Growing Assisted Living Services aims to be ‘No. 1 homecare agency’ in CT

Sharon D’Aquila started Assisted Living Services Inc. in a room over her garage in Meriden in 1996 after a frustrating search for a live-in caregiver for her grandfather, who had Alzheimer’s disease.

Her son, Mario, then 8 years old, remembers how potential clients would have to cut through his bedroom if they needed to use the bathroom.

Today the younger D’Aquila, now 32, is chief operating officer, and the company takes up 10,000 square feet in two brick buildings in an attractive Cheshire office park.

It also has 300 employees on the payroll, branch offices in Clinton and Fairfield, and was just named one of the fastest-growing private companies in America by Inc. magazine.

The agency provides home care services for seniors and the disabled, including homemaker and companion care, personal care services and 24-hour live-in care, the latter of which D’Aquila says is its specialty.

Through a subsidiary, Assisted Living Technologies Inc., it also provides subscription-based technology services to help people age safely in their homes. That arm of the business offers devices so people can monitor loved ones remotely, detect when they fall or help manage their medication, and it has grown from 36 subscribers in 2011 to nearly 1,000 today, the company says.

Even as he marvels at how far the business has come, Mario D’Aquila — who runs the agency with his mother, his father, Ron, and his younger brother, Nick — has grander ambitions.

He says the company, which posted more than $20 million in revenue in 2019, is eyeing potential acquisitions and wants to eventually open a satellite office in every corner of the state.

“The vision here is to become the No. 1 homecare agency in Connecticut,” Mario D’Aquila says, sitting in a conference room at the new Cheshire headquarters, which opened in late 2019.

In September, Assisted Living Services debuted at 4,022 on this year’s Inc. 5000, a list of the country’s fastest-growing private companies based on percentage of revenue gain between 2016 and 2019.

The agency’s revenue surged 87% over the three-year period — from $10.7 million to just over $20 million. It was one of 36 Connecticut firms to land on the list, and the only state company in the health category.

When D’Aquila first suggested Assisted Living Services apply for a place in the ranking, he considered it a long shot. But he says it was part of the company’s strategy to set “audacious, pie-in-the-sky” goals.

“It’s kind of like shooting for the stars so at least you get to the moon,” explains his brother Nick, who is chief information officer and also runs the technology subsidiary.

“I didn’t even think we’d get out of the atmosphere,” Mario adds.

The D’Aquilas attribute some of the stellar growth to a 2017 expansion into Fairfield County, its move from Meriden to Cheshire, and partnerships with state agencies.

Also, a generous recognition program has helped the company attract and retain top caregivers, they say. Each month, the company awards a $5,000 check — Publisher’s Clearinghouse-style — to a caregiver who goes “above and beyond” for a client.

But they believe the real key to their success is a performance management framework the company adopted two years ago, known as Objectives & Key Results, or OKR.

Pioneered at Intel and used by tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft, the strategy sets individual goals and targets for every person in the organization — from receptionist to CEO. The company then tracks progress toward those objectives. The idea is to keep everyone aligned and working toward the same broader vision, they explain.

Pandemic notwithstanding, the company continues to strive for a spot on next year’s Inc. list. Although business took a hit during the early weeks of the crisis, D’Aquila says it has since rebounded — and then some — amid concerns over the state’s high COVID-19 fatality rate in nursing homes.

Interest in remote monitoring and other technology is up, too, he says, as older people who are considered high risk continue to isolate themselves at home.

D’Aquila predicts demand for in-home health care will continue to rise in the coming years, as more Baby Boomers retire and prefer to age in their homes.