The leaders of Brooklyn-based Galaxy Home Care are hoping their extensive experience in home-based care – including on the front lines – will allow them to thrive while at the helm.
They’re also hoping more old-school approaches – like word-of-mouth advertising and hiring offices – will guide their growth in the new world of home-based care.
Galaxy’s CEO Yelena Sokolsky — a registered nurse with over 18 years of experience in home care — first realized the importance of home care when she had to take care of her parents and grandparents. As a family of immigrants, it started with bridging the language barrier.
That eventually led to a life in home care.
“Even as a teenager I was always interested in family dynamics,” Sokolsky told Home Health Care News. “It just so happened that I was completely responsible for my grandparents and due to the language barrier, I was always helping them set up services. I was responsible for making sure their Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, home health aides – all of that – were taken care of.”
From graduating with both a psychology and nursing degree, Sokolsky eventually made her way into the home care space. In July 2021, after holding several jobs both on the administrative side and on the patient-service side, Sokolsky teamed up with co-founder Mila Verkhoglaz to start Galaxy Home Care.
Galaxy Home Care is an in-home care provider that offers both medical and non-medical services to seniors and disabled adults and companionship services for children. The company operates in all five New York City boroughs, in addition to Nassau County.
Aside from providing nursing home health aides, personal care workers and advising patients on Medicaid, Galaxy also contracts with managed long term care companies.
Today, Galaxy serves about 100 patients with about 300 employees, but is hoping that will soon change.
“We are growing aggressively,” Sokolsky said. “Geographically, I feel like a lot of younger people who are the children of our patients have moved out of New York, so our patients need more services and more hours with us.”
By having such a rich working background, Sokolsky said she feels confident in her ability to lead a team that provides personalized care to all of its patients from beginning to end.
“Between Mila and I, our strongest asset is personalization and white-glove handling of every patient we serve,” Sokolsky said. “Our patients are aging and there is a very high demand in this field. We are here ready to serve.”
Like most providers, staffing continues to be the biggest challenge for Galaxy. Its administrative team is working hard to make the working environment better for employees by improving benefits and perks. But regulatory roadblocks have been a struggle.
“I believe by providing good benefits for my employees, I will be able to handle the increase in demand and be able to cover all that’s needed for our patients,” Sokolsky said.
Galaxy also plans to open satellite hiring offices in each borough in order to make it easier for applicants to apply.
In terms of growth plans, Galaxy is relying on old school tactics like patient referrals and word-of-mouth advertisement to grow in New York and the surrounding counties.
“Being in the industry for so many years, sometimes the best form of advertising is word of mouth,” Sokolsky said. “We get a lot of referrals through patients and their families. Our strength is our personalization.”
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