Griswold is More Than Home Care
It’s Peace of Mind
At Griswold Home Care for Northern Virginia West, we offer compassionate in-home care for those who want support to live where they love. With over four decades of experience and a storied legacy of compassion and integrity, we focus on the people we meet and the connections we make right here in our own community. It is our privilege to support your unique needs with respect, empathy, and dedicated attention so you can Live Assured, without the weight of worry.
Griswold is an award-winning pioneer in the non-medical home care industry. We believe Care Professionals are the foundation of our success, and our commitment to innovation is based on our desire to improve the lives of everyone we touch as we serve this community. We focus on personal care, homemaking, companionship, and support for those with conditions, illnesses, or injuries.
Meet Your Team
Karen Vassar
Director
Karen Vassar is the owner of Griswold Home Care for Northern Virginia West, a non-medical home care services company that celebrates, educates and advocates for the choice to remain independent at home. With an awareness of the astounding number of individuals turning 65 every day, and the great desire of most to remain in their home as they age, Karen has assembled a team of committed and caring individuals who provide companion and personal care services to seniors and adults with disabilities.
After a long and successful career in the executive search industry, Karen realized she was ready for a change. She wanted the next chapter in her professional life to be one of significant impact. Now in her 10th year as the owner of Griswold Home Care NoVA West, she knows she made the right decision.
Karen has fond memories of her grandparents and great grandparents but also remembers the challenges that they experienced as they aged and how family members stepped up to address those needs. “We don’t often meet older adults who transition from being fully independent to deceased with no intervening period of needing assistance from others. But the type and level of assistance they need varies widely. I have the opportunity to make life more manageable for those who may be struggling with activities that most of take for granted, and to do that in a way that honors and respects them as individuals.”
As the daughter of an aging parent herself, Karen fully understands the challenges people face in making decisions about care for those most important to them. This is highly personal work for her, and that fact translates naturally to her interactions with those exploring services and long-term customers alike. Karen is typically the first contact families have when they call for information or help. She remains highly involved during the course of an individual’s care, ensuring that the high standards that drive her team are consistently met.
Kelly Lambert
Care Coordinator
Kelly's success at Griswold for Northern Virginia West is rooted in her extensive experience in sales and management in the retail sector. Serving as the Care Coordinator since the office opened ten years ago, she adeptly manages the interviewing, hiring, and scheduling of all caregiver staff, promoting a high standard of excellence throughout. Kelly's dedication to ensuring that caregivers receive the respect and recognition they deserve fosters a deep sense of loyalty among the team, contributing significantly to our remarkably low turnover rate.
Melanie McLennan
Nurse
As the Nurse for the Northern Virginia West team, Melanie meets with every client at the start of service to create a care plan that addresses their condition and how our caregivers can best support them. In addition to serving as an ongoing resource for clients, Melanie supervises our talented team of caregivers, providing ongoing training and assistance. Melanie’s 30 years of RN experience includes skilled nursing care to patients in the cardiac and intensive care units of large hospitals, pre-op assessment of outpatient surgery patients, and education and vaccine administration for those traveling abroad. Melanie’s strong assessment and teaching skills, and respect for preserving independence with age align wonderfully with the Griswold culture.
Julian Cuevas
Recruiter
In Your Community
We’re in This Together
Our team is dedicated to improving the well-being of our community through serving those who need assistance to live where they love. We are active in the neighborhood, so you’ll see us around town at events, participating in associations and meetings, and supporting local organizations inside and outside the care industry. We firmly believe in our ability to create a happier and healthier place to live through the connections we make with the people in our community.
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Jean’s Story
In 1982, Dr. Jean Griswold founded our company at her dining room table in a small suburb of Philadelphia. She found out that an elderly woman in her community had died of complications because she had no support system for care. Jean felt this was an easily preventable tragedy and was driven to find a solution by pairing Caregivers with those who could not thrive in their homes alone. She was a true visionary, establishing one of the first and most successful non-medical home care organizations in the country, despite being wheelchair-bound due to Multiple Sclerosis. Over 40 years later, her legacy lives on nationwide.
Scholarship
Where would we be without Caregivers? Their selflessness is astounding, yet they are often overlooked and underappreciated. The Jean Griswold Foundation is dedicated to supporting Caregivers, the backbone of the care industry. We provide educational scholarships so Care Professionals can further their training, enhance their skills, elevate their careers, and better assist the people they serve.
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