BrightStar Care of North Spokane, a locally owned franchisee of Gurnee, Illinois-based BrightStar Care, has opened at 7520 N. Market.

The Joint Commission-accredited Spokane agency offers medical staffing and in-home care services, including companion care, personal care, short-term transitional care, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, and child care.

“We have a ... director of nursing that oversees the care of each one of our patients,” says Joshua Porter, owner of Paisley Madison Inc., through which he opened BrightStar Care of North Spokane. “Not only can we provide that personal and companion care, but we can also provide skilled care with the nurses we have on staff.”

The Inland Northwest agency’s medical staffing division provides personnel for organizations, including adult family homes, schools, and hospitals.

“We can provide staff if somebody calls out,” Porter says. “For example, if a school nurse calls out, we have staff that we can backfill.”

BrightStar Care of North Spokane currently has six employees, but Porter says he is actively recruiting more, specifically people licensed as home care aides and certified nursing assistants.

Porter says he hopes to employ 20 to 30 people people within the next year.

A Spokane native, Porter says he plans to grow the local operation.

“I currently have the rights to the entire Spokane area,” the Mead High School graduate says. “We’re going to focus first on the North Side. The plan is in two years, we’ll open up a second office on the south end of Spokane.”

Porter, who has a background in engineering and management, developed his passion for in-home care from a personal experience, he says.

About two years ago, Porter’s grandmother suffered a stroke.

“My extended family all came together and kind of provided that in-home care,” Porter explains. “Realistically, all my grandma wanted from life after her stroke was just to be able to stay in her home. To be able to provide that for her was something special for me.”

That experience, coupled with his goal of opening a business, led to his discovery of BrightStar Care, which has about 400 corporate-owned and independently owned agencies—the nearest of which are on Washington’s West Side and in Boise, Idaho, Porter says.

There is a need for more in-home care options in the Spokane area, he contends.

“We’re super excited about the clients that we’ve added in the past week, and we’re excited to continue to grow,” he says.