If your child is recuperating from medical treatment, experiencing a developmental delay or has a chronic disease, pediatric home health care allows you to treat him or her in the comfort of your own home. These programs allow children to get treatment from competent experts in the comfort of their own home, avoiding transporting a child to and from a clinic for care. Darcie Peacock is the CEO of Solace Pediatric Home Healthcare, based in Colorado and serving the western United States as the top pediatric therapy provider. She brings the magic of customer experience to the healthcare profession, increasing caregiver engagement and clinical outcomes in a child’s natural setting.

Life Before Solace Home Healthcare

Darcie began her professional life as a social worker, working in child protection for the Denver Department of Human Services with families dealing with substance misuse. She fell in love with working with the entire family in the neighborhood at this point. That was her dream job. It opened her eyes to hardships and obstacles that were simple to dismiss from the outside, but getting to know these families intimately transformed her entire perspective. She shares, “I so badly wanted to be a part of the solution for those kids.” I still think of many of them often.”  It’s what led Darcie to Occupational Therapy and ultimately to home and community-based care.

Coming out of her master’s program for OT, Darcie worked in schools and outpatient clinics and eventually found her way to Home Health.  She adored traveling from home to home and working with families. She recalls, “I once had a kiddo I was treating that called me,” “therapy.” He didn’t know my name but would wait by the window for me to pull up, and as soon as I did, he would run out to greet me- “Therapy- let’s play!” he would say every single time. He thought we were playing, but secretly I was pushing him! He made really impactful gains for him and his family, and it was the pleasure of my life to be a part of that.”

Darcie began to take on mentorship positions for other clinicians, and later management. She began her career at Solace in a back office, administrative function, which expanded over time and finally led to her appointment as CEO in 2018. Solace had about 30 employees when she first started working there. She considered it a privilege to join at that time and be a part of the organization’s progress throughout the years. She says, “In a small company like that, you get exposure to so many aspects of the business.” Darcie was handling the HR department and payroll department. She placed referrals, posted payments, accounts payable, and filed the company’s taxes-just an incredible learning experience.

Solace Home Healthcare

Solace is an absolutely incredible place. It is full of enthusiastic, extremely talented, and kind individuals. Darcie finds it an incredible delight to work with them every day. Every member of the organization is dedicated to the organization’s purpose of assisting children and their families in living their best lives. That looks different for each family, and the team works hard as an organization to assist each and every one of them. It offers a variety of services to families that have children who are experiencing a developmental delay. This might range from moderate delays to those who are severely medically impaired. Darcie states, “We have an in-home and clinic-based services division that provides occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and nursing services in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Nevada, as well as school-based speech therapy, occupational therapy, and school psychology services in Washington, Oregon, California, and Wyoming.”  The team is rapidly growing, expanding both its service offering and geographic footprint.

Comprehensive Pediatric Healthcare Services

At Solace Home Healthcare, the whole team focuses on wrapping its arms around its families. The team does that by offering comprehensive services at the highest clinical quality as well as providing an exceptional customer experience.

To provide an exceptional customer experience, the team deploys an exercise called “touch point mapping.” Darcie says, “We define our customers as our employees, the families we serve, and the partners we work with to bring our services to the community- physicians’ offices, daycare providers, social workers, etc. We map out each and every “touch” we have with those customers.”  For her, the goal is to be very intentional in each interaction and make sure the team is looking at that interaction from the perspective of the customer. When Solace has service failures, which are inevitable, it’s about having a system of service recovery in place and empowering the team to solve these challenges. The team lives by the saying, “It may not be my fault, but it is my problem.” 

Changes brought by the Pandemic

Coming out of the pandemic, Solace has seen a dramatic increase in the demand for its services paired with a decrease in the number of providers available to provide the care. Solace has successfully created a sophisticated telemedicine program, which has helped bridge some of that divide, but more effort is needed here.

Darcie, a parent whose children have received therapy services, considers families that are looking for help but are unable to find it. She says, “Our telehealth program helps us reach more rural communities and also provides efficiency gains so more families are able to benefit from the care of our team.”  She further adds that every child deserves the very best care and Solace is committed to being a part of the solution and working towards that every day.

A CEO Mom

Wife of 16 years, mother of three children, all of whom play hockey, so calling Darcie a hockey mom appropriately describes much of who she is. She works as a social worker, an occupational therapist, and a CEO. Her youngest child was just diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and this new life-changing event has given her a new respect for her work life, as well as increased her motivation and enthusiasm for it.

“The families we serve and my team get me up every day,” says Darcie. She adores the team she works with and her drive is to support them and remove barriers for them so they can thrive in their roles. She has hired brilliantly talented people who are much better at their roles than she ever could be. She believes when they are all driven by the same mission, moving in the same direction at the same pace, they are unstoppable.

Success in Tough Times

For Darcie, success is not a destination. She has felt moments of success throughout the journey and hopes that continues and she is able to take a moment to celebrate them when they come. She shares, “I feel most successful when I witness my team members thriving in their careers.”  Darcie is highly invested in her people and as they grow and develop professionally, if she contributes to their ability to continue advancing their career and making a larger impact, that feeling of accomplishment is her most cherished.

Darcie also shares another big success: in those early days of COVID, when the world turned upside down and moved from 100% in-person to 100% remote work. That meant not only did Solace Home Healthcare send home its administrative staff, but it also moved all of its clinical sessions from in-person to telehealth. Darcie recalls, “No one was taking their child to the doctor and reaching out to get services started.  There was significant pressure to decrease our overhead and make cuts to the team. We put our heads down and leaned into each other and the opportunities we had to do things differently, and I’m thrilled to report we did not lay a single person off or reduce a single person’s pay.”  The whole team has learned many valuable lessons from that time, and Darcie is proud of the team for not leaving those lessons behind and has made the company stronger and more efficient.

Note for Next Generation Healthcare Leaders

Darcie’s message to future leaders is to embrace every experience and learn as much as you can from every role, as education and experience are never wasted. She says, “You will continue to draw from those experiences for years to come in ways you could never have imagined.”  One of Darcie’s greatest learning experiences was learning from a less than ideal boss. She recalls, “This person made each day miserable, but it taught me so much about leadership and showed me exactly what I didn’t want to be.” That has been equally as valuable to me in my career as my incredible mentors, who I try to emulate.”  She further adds, “Show up for yourself, show up for your colleagues, and you will be surprised how far showing up can get you.”

“When you’re nervous about stepping outside of your comfort zone, remind yourself: It feels scary because it’s unfamiliar, not because I’m incapable.”

Promising More Support in the Future

According to Darcie, Solace Home Healthcare will never kick its feet up and say, “good enough.” Solace will continue to be on the cutting edge of technology, employee experience, and customer service. The team will continue setting the pace and will not slow down to let others catch up to it. She says, “Any expansion we do will have the resources and support necessary to ensure the same quality our customers have come to expect and depend on when working with Solace.”

Leader’s Opinion

What is the best way to build a great team?

The most important thing you can do for yourself is to surround yourself with passionate people whose talents are in areas where you lack. Once these people are on your team, it is all about getting out of their way and letting them do their thing. As my company has grown and more leaders are elevated or brought in from the outside, I’m looking to find people with complementary skills to those I already have. Furthermore, refining roles to leverage each person’s strengths sets everyone up for success.

Being accessible to not only your direct reports but all the way throughout the company is critical.  Anytime someone starts a conversation with me by saying, “I know you are so busy.” I tell them, “we are all busy. Your time is just as valuable as mine.”  I never want my team to feel that I’m too busy for them. Once people start to feel you are too busy, they will work around you to try to not bother you, and that will never work in your favor.

What does performance culture mean to you?

Performance culture is having a team of individuals all working for the same mission. It’s every single person in the organization knowing how their specific role, their team, and their department impact the overall mission of the organization. As CEO, it is my responsibility to make sure everyone is pulling in the same direction, at the same pace, and that they never lose sight of that mission.

Website: www.solacepediatrichealthcare.com