Hometown Home Health & Hospice expands its service fleet to accommodate business in central Michigan

Hometown Home Health & Hospice is expanding and upgrading its service fleet with 26 new, locally purchased Ford Focus vehicles provided by Enterprise Fleet Management. The move increases the size of the existing fleet by six vehicles to accommodate the growth of Hometown Home Health's business in central Michigan.

Enterprise Fleet Management, a full-service fleet management business, delivered Hometown Home Health's first fleet of 20 vehicles in 2012. The program enacted in 2012 included plans to refresh the fleet with new vehicles after three years.

"We're committed to giving our patients the best service and treatment, and a critical part of that is investing in our people and supporting the communities they serve," said Navneet Anand, CEO and president of Hometown Home Health & Hospice, which he owns with his wife Neerja. "As our business grows, working with Enterprise Fleet Management to expand our fleet provides more of our employees with newer, more reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles to help them serve patients throughout the region."

The Focus was selected because of its affordability and fuel efficiency. Each new Ford vehicle offers better fuel economy and lower emissions than many employees' personal vehicles, some of which are older and less reliable than newer makes and models. Increasing the size of Hometown Home Health's fleet also means fewer employees will need to seek reimbursement for mileage driven in their personal cars.

"The new vehicles can increase our employees' job satisfaction, attract new talent and serve as mobile billboards with our logo on the side to reinforce the strong reputation we have in this region," added Anand. Headquartered in Lapeer, Hometown Home Health provides quality care to patients in 23 counties across central Michigan. "With the healthcare landscape changing so much in the last few years, our branded vehicles help remind residents they still have best-in-class options for choosing different healthcare providers. We want people to know the well-being of our community is important to us, and that includes both the health of our patients, as well as the economic health of central Michigan."

In addition to providing the vehicles, Enterprise provides vehicle registration and use reporting, as well as a fuel card program that automatically monitors fuel purchases and miles for each vehicle. Enterprise also will use local businesses to provide routine service and maintenance. A local Ford dealership in Lapeer is handling the delivery of the vehicles and will receive some of the repair and maintenance business. Enterprise will use its remarketing expertise to auction and resell the vehicles in the local market.

"Just like Hometown Home Health, Enterprise Fleet Management is a private, family-owned company," said Adam Beattie, director of Enterprise Fleet Management in Michigan. "Like Hometown Home Health, it is important to us to support the local community. We use local dealers, repair shops and vendors to source and maintain the fleets we manage. The scale of our operations puts us in a unique position to give our customers the best possible prices and terms, while still driving revenue to service providers in local communities."

Several of the new vehicles were unveiled at a health expo for senior citizens earlier this week in Saginaw, Michigan, at Saginaw Geriatrics Home. Hometown Heroes of Michigan, Hometown Home Health's nonprofit arm that provides home medical equipment and supplies at little to no cost, was on hand to give away free walkers, wheelchairs, canes and other lightly used equipment.

Representatives from Hometown Heroes of Michigan and Enterprise Fleet Management presented $2,000 to the Saginaw Community Foundation to support "Make a Difference Day," which brings together high school volunteers to help senior citizens, veterans and active military families with household clean-ups and minor repairs.