This week at Abcor, we’re celebrating 10 years of compassionate care and service to thousands of patients in homes across the 11 counties in our area of service in Northeast Illinois. Ten years ago, Abcor was founded with the goal of providing affordable and dedicated in-home care. That dedication has led us to focus on providing the best possible care with high quality control standards and practices, leaving our patients and their families satisfied with our service. We are privileged to have successfully served the community thus far to make it to this momentous anniversary, and wanted to take a moment to celebrate small business and consider just how long ten years really is in the life of a new business.

Small Business Success

• The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that each month 543,000 new small businesses (companies with less than 500 employees) open, while an even greater number close.
• Only about half of businesses survive the 5 year mark, with just 1/3 making it to ten years.
• Small businesses like Abcor are responsible for providing employment for over half of the working population in America. In fact, small businesses have created 65% of new jobs in the economy since 1995.

2005 in Review

2005 may not seem like too long ago, but when Abcor was founded then, we hadn’t heard of the term “selfie,” apps were things you ordered at a restaurant before a meal, and MySpace was the only social network that mattered. So what was happening in 2005 in the worlds of news, sports, and entertainment?

• George W. Bush began his second term as President of the United States in January.
• In the world of entertainment, The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby, Ray, and Finding Neverland were among the most nominated films at the Academy Awards. Everybody Loves Raymond took top honors at the Emmy Awards in its final season, while newcomers Lost and Desperate Housewives picked up several awards.
• In music, John Mayer, Green Day, Alicia Keys, and Ray Charles (posthumously) ruled the Grammy Awards; Maroon 5 and Kanye West were nominated in the “Best New Artist” category (Maroon 5 won the award and West has won 21 Grammys since his first nominations in 2005).
• In sports, South Side pride shone in baseball’s World Series as the Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros in four games to take home the title. The nail-biting NBA Finals saw the San Antonio Spurs edging out the Detroit Pistons in 7 games for the championship. Super Bowl XXXIX, another close contest, ended with the New England Patriots besting the Philadelphia Eagles for their second consecutive NFL championship.
• 2005 started on the heels of the deadliest tsunami in modern history, killing more than 227,000 people in Southeast Asia in December 2004, and it continued to be one of the worst years for natural disasters as Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. The August storm was the most catastrophic event on American soil since 9/11, leaving more than 1,800 dead, displacing more than 400,000 others, and causing an estimated $96 billion in damage.
• The city of London suffered terror attacks on its subway and bus system in a set of coordinated bombs in July that left 52 civilians dead.
• The years-long battle over the fate of unwitting “right to life” advocate Terri Schiavo came to an end as her feeding tube was removed and Schiavo passed in March of 2005. The controversial “pulling of the plug” caused a huge debate regarding end of life care for brain damaged patients and those in permanent vegetative states, as well as who had the legal right to make those decisions.

We here at Abcor, while happy to be celebrating 10 years, aren’t stopping here.  We look forward to hitting more milestones in longevity while providing quality care for our clients for the foreseeable future!  Thank you to all of our stakeholders for their support: whether you’re one of Abcor’s amazing clients, one of our reliable and trustworthy caregivers, or a member of our home health team as a nurse or general healthcare staff, we couldn’t have made it this far without you, and we look forward to your continued support in the coming years!