Helping people is what Diana Neto loves to do. After years of providing home care services to the elderly, all of her past work experience has now culminated in the launch of a new business venture called Homecare.
Located at the Lagoa Business Center, Homecare provides a range of services that clients can enjoy from the comfort of their own home all across the Algarve.
Whether a client needs to have their shopping or their laundry done for them, Homecare is there to help.
But this is far from the only thing that Homecare has to offer. Diana, along with her husband Pedro Neto, has created a network of partners offering everything from a nutritionist, a personal trainer and a masseuse to house cleaning services, event organisers and even pet- and babysitters.
“There is a growing number of people who, when they reach a certain age, do not want to have to leave their home. We can give them the comfort and support they need to continue living at home,” Diana told us.
Born in Portimão but having lived in Lagoa most of her life, Diana moved at a young age to France.
She was originally a trained hairdresser, but speaking no French at the time, she had trouble finding a job.
“It wasn’t easy. Not being able to speak French made it hard to find a job in my area,” Diana told the Resident.
As she started to learn French (which she now speaks fluently), Diana also started to branch out into the senior home care sector.
“I realised that there were many older Portuguese people who lived in France who were in need of support that was a bit more ‘Portuguese’. So, I started helping them by organising Portuguese get-togethers or making them Portuguese meals,” she explained.
Life for her abroad was going well until she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, which made her rethink what was truly important.
“I was earning good money and I had a good life in France. But I started thinking about how important it was to be closer to my family,” she told us.
She moved back home in 2012 and worked for four years at the Centro Popular de Lagoa before being hired by an insurance company which saw her working very closely with the Algarve’s French community. However, like so many others, the Covid-19 pandemic led to cuts which saw her lose her job.
Committed to get back on her feet, she decided to finally officially launch her own business.
“I have been providing home care services for a long time here in the area; I just did not have a name for it or a logo. So, I thought about actually opening a space where clients could visit us,” Diana explained.
For now, Diana’s clients are almost exclusively Portuguese although she is looking to branch out into the foreign community. She speaks French fluently and has also learned Spanish, whilst one of her closest colleagues Sandra Graça speaks English and Italian.
In fact, she says her staff of eight people was hand-picked to make sure that the services Homecare provides are completely trustworthy.
“All of our care providers are trained and specialised. We also demand that they present their criminal record before being hired. Our clients have to trust the people they are letting into their home,” Diana told us.
You can learn more about Homecare by visiting their website https://homecarecom.webnode.pt or Facebook page: Homecare, giving them a call (+351282380064 | +351963539747) or sending them an email ([email protected]). You can also pay them a visit at their office, located on Rua Coronel Figueiredo at Lagoa Business Center.
