On a chilly November in 1985 Charter Oak Home Care was founded in the basement of an accounting office in Talcottville, CT. Shortly after getting out of the army, Newt Schoenly and his wife Barbara had a vision of creating a company that would help older people stay at home longer. After caring for his own mother and grandmother who died of the same cancer a few years apart and seeing the lack of home care services in America at that time, Newt decided to take matters into his own hands. Along with his new wife Barbara, Newt decided to found a company to provide just the support at home that he and his family needed so badly just a few years before.
In the early years, building the new company came with the challenges of finding clients, hiring team members and putting processes into place. Newt and Barbara often found themselves rolling up their sleeves and serving clients themselves. In talking to Newt years later he recalled, “we sure worked hard starting the company but we were energized by the knowledge that we were helping people!”
To this day, Charter Oak Home Care has always been a family business. Newt and Barbara still provide guidance to the business while his son Conant runs the business along with support from his brother Emery. A few years ago, this video was created telling the story of COHC. We pray Charter Oak Home Care stays true to our mission of providing the same quality care at home that we would wish for ourselves and our values of integrity, caring, excellence and service for years to come. We cannot wait to celebrate our 40th anniversary as one of Connecticut’s oldest and most respected home care agencies next year!
