Celebrating 20 Years of Caring Solutions by Looking Back
Compiled by Seth Stutman & Patricia-Lee Baskin Scholpp, Owner & Founder, Caring Solutions
Published in Longmeadow Neighbors | August 2026
For the past 20 years, Caring Solutions, has helped your loved ones whether they are at home in Longmeadow, in a facility or recuperating at the hospital. Patricia-Lee Baskin Scholpp, Owner & Founder, began Caring Solutions to make a difference in care for the elderly after seeing the toll that multi-generational care can take on families.
As we celebrate 20 years of helping seniors and families, let’s hear the origin story of Caring Solutions in Patricia-Lee’s own words.
My business is “Caring Solutions”, not just in name but also in what we do. We provide compassionate in-home care for you and your loved ones. One of my go-to saying is “if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” I live by this motto and try to represent it in everything I do in life. Caring Solutions is meant to be the solution to all things that I personally lived through and realized needed changing.
I was the not-so-planned baby of the family. My next closest sibling to me was 11 years older than me. So, they, my older siblings, decided that when my mother grew ill, I had drawn the short straw and would have to take care of our mother and her needs. I was a full-time accountant and a full-time mother to six children, but my siblings thought I was not as vested in my full-time job as they were in theirs. Caring for my mother was a life-changing experience. I never could have imagined all the roadblocks and muddy waters I’d have to travel through to find quality care before ultimately assuming the roll on my own.
I took care of my mother for 4 years until she passed. I learned more about home care, procedures, nursing, hospice, and myself than I ever thought possible.
As a mother of six, with 3 dogs running around, you need to learn to be creative. You need to learn to juggle while you try to keep balance. I became very apt at going through, around, and even over obstacles. Though my then-husband and children did what they could to help, I felt very alone in carrying what seemed like a boulder uphill.
I never could have imagined that my trials and tribulations, my experiences in motherhood and daughterhood, would lead me to being an elder care advocate with such conviction.
When my mom passed away in 2002, I went to work at a home care agency to have a better understanding of the issues that I came upon when looking for services for my mom. I worked there for 4 years before realizing that there needed to be a change, and I could not be that change there. These problems were bigger than me and my family’s own experiences. The hurdles I faced then still guide me and my values to this day.
I started with computers that an insurance company was throwing out, a one-room office with a broken desk that I rented month-to-month, a cell phone, and a columnar pad to keep track of everything.
My business grew week by week and year by year. Now we stand 20 years in being the difference this field needed. I have learned so much about the vintage population and would not have changed this journey for anything. Older people have so much wisdom that we ALL need to hear. We need to treat them with the respect and dignity that they deserve and have earned. Age is just a number and looks can be very deceiving. Look at them not with your eyes, but with your ears and your heart for you will be amazed at what you can really see.
I am lucky to say that today I stand supported by an excellent group of people. My wonderful daughter, Kelse, manages my office while my dear friend, Maria, is the nursing supervisor that any patient would be so lucky to be cared for by. My amazing husband is the sounding board to all my tough days. Through our shared goals, caring for your family has become my family’s mission.
Other Articles in This Issue…
