Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren D’Vincent.
Hi Lauren, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My path to home care started with my own family. When I was a child, my father was very sick, and during that time I grew close to his hospital social worker. That relationship stayed with me and ultimately shaped the direction of my career.
After earning my master’s degree in social work, I reconnected with him, and he helped me find a position at an assisted living community specializing in dementia care. I quickly fell in love with the population, the importance of person-centered care, and the opportunity to lead the team providing it. I spent several years there as a social worker and later served as an administrator before deciding I was ready to build something of my own.
In 2018, I opened Visiting Angels Central San Diego with a simple mission: to help people age safely and comfortably at home while providing the highest quality of care in San Diego. From the beginning, I knew that delivering exceptional care meant building an exceptional team. My goal has been to hire the highest-caliber caregivers, create work that feels meaningful and fulfilling, and surround them with a management team that makes them feel genuinely supported. When caregivers are valued, equipped, and cared for, they are able to provide that same level of care to the clients and families we serve.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest challenge in home care is also at the heart of the work: finding and keeping caregivers who are truly suited for it. Skills can be taught, but compassion, reliability, patience, and a genuine desire to care for others are much harder to train.
In the early years, I was building our caregiver team from the ground up while also earning the trust of families making an incredibly personal decision: allowing someone else to help care for a parent, spouse, or loved one. That took time, consistency, and a lot of listening.
Then, just as we were beginning to find our footing, COVID hit early in our second year. Suddenly, we were navigating constantly changing guidance, working to keep both clients and caregivers safe, and reassuring families during an especially frightening time to have a loved one dependent on in-home care.
Throughout it all, I leaned heavily on my social work background and focused on building a culture where caregivers feel as supported and valued as the clients they care for. That foundation has been one of the biggest reasons we have been able to grow while maintaining the quality of care that matters most to us.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Visiting Angels Central San Diego?
Visiting Angels Central San Diego provides in-home care throughout Central San Diego. We support clients across the full spectrum of care, from companionship and help around the house for someone who is still largely independent, to post-surgical recovery, hands-on personal care, and hospice and end-of-life support.
Dementia and memory care is an area of particular expertise for us, given my own background in dementia care. Just as important as the care itself is finding the right person to provide it. Our clients have a voice in choosing their caregiver, and we put a great deal of thought into matching based on needs, personality, and preferences. In home care, that relationship can make all the difference.
What does success mean to you?
I define success by the quality of care we provide and by whether our clients and their families feel that we consistently go above and beyond what they expected from us. We track satisfaction closely, not for a trophy case, but because feedback tells us what we’re doing well and where we still need to improve.
When outside recognition does come, though, it means a great deal because it is rooted in real feedback. We’ve received multiple awards from Activated Insights, formerly Home Care Pulse, based on verified surveys of our own clients and caregivers, and we were named a Top 100 Home Care Company in North America for client and caregiver experience. Those distinctions are meaningful to me because they aren’t based on marketing. They reflect what the people we serve and the people who work for us are willing to tell an independent third party about their experience.
I also look at caregiver retention as an important measure of success. Some of our caregivers have been with us for nearly eight years, and many have been part of our team for more than five. In an industry known for turnover, that longevity tells me we’ve built something people want to be part of.
But the moments that matter most are much simpler. When a family tells me they no longer feel the burden of managing every detail of their parents’ care because they trust our team completely, that is success to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.visitingangels.com/centralsandiego/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visiting_angels_sandiego/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsSanDiego/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/visiting-angels-san-diego/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/visiting-angels-san-diego-5
