Meet The Team | Senior Helpers of Bergen County
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Serving Paramus and surrounding areas.
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Serving Paramus and surrounding areas.
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Meet the Bergen County Office

Senior Helpers Bergen County was started with one theme in mind.  We know what it is like to leave your loved one with a Caregiver, so you can rest assured knowing we have picked one that is a perfect match for your loved one!

Ken Nicholas and Mike Sluka each have teenage sons with autism so they understand firsthand the struggle for appropriate care & services that people face. It was this need 15 years ago that motivated Ken, Mike and their wives along with several other families to start  REED Academy, a school for children with autism in Bergen County. REED Academy is now one of the most highly regarded schools in New Jersey.  REED’s highly-qualified & trained staff provides children and their families with some of the best services available. When Ken and Mike purchased Senior Helpers Bergen County their objective was the same……to find highly qualified caregivers to provide the best care available anywhere in Bergen County. Ken, a former Senior Managing Director for a large investment bank, and Mike, an attorney, work first hand on the business and all live in the territory they serve.

Our History

Our History

Senior Helpers was founded in 2002 by Tony Bonacuse with the help of Peter Ross after their firsthand experience in caring for their respective family members. Tony and Peter identified a need that was not being filled properly by the other companies. They realized most seniors would prefer to age in their own home rather than move into an unfamiliar institution. Unfortunately, the options available to most seniors were very limited. Most seniors did not have access to well-trained, dependable and affordable in-home care. This was the mission-driven spark that started Senior Helpers.

The first office opened in Baltimore and quickly developed a reputation for delivering excellent in-home senior care with their well-trained staff of professional caregivers. Based on the success of the Baltimore location, the company began to expand.  Over the past 13 years, the Senior Helpers family has grown to include a network of more than 300 locally owned and operated franchises across the United States.

Senior Helpers of Bergen County, like every other location, is fully committed to the original goal of providing dependable and affordable in-home care with well-trained caregivers. Nothing is more important to us than being the best available resource for seniors and families in our community.

Ken Nicholas and Mike Sluka were drawn to Senior Helpers because of the focus on providing the best caregiver possible for your loved one.

Our process

Our process

The first step in the process is a complimentary, initial in-home care assessment with a Senior Helpers consultant. This assessment can help you understand the true needs of your loved one and your options. Together we can discuss their needs, review our senior care services and determine what’s best for your entire family.

We will cover:

  • Your family's specific goals
  • Your loved one's daily plan design and schedule
  • Pricing and payment methods
  •  Implementation process
  • Ongoing communication and follow-up plan

Meet the Bergen County Team

Kenneth Nicholas

Kenneth Nicholas

Owner

Ken Nicholas chose to open Senior Helpers in Bergen County with his business partner Michael Sluka because of a shared passion for providing quality care to people in their community.

Michael Sluka

Michael Sluka

Owner

Michael Sluka was drawn to Senior Helpers because he wanted to be able to help families find the best possible care for their loved ones.

Kimley Sutliffe, RN, CDP

Kimley Sutliffe, RN, CDP

Director of Nursing

Kimley Sutcliffe, RN, CDP is our Director of Nursing. Kim has been a registered nurse for 16 years. In addition to her nursing degree, Kim also has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. Kim's background in nursing includes experience working in home care, post-acute care, assisted living facilities and dementia/Alzheimer's facilities. She is a Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP) through the National Council of Dementia Practitioners. Kim has an affinity for working with the senior population and finds it to be a warm and compassionate experience. She feels very strongly about providing the highest quality home care for our clients. Kim's background and skills helps to provide our Senior Helpers clients with a positive and safe caregiving experience.

Jane Galligan

Jane Galligan

Director of Community Outreach

Jane Galligan RN is Director of Community Outreach.  Jane is a registered nurse and has been practicing nursing for over 40 years.  She spent the last 24 years as the director of nursing at an assisted living facility. Jane cared for over 50 elderly patients as well as trained and managed the nursing staff. Her priority was to lead her staff in delivering excellent quality care to their patients.  She was always very committed to her residents and their families. She treated every patient as if they were her own family member. Jane has in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry working with patients in hospice, home care, and medical surgical care.  Overall, Jane’s experience helps make the process of home care very easy and guarantees the best possible caretaker for your loved ones.

Meghan LaBruno

Meghan LaBruno

Director of Business Development

Meghan LaBruno is Director of Business Development. Meghan has an extensive background in account management and sales as she worked in corporate America for over 15 years. She built strong business relationships with many major national brands. After having their second child she and her husband made a family decision for her to become a stay at home mom. It was a very high priority for her to be the sole caretaker for her children. As a homemaker, Meghan still found time to be extremely involved in her children’s PTO organizations, received her certification in makeup artistry and has started her own makeup business.  It was a passion for her to make people look and feel like their most beautiful self.  She has personal experience in the home care industry as her mother has been an RN for over 35 years. She has watched her mother make a positive impact on so many lives which inspired her to join the Senior Helpers' team.  Having a family of her own and being a stay at home mother she sees the importance of quality care for your family.

Lisa Ege

Lisa Ege

Director of Operations

Lisa Ege, Director of Operations, comes to us with 20 years of experience in the health care field. Her experience started in 1994, when she was the caregiver for her father who had Parkinson’s and Dementia.  She learned, while navigating through the senior health care system, that searching for and finding quality senior care was a full time job. She enrolled her father in an adult day program and volunteered to do activities there. Soon she was offered a job there and has worked in various positions in healthcare since. Most recently, she has worked as a Client Care Coordinator for Home Care Assistance of Central New Jersey and as a Staffing Associate for the long term care, post-acute and behavioral units at the Christian Health Care Center. She is committed to hiring the best caregivers for her clients and their families, never forgetting that she was once the one saying “Who can I trust to care for my father?”

Yamila Pando

Yamila Pando

Director of Client Services

Yamila Pando is Director of Client Services. Yamila has a profound appreciation for assisting the elderly.  She became the sole caregiver for her grandmother in her teenage years who suffered from Alzheimer's disease.  Yamila understands the fears that come from seeing your loved ones become affected by this disease with no effective treatment and no cure. When she was given the chance to work for Senior Helpers in 2011, she made it her goal to focus her efforts on quality in-home care. Yamila provides assistance in any way that she can to live up to the company's mission for clients and to fulfill its promises to them. Coordinating in-home assistance to care for a family's loved ones, and relieving families from stress is her number one priority.

Elizabeth Williams

Elizabeth Williams

Human Resource Manager

Elizabeth Williams, Human Resource Manager. Elizabeth has been in home care for more than 10 years. Through personal experience coordinating the special needs of her premature son, Elizabeth decided to pursue a career as a CHHA knowing she could make a positive difference in the lives of the elderly or anyone else that needed care in the home.  After several years as a caregiver, Elizabeth was promoted to work in the Human Resources department at a major continuing care retirement community where she was in charge of scheduling and managing aides.  She has been with Senior Helpers Bergen County since 2013 and is the most recent addition to our office staff.  Elizabeth takes great pride in selecting only the absolute best caregivers throughout the hiring process.

 

Call us today to meet personally with any of our staff and turn what could be a burden of finding appropriate care into a positive experience. Let us do our job so you can spend the most quality time with your loved one. You deserve it and so does your loved one!  

Areas We Serve

Senior Helpers of Bergen County provides a full range of senior home care services for you or your loved one — from companionship and housework help to more complex care services, including disease management, Live-In and 24-hour care services.

Senior Helpers of Bergen County serves the cities and towns of:

  • Paramus
  • Franklin Lakes
  • Englewood
  • Fort Lee
  • Bergen County
  • Teaneck
  • Paterson
  • Garfield
  • Passaic
  • Rutherford
  • East Rutherford
  • Secaucus
  • Nutley
  • South Hackensack
  • Teterboro
  • Palisades Park
  • Ridgefield
  • Ridgefield Park
  • Mahwah
  • Fair Lawn