About Us

Flamingo Homecare is an independently owned non-medical in-home assistance and caregiving service founded by husband and wife team Bud and Sheila Hollowell, with coordinating services furnished by a variety of homecare professionals and experts, a staff of devoted and well-trained caregivers and a fussy cat named Gato. The office is located in Lakeland, Florida.

Our mission is to improve the quality of life of the clients we serve and relieve the stress and pressure on the family and friends who love them.

Flamingo Homecare specializes in supporting family caregivers. According to the National Caregiver’s Alliance, caring for a family member can require on average 63 hours of weekly caregiving from family and relatives. An almost impossible feat!

Flamingo Homecare employs screened, trained, and bonded caregivers selected through a rigorous process that exceeds the state of Florida requirements.  Caregivers are available for a variety of caregiving situations, such as after care from a hospital stay or assistance for an aging parent who lives in another city or state. We match the caregiver to your individual situation. The majority of our caregivers have at least some college attendance and have an average of 3-5 years experience in private duty in home caregiving.

As a client of Flamingo Homecare, you participate in the process of choosing the particular caregiver that you want.  Caregivers work in care teams, with a substitute in place for back-up that is familiair with your loved one, their wants and their needs.
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About Bud…

Bud’s academic background includes a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California where he studied physical education, gerontology and aging.

“I am a baby-boomer, currently teaching in the Wellness Department of Florida Southern College. My goal for Flamingo Homecare is to help people age gracefully while continuing to live in their own surroundings, enjoying the life they have worked to create, & to take the pressure off family caregiving members so they can get their own lives back”.

With more than 20 years experience in training, communications skills, stress reduction techniques and caregiving strategies, Bud was a hypnotherapist in private practice while living in Alaska, and a mental health counselor while living in Hawaii.

In his earlier years he played on the USA Olympic Baseball Team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and played and coached in the Los Angeles Dodgers Organization. He has also been the Area Chair of Humanities for the University of Phoenix at Ft. Lauderdale and more recently, Tampa Bay. He is the author of two published books of theology and philosophy.

About Sheila…

Sheila holds a Bachelors Degree in Sociology, a Masters Degree in Organizational Management and has 20 years experience as CEO of various health and caregiving social services agencies, including hospice and crisis/emergency services.

In 1990, Sheila was an Alaska Good Will Ambassador Nominee to the United Nations World Health Organization. She has presented testimony on the design of health systems before the US Congress. She was the Director of Community Relations for the Columbine High School massacre recovery in Littleton, Colorado. Sheila also facilitated the National Coalition for Suicide Prevention for the US Surgeon General. In 2003 she was invited to the White House where she met with the Office of Faith-based Initiatives. For the last 6 years she has been a national consultant for the Robert Wood Johnson philanthropy and the state coordinator of Interfaith Florida, a statewide caregiving alliance.

Currently Sheila is the Executive Director of Polk County Family Caregivers and the Crisis Consultant to Florida Southern College. Her other community service includes serving on the Advisory Board of the Northwest Area Agency on Aging and being a member of the University of South Florida Think Tank on Aging and Wellness. She has also been a Loaned Executive for the United Way of Central Florida. Sheila is a Board Member of the Watson Cancer Clinic Foundation’s Medicine and the Arts program. At both the Watson Cancer Center as well as Florida Southern College, she teaches a writing course especially designed to help people cope with illness and trauma recovery.