Hello Darlene

Meet Darlene Tripp, the Owner of Hello Darlene in North Bay

When you call Hello Darlene, you are talking to Darlene Tripp. She spent thirty four years in the financial industry, retired, and put her feet up for close to a year. Then life sent her somewhere else.

A family member had Lewy body dementia, and Darlene and her husband spent seven years on that caregiving journey with her. At the same time, Darlene's own mother was living on her own, needing far less support. Add two daughters finishing high school and you have what Darlene calls the true sandwich generation. "We had both ends of the spectrum at the same time."

Senior Transitions and Eldercare Planning in North Bay

What Darlene found missing was not services. There were people who could empty a house. What was missing was someone to hold your hand. "You leave the hospital or any agency with a ton of pamphlets, but then you're at home and you have to make all the decisions." Who do you call, why them, and how much help do you actually need?

That is the job she took on. As an eldercare planner, Darlene describes herself as the project manager on your caregiving journey. She helps you work out what comes first, what comes second and third, and who to hire, which matters most when you do not live in North Bay. Her goal is to give you some relief, and some respite of your own.

Hello Darlene won New Small Business of the Year from the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce in 2023. Today it is a team of six: an organizing team, a team of PSWs for the companion side, and a virtual assistant.

What to Know Before You Hire Help for an Aging Parent

The thing adult children wait too long to do, Darlene says, is bring in outside help. You feel it should be you, and often your parent wants it to be you too. By the time many families call her, they are already in caregiver burnout, and siblings may not agree on what should happen next.

Her advice: as soon as you notice changes, hire a housekeeper. It gets your parent used to having someone different in the home, so when more care is needed later, they are more willing to accept it. "The boomer demographic is very independent. They don't like help."

She also wants you to understand the generation you are helping. They entertained differently, which is why there are fourteen platters and three sets of china in the cupboard. When children do not understand that way of life, they do not understand why their parents want to keep those things.

Decluttering and Downsizing in North Bay, at Your Pace

When someone cannot let go of an item, there is usually something behind it: grief, a memory, the loss of a job or of being able to drive. Darlene starts with the easier categories in your home. Once you have had some success letting go, the hard item often gets easier the second or third time you look at it. You make every decision. She will also help you put a boundary around how much memorabilia you keep.

Some days are harder than others. She once worked with a couple in their nineties who were downsizing after about forty years in their home. After the first two hour session they went upstairs to rest, and Darlene found them both sound asleep in their velvet swivel rockers. "That was so hard," they told her.

The team also helps a younger crowd, including people living with ADHD or chronic disorganization. One client in her thirties calls Darlene the Ninja Organizer and has told her she is not allowed to retire, because she needs her every six months.

The Legacy Plan Organizer

In her banking days, it was common for several people a day to come in asking whether a parent even banked there. Most families do not know what their parents have in place, or where to find it. So Darlene built the Legacy Plan Organizer, and kept it on paper on purpose, because the people she helps are a paper based generation. The first part is simple: slide in your statements as they are. The harder questions come later. Once it is done, she encourages a family conversation, so your children know where everything is.

Companionship and Wellness Visits With Talks and Tea

Hello Darlene is not a personal care agency. Its Talks and Tea visits are non medical: companionship, meal prep, grocery shopping, wellness checks, help with bills, and someone to sit in on an appointment and take notes when family lives away. Darlene and her team visit people at home, in retirement homes, in long term care and in hospital. When someone needs a higher level of personal care, she hands them off to the home care agencies built for that.

Because her team has time to stay a couple of hours, the more complex situations tend to find her, often through the community partners she has developed. This year that included a family whose power of attorney was deployed with the forces for six months while their father was in crisis.

What Clients Say About Hello Darlene

Ask Darlene what she would want her next review to say, and it is one word: trust. Letting go can be hard on people, and it can set someone back if it is not handled with care. With twenty one reviews on Google, every one of them five stars, her clients keep using the same words: kind, patient, compassionate, and choices that were always theirs.

Professional Organizing for North Bay, Callander and Northern Ontario

Hello Darlene serves North Bay, Callander, Powassan, Sturgeon Falls and Sudbury, and travels as far as Parry Sound, Huntsville, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst and Orillia. Virtual services are available too. Darlene is a trained professional organizer, a member of Professional Organizers in Canada and Eldercare Planners of Canada, and a Senior Home Safety Specialist.

Her old life was corporate. "This business does not feel like a job."

What to Expect When You Call Hello Darlene

Start with a complimentary thirty minute consultation, in person or virtually. Darlene listens, works out what you actually need, and builds a plan, whether that is one room, a full downsizing, an estate sale, or a roadmap for helping a parent stay at home. As she puts it on her own site: "Just call and say hello. We're here to listen and to help."