Mrs. B’s Helping Hands Expands Care and Support Across Southwest Iowa

Julie Bishop has dedicated more than three decades to providing care for individuals with

disabilities and those who need support to live independently. With her business, Mrs. B’s Helping

Hands, she is expanding those efforts across Southwest Iowa and even beyond, offering in-home

personal care, household assistance, and specialized services tailored to each client.

Bishop describes her work as a natural extension of her life’s calling. “My company provides a

variety of different services. We do in-home personal care. I have worked in the field of direct care

for 35 plus years. I have a social work degree, so my heart is in it,” Bishop said. “I’m here to help

you be as independent as possible for as long as possible in your home, because I believe you

thrive the best in your own environment. And quite frankly, I don’t think that the nursing home

system is where people need to be.

Mrs. B’s Helping Hands offers a wide range of support. Bishop helps clients with bathing, cooking,

medication management, errands, and housekeeping. She also provides pet sitting and house

sitting services, which can extend across state lines.

“Well, that’s for the house sitting and then if you have pets, I will watch them while I’m there. I will

give you a bid that will obviously include my travel expenses and will come in,” Bishop explained.

“That idea started with my cousins who live in Hawaii and every June now I get to go stay in Hawaii

for three weeks to a month and take care of their cats and dogs, their pool, their house, and

vacation in Hawaii during that time. And that gave me the idea that if they need it, then other people

may need it as well.”

The demand for in-home personal care is expanding rapidly across the country as more families

seek alternatives to nursing homes. Bishop sees this trend firsthand. “It is industry-wide. It is

becoming nationwide. A lot of families have taken on the responsibility of trying to care for their

loved ones and have realized that it’s a little bit more than what they can do or what they want to do.

And so they’re outsourcing it,” she said.

She points out that demographic changes are shaping the industry. “The industry by 2033 is

expected to grow exponentially. Because people are realizing that the nursing home system is not

the best option and that people do thrive better in their own homes. People are realizing that they

can remain safe in their homes and the industry is in demand,” Bishop said.

The decision to launch Mrs. B’s Helping Hands was motivated not only by opportunity, but by

deeply personal experiences. Bishop recalled the loss of her grandfather in a nursing home as a

turning point. “He probably would have lived longer, but he was in the nursing home. Long story

short, he needed to go to the bathroom, waited a long, long time and ended up hanging himself in

soft bed rails because he did not get the help he needed to make it to the wheelchair in the

bathroom. And I swore that nobody in my family would ever have to go to a nursing home again,”

she said.

Her decision to establish her own business also came after years of encouragement and reflection.

“The seed was planted in 2008 and it was always a dream, but life always got in the way. I was a

single mom and my kids came first. So I worked for other agencies and did what I needed to do to

provide for my children, for my life,” Bishop said. “Last fall, I saw somebody posted on Facebook

that they had a child that needed someone to be dependable and come help take care of them in

their home. And that’s how it started.”