Senior Moments: Sac Sisters Start Business After Caring For Ill Dad
The story was co-published with The Sacramento Observer as part of the 2024 Ethnic Media Collaborative, Healing California.
Deborah Rasberry, left, and Ursula Johnson hold a photograph of their late father, Charles Rasberry. His passing two years ago inspired the sisters to launch their business, 4U Concierge to serve seniors and others with mobility issues.
Madelaine Church, OBSERVER
She serves in the city’s parking department, but in her off time Ursula Johnson works to keep folks in motion.
Johnson and her sister Deborah Rasberry operate 4U Concierge and provide locals with mobility device rentals. They rent out wheelchairs, scooters and walkers to clients who need temporary assistance. The sisters also transport clients to appointments and area grocery runs.
Not everything is attached to wheels. The business also rents shower chairs for those who have difficulty getting around or standing in the shower.
“We kind of do a little bit of everything,” Johnson says. “A lot of people don’t have the money to hire the big companies, or they can’t get special assistance just based on their income.”
Her father, Charles Rasberry, was in the same position. He needed help after becoming disabled, but on paper “had too much money.” 4U Concierge was inspired by the challenges Johnson and Rasberry faced as their father’s personal chauffeurs and caregivers.
“We saw that there was a need,” Johnson says.
Charles Rasberry lived with a myriad of health issues prior to his 2022 death at age 82. The military veteran spent 13 years on dialysis and uncontrolled high blood pressure led to the eventual amputation of both feet and part of a leg.
Prior to dialysis, the elder Rasberry lived alone and did things for himself primarily.
Sisters Ursula Johnson, 56, left, and Deborah Rasberry, 51, started 4U Concierge, a company striving to improve seniors’ quality of life by offering non-medical transportation, mobility rentals, light housekeeping, in-home and facility check-ins and more. Madelaine Church, OBSERVER
“Going from able bodied to where he’s needing us to come and assist him was hard,” Johnson says.
They learned to navigate their father’s transportation needs and now are using what they gleaned to help others. The business started in 2023 with one wheelchair and one scooter and has expanded exponentially. They now have four scooters and nearly 10 wheelchairs at their disposal.
In a short time, the sisters have built up a steady clientele. Locals with mobility issues may call them for a scooter or a wheelchair to get around at a doctor’s visit or an entertainment venue. 4U Concierge also counts several downtown hotels among its regulars, getting calls to equip visitors in town for conventions, business and sightseeing.
The length of rentals varies.
“It can be a day, it can be a week. I think I’ve had maybe up to two weeks of a rental,” Johnson says.
“I can have a lady call and say, ‘I’m going to my son’s wedding. Can you drop off a scooter?’ ‘Yep, no problem.’”
A woman recently in town for a Jehovah’s Witness conference reached out at her hotel’s suggestion.
“She said, ‘My mom just hurt her ankle and the Hyatt gave me your number, can you drop off a wheelchair?’ ‘Yep, absolutely.’”
The growth of their business took the daughters-turned-entrepreneurs by surprise, but they’re happy to be filling a void.
“What we noticed was that a lot of people, they live alone and families sometimes don’t have time or don’t want to be bothered and it’s really hard to get someone to help out,” she says. “Sometime’s family members live out of town and rely on others to provide care and services.
“Because of everything we went through and if it was three or four of us, I could only imagine if someone was the only child or their parent, or whoever, lived out of town or at a distance. Good thing, I lived maybe five to 10 minutes from my dad and then my sister was maybe a 20-minute drive but, still, we were close enough to be there and to check in.
The local entrepreneurs are happy they’ve been able to expand their business because it means they’re meeting a need. Madelaine Church, OBSERVER
“It was a lot of work taking time off work for appointments. I wouldn’t change it for the world, but we just know there’s so many people that don’t have that availability or have someone to look out for them, to check in. … And it’s the simple things: going to the store, grabbing something to eat, meal prepping, cleaning – just whatever that needs to be done.”
4U Concierge makes house calls and visits seniors in care facilities to do light housekeeping, grooming and making sure seniors take their medications.
Johnson still has a 9-to-5, but schedules visits, pickups and drop-offs for the business around her regular work schedule. Her sister has more flexibility as a recent retiree.
“Thank God,” Johnson says.
Like the equipment they rent, the sisters are keeping it pushing.
“It seems to work,” Johnson says.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a part of OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer Genoa Barrow’s special series, “Senior Moments: Aging While Black.” The series is being supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and is part of “Healing California,” a 2024 reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online, and broadcast outlets across California.
