Biography

My life didn’t start off all glitz and glam. In fact, I had a very humble start. I grew up in a small town with my adopted parents; my biological mother’s sister and her husband. I was raised on a farm with four younger sisters and one brother, working hard with farm-life chores, too busy and loved to realize our actual scarcity.

Originally I wanted to be a secretary like my mom, but after considerable coaxing from my dad, I decided to go into nursing. My dad told me that nursing would always afford me a job in good times and bad. Somehow, my parents scraped up the three-year tuition for me to attend the Johnston-Willis School of Nursing.

Following nursing school, I decided to work in the operating room where I learned a lot in a short amount of time. In my book, The School of Heart Knocks, I tell the story of watching a 14-year-old girl receive her last rites in the emergency room. It was then that I decided to become a recovery room nurse, in order to lessen the close interaction with patients and guard against such heartache. I began to see people being discharged quicker and sicker, which prompted my curiosity about what was happening to patients once they were sent home. It was this curiosity that led me into my career of home care.

I sought and accepted an offer as a salesperson for a new national home health company in the area. After one year, I took my idea of home health care to a large hospital conglomerate and became the administrator of the division. However, the chief hospital administrator spun the home health division out on its own and decided to sell it. I then received a push from a friend and started my own health care company. Care Advantage, Inc. was born out of a need to help people once discharged home. This has naturally evolved from helping patients leave the hospital to holding their hand and making their last few hours the best possible.

Today, I am the sole owner and president of Care Advantage, Inc., which has become a leading company for personal and companion home healthcare, with 17 offices and sister offices throughout Virginia. My companies, Care Advantage, Inc., Nurse Advantage, and All About Care, together employ approximately 3,000 health care professionals in Richmond, Virginia and surrounding areas. I believe that one of the best things about growing a financially successful company is having the ability to give to others. We have given over $500,000 to organizations all over the community. I also started “Eunice’s Circle of Widowed Friends”, which is a social group for Widows and Widowers, and those individuals who have lost a loved one.

I invite you to read “The School of Heart Knocks” and learn more about my humble start to my entrepreneurship of a multi-million dollar compassionate care company. I reveal 10 key steps that helped me on my personal journey and will help you also.

Enjoy!

Deborah Johnston’s Awards:
  • Recipient of local, state and regional business awards for business and public relations.
  • Rising 25, 1992, 1993
  • Entrepreneur of Richmond, 1993
  • Small Business Person of the Year, 1994
  • Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative, 1996
  • Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Virginia, 1996
  • National Association of Women Business Owners/Bell Atlantic Community Service Award, 1997
  • Leukemia Society's Woman of the Year, 1997
  • Northstar Academy Polaris Award, 1998
  • Leadership Metro Richmond, Class of 1999
  • Working Woman's Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards, 2000
  • Working Woman's Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards, 2001
  • Philanthropist of the Year Big Brothers Big Sisters, 2005
  • Bernard Savage Community Service Award, 2009
  • Unity Christ Church of Bon Air Super Star Award, 2010
  • Commonwealth Catholic Charities Service Award, 2010
  • YWCA Outstanding Women’s Award, 2011