About Comfort Keepers^® of Southbay

Comfort Keepers of the Southbay opened its doors in Torrance in 2002 when Richard Berryman with his background in sales and marketing, wanted to get out of the corporate world and run his own business again. He looked at various types of franchises and hit upon a young franchise working with elderly people which really peaked his interest. He talked it over with his cousin, Mary Granger, an RN with her Master’s degree in Gerontology and she became very interested. This was what she had studied gerontology for. They became partners, went to training specifically about Comfort Keepers and opened their first territory.     

Mary had worked for many years in nursing administration managing caregivers in hospital settings; the current one being Torrance Memorial Medical Center. Richard owning his own small business prior to his extensive sales and corporate management experience brought a varied mix of skills to this new business.                                                                                                                               

By 2005 they expanded their official territory to a second one in the Beach Cities up to El Segundo. In 2006 they bought their third territory in the other direction encompassing Palos Verdes and San Pedro. Now their territories cover the whole Southbay.

They have affiliations with Beach Cities Health District, SCAN Health Plan and they work with several long term care insurance companies.

Mary gets especially involved with complicated cases or with seniors that don’t have family close by. She coordinates their care and their medication regimen, keeps family informed, sometimes going to Doctor’s appointments with them, or coordinating care with the doctor’s office, Home Health agency or Hospice.

Richard is heavily involved with the various Chambers. He has been on the Board of RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteers Program) for several years. Our office (Richard and Rubí) are involved in Keep-Safe Coalition, a grassroots, non-profit corporation that combines community, law enforcement, financial institutions and social service agencies in fighting financial abuse of Seniors. The goal, since its inception in 2000, has been to keep seniors safe from fraud and abuse by educating and publicizing information on what’s happening in the Southbay area. works part time in marketing and training.

Richard is the Chairman of the American Board of Home Care for LA County, a non-profit organization formed to promote legal and ethical business practices and common standards of professional conduct in the home care industry. This is especially important in California as currently there is no licensure required for non-medical in home care. Vetting its members annually to make sure they are providing caregivers they actually employ as the labor laws require and that safe guard the client/Senior. Having background checks, workers’ comp and liability insurance coverage is a major concern. Education of businesses and clients about the benefits and risks associated with hiring home care companies that do business legally and ethically is a major focus.

In 2008 Comfort Keepers of the Southbay moved to expanded office space in Lomita, in the Hazard Financial Building, directly across the street from the Lomita Post Office on Narbonne.

Currently in the office there are three assistants:

Lilly Bourdeau assists with the schedule, keeps the office organized and is usually the first person you speak with.                                                                                                         

Yolanda Lopez is the full time Scheduler/Care Coordinator.

Rubí Bazán works part time in marketing and training

The Comfort Keepers as we call our caregivers are experienced in homemaker services and/or personal care. Some have Certification from the state, CNAs; others have multiple years of experience, they also continue to recieve new and updated knowledge thru E-learning and in service opportunites in our office. They are various ages, ethnicity and are working due to need or because they enjoy it. We are an equal opportunity employer providing flexible schedules and assist with providing health insurance to full time employees.