LAMORINDA WEEKLY | New Businesses 'Springing Up' in Lamorinda


The women of Care Indeed in Orinda, from left: Dee Bustos, Amrita Sanyal, Winnie Abenoja Photo Sophie Braccini

New businesses are coming to Orinda, the gateway east of the Caldecott Tunnel. “We chose Orinda because we want to offer our services to Orindans, and because it’s a great place to access the three Lamorinda communities and beyond,” says Dee Bustos, CEO of Care Indeed. A nurse by training, the young woman started the in-home care service only a few years ago in Palo Alto, and decided to expand her company by opening a new office in Orinda as she began getting more clients east of the tunnel.

Care Indeed is not a new concept. The business services adults in their homes, mostly older adults, who need various degrees of assistance. “What is different with us,” says Amrita Sanyal, who’s been working with Bustos since they met while working for another employer, “is that some of our caregivers are nurses who can take charge of the medical needs of the clients who need it.” Bustos explains that both she and Sanyal got frustrated with their inability to change the company’s culture at their previous jobs. “We were tired of the high turnover of the care givers, the recruitment was not discriminate enough, personnel were not treated right and the overall service suffered as a result.” That’s why she decided to start her own business two years ago.

Care Indeed employs 25 nurses and 60 other employees. They answer their phone 24/7 and can tailor their service to a wide range of needs, including dementia patients who need a permanent presence.

A few blocks from Care Indeed, Dr. Laurie Langford opened her own veterinary hospital, Theater View Veterinary Clinic, at the end of April. She has been working in Orinda for 15 years, but says, "It was time for me to become my own boss." She found a quiet place at 1 Bates Blvd., Suite 200 in Orinda where she thinks her favorite patients, local dogs, cats and 'pocket-pets' won't be stressed. But there are plenty of challenges, too. She's noticed a growing problem with fleas and ticks. "It started last year," she says. "It seems that fleas are getting resistant to the topical products that worked well before." She thinks that there is a lot of work for vets around here, with all the animals people love to keep.

A few miles away in Lafayette, Renee DeWeese and Rena Wilson met a few years ago at an audition for a production of Peter Pan. They are both actresses; Wilson has a special talent for singing, while DeWeese is a great dancer. After helping each other to ace the audition and playing together in that production, they realized their abilities complement each other. They incorporated an art education program for children and organized after-school programs in Lamorinda elementary and middle schools a year ago.

Now they are taking the next step and opening their first studio in Lafayette, the Lamorinda Theater Academy. "We are about the process more than the product," says Wilson. They teach children how to dance, sing and act first. "We emphasize training," she adds. "It is like a foreign language, you first have to learn the language of theater."

DeWeese and Wilson are both local gals. The first was raised in Moraga and the second lives in Lafayette. They want to grow and nurture the next generation of budding artists in this area. They say the program nurtures a child's passion and helps to build their self-confidence. The summer camp programs are taking registrations and are starting to fill. The classes include tap, jazz, contemporary dance, hip hop, acting for the stage and film, audition technique, creative dance for toddlers, group voice, yoga, and private voice and piano instruction, and will begin next month. Free classes are offered the last week of June.

For more information, go to www.lamorindatheatreacademy.com. The Lamorinda Theater Academy is located at 83 Lafayette Circle, next to Lamorinda Music. Care Indeed is at 61 Moraga Way in Orinda (above Peet's Coffee), (925) 317-3080, www.homecareorinda.com. For more information about Theater View Veterinary Clinic call (925) 317-3187 or visit www.theaterviewvetclinic.com.