Our Commitment to Senior Home Care
At Amada we understand that caring for relatives can be rewarding but also stressful, time consuming and emotionally exhausting. It is difficult for families to juggle work, children and other obligations and still find time to properly care for an aging parent or loved one. Amada takes care of the caregiving so you can focus on just being a son, daughter or friend again.
Amada Senior Care is committed to enriching lives by providing nurturing, compassionate senior home care and by guiding families through the many senior housing options available for assisted living. Healthcare professionals and families look to Amada to help them navigate the complexities of the senior care system.
How It All Began
Amada Senior Care, formerly Amada Home Care, was founded in 2007 by college friends Tafa Jefferson and Chad Fotheringham, who met while studying business and playing football together at University of the Pacific. In 2008 they were founding members of the American Board of Home Care, a non-profit dedicated to educating the senior community and establishing standards in senior home care. Both Tafa and Chad stand an imposing 6’6” tall and are known by many in the home care industry as the “big guys” with big hearts.
The People Behind Amada Senior Care
Tafa began his career as a professional athlete playing for the Chicago Bears in the NFL. An ankle and shoulder injury forced him to retire early and embark on a new career path. Tafa’s mother was a caregiver and encouraged her son to consider the senior home care industry. Tafa remembered clearly the joy and satisfaction she gained from looking after seniors, despite the hard work that was also involved, and so in 1998, he started his first in-home senior care company. Determined that he would never ask a caregiver to do anything he wouldn’t do himself, Tafa became a Certified Nursing Aide, taking care of patients with varying stages of Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Tafa was soon employing over 200 caregivers and he realized that this was the right path for him where he could make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. Tafa is a big-hearted, expansive visionary, at the forefront of identifying solutions in the senior home care industry. He applies all the skills he learned on the pro football field to life and business – teamwork, integrity and passionate commitment. Tafa is a dedicated family man who married his childhood sweetheart and is the father of 4 young children.
Before starting his career, Chad spent 2 years in Ecuador where he became fluent in Spanish and discovered a deep satisfaction from helping others. Upon return to the US, Chad joined the pharmaceutical industry, which he chose because of its reputation for outstanding sales training. He started with Eli Lilly in 1996 and then moved to Pfizer where he stayed for the next 10 years. Working first as a specialty sales representative in pediatrics and allergy, Chad then moved into Managed Care Consulting, which involved helping healthcare companies improve their plans and educating the public to take active steps to maintain wellness. When Chad reconnected with Tafa, he was attracted to the service aspects of the senior home care industry and could foresee the huge future demand created by a booming senior population. Chad is passionate about helping seniors and their families, and he has a skill for breaking down complex information so it can be easily understood. Chad is married to his wife Nicole. They have 6 children and live in San Clemente.