Family business thrives in the Friendly Village

LEESBURG – In the heart of the “friendly village” of Leesburg lies a successful and profitable industrial center that houses four separate businesses that at first glance may not seem related – janitorial supplies, medical transportation, a greenhouse and printing. However, all four businesses are linked by a common thread: local entrepreneur David Haines.

Haines started his “family of businesses” in the early 1990s after working for over 30 years in a management position at Ferno-Washington Manufacturing Company, located in Greenfield and later Wilmington. Haines left Ferno-Washington in June 1991 and started his own business, Jani-Chem, an industrial cleaning/custodial product supplier, which is still in operation today.

“When I left Ferno, I wanted to do something for myself,” Haines said. “This is a janitorial and shipping supply business, so it didn’t quite fit with manufacturing, but it’s worked out very well.”
   
Haines started the business in January 1992 in Greenfield, and the company was later relocated to Leesburg. Travis Lowe, Haines’ grandson, is currently the owner and operator of Jani-Chem and has overseen “nice increases” in business in the past few years, Haines said. After more than 20 years in operation, Jani-Chem serves businesses in both Highland and surrounding counties.

“We offer hand towels, cleaners, toilet tissue, detergents, laundry … a complete line of products to clean your business,” Haines said. “It’s weighted a little heavily toward health care – disinfectants, disposable gloves and various other things that are used in health care.”

Another business was added to the Leesburg industrial building in 2010 by Haines’ wife, Carolyn, and their daughters, Tina Lowe and Angie Hottle. The three women, all of whom were employed as medical transcriptionists, decided they were looking for a change and switched careers to become greenhouse farmers.

Haines said there are currently 9,000 heads of lettuce being grown inside the greenhouse at the industrial park. Living Produce currently offers several varieties of lettuce, all of which are grown using hydroponics, a water-based planting process.

The lettuce grown at Living Produce is unique as it is grown in a specially formulated water and nutrient base created to suit well water on the industrial park property.

“The nutrient mixture formula was designed for this specific water supply,” Haines said.

Haines said that lettuce is available to anyone who is interested, and that while some is sold locally, much of their produce is delivered to Cincinnati, where dealers distribute the lettuce to vendors in the tri-state area.

Haines is also in the process of forming a new business with his grandson, Brice Hottle, called Graffiti Avenue. The business will include fabric printing, such as T-shirts and jackets, and vinyl printing, such as logos and other advertisements for vehicles. Haines said he also hopes to include signs and other promotional materials.

However, the business Haines said that the community should learn more about is EAST Ambulance, as many people are often unfamiliar with private ambulance services.

“People think of us as more like a taxi service,” Haines said.

All EAST ambulances are fully equipped with medical supplies to handle a variety of patients and situations, from basic medical care to advanced or critical care.

“We provide transportation for any people who can’t go in the family van,” Haines said.

EAST employs emergency medical technicians (EMTs), advanced emergency medical technicians (AEMTs) and paramedics.

Among the services EAST offers are:

• Advanced life support, which includes EKGs, IV pumps, ventilators and advanced airway equipment.

• Basic life support, which includes non-emergency transports such as hospital discharges or routine visits to medical facilities. Such units are stocked with medical supplies including oxygen and defibrillators.

• Paramedic intercepts, where EAST paramedic supervisors drive SUVs equipped with advanced medical supplies to the scene of emergencies when needed. According to EAST, “if a paramedic was not the closest unit when an emergency is phoned in, a paramedic unit is started in the direction of the emergency to back up the BLS unit in case more advanced care is needed.”

• Bariatric services, in which EAST sets up units with extra-wide patient cots and additional lift mechanisms to comfortably and effectively transport bariatric patients.

Other services offered include pediatric advanced life support (PALS), advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS), vent transports and BiPAP.

Most of EAST’s transportation services involve moving patients from local hospitals and nursing homes to another medical facility. However, the company is also able to provide some critical care services, such as transporting emergency patients to larger hospitals when conditions do not permit medical helicopters to fly.

Haines said that most of their transports include trips to and from medical facilities in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

“We have transported to and from Florida, we’ll go to the Cleveland Clinic quite often … wherever the patient needs to go, we can do that,” Haines said.

Haines purchased the EAST Ambulance company, taking over in January 2004, and moved its corporate headquarters from Williamsburg to Leesburg in 2009.

“Dispatch, billing and maintenance for all our ambulances is done here,” Haines said.

In addition to Haines, EAST’s leadership team includes executive vice president Bruce Stewart, director of operations Shaun Boggs, director of customer enhancement Kevin Mitchell, new business project manager Pamela Newkirk, director of marketing Jodi Jackson, and dispatch and scheduling coordinator Debbie Partin.

The company’s philosophy is that “EAST Ambulance is a quality service-oriented company that adheres to its core values,” which are adherence to high ethical standards, excellent and measurable customer service, a positive work place environment and financial stability.

The company includes 30 ambulances and approximately 10 wheelchair vans. The maintenance staff at EAST works on all EAST ambulances, which are then redistributed to satellite stations, Haines said. Satellite stations for EAST are located in Athens, Dayton, Georgetown, Hillsboro, Jackson and Washington Court House.

With all of his businesses, Haines has created a number of job opportunities in southern Ohio, including five or six employed with Jani-Chem and 140 EAST Ambulance employees.

“People talk about the economy … I kind of ignore all that,” Haines said. “What the economy does, what it says in the Wall Street Journal, has absolutely nothing to do with what I want to do today or what I wanted to do yesterday. And Travis follows that same attitude. We have customers and we provide good customer service, good products, and the business continues to grow.”