Sisters join forces to open senior home care business

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two sisters with years of experience in medicine, caregiving and humanitarian work with the United Nations are partnering in a new venture to help local seniors age at home comfortably and safely.

Manar Landis and Maha Zirn-Kashoor launched their Griswold Home Care business in October and began matching families with caregivers who provide a wide range of non-medical support from a few hours each week up to 24-hour care.

Elderly people often say they are fine living alone and don’t need anyone, Zirn-Kashoor said.

The first step is getting to know clients through a thorough assessment and convincing them it’s OK to accept caregiving.

“This transition is necessary to assure they can live independently and safely in their home, their safety zone,” she said. “Once they start realizing how helpful it is, it’s life-changing.”

Zirn-Kashoor spent 25 years with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, while Landis worked with UNICEF on women’s education and early childhood development and as a registered nurse at Norman Regional Hospital and Integris Health Baptist Medical Center.

Transitioning to home care was a natural fit after years of helping people in need and vulnerable people, Zirn-Kashoor said.

“Elderly in the hospital were my sweet spot,” Landis said. “I always listened to them, and they trusted me.”

Both sisters also spent years caring for their own grandparents and parents, which informed their decision to open their new business in north Oklahoma City. It is the second Griswold franchise in Oklahoma. The first opened in Tulsa 10 years ago, and a third is coming to Edmond.

With nearly 200 locations across 31 states, Griswold helps adults maintain quality of life despite advanced age, onset of illness or post-surgery recovery through services including companion care, home services, personal care and respite care. The company, founded by the late Jean Griswold in 1982, was named a Best of Home Care Endorsed National Provider in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The sisters have found there is a lack of awareness in the community about senior home care options, even among doctors.

“When someone is discharged from the hospital with no support at home, they come back to the hospital with another fall,” Landis said. “We provide a good complement for the entire system.”

Care can be temporary — a couple of visits a week for two or three months after a hip replacement — up to continuous end-of-life care. Care plans are made in agreement with the client, keeping them engaged in decision-making as long as they can be.

“Everyone wants to stay at home,” Landis said, adding spouses and children appreciate the outside support and professional guidance.

Personalizing services is key because each client “has their own story and condition,” Zirn-Kashoor said.

It’s not all about housekeeping and making sure medications are taken. One person may want her makeup and hair done, while another wants transportation to meet a friend for lunch, Landis said.

Griswold Home Care also offers services to residents of assisted living centers that don’t have the staff to provide those extras, she said.

But about 90% of the clients live in their own home and about 60% have no children in Oklahoma or no children at all.

The sisters’ new business currently has 16 employees and is growing.

In September, Forbes wrote:

“Buying a franchise in the booming senior home care industry could be a lucrative investment. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans ages 65 and up is projected to increase from 58 million in 2022 to 76 million by 2035, an increase over 30%, meaning the demand for senior care will continue to grow.”

Griswold is one of five franchisors mentioned as “solid options” with an initial investment of $99,600 to $180,600.

Family ties

Zirn-Kashoor said she and Landis are close in age and close as sisters. “We grew up like twins.”

After living in Switzerland the past 20 years, she purchased a house in Quail Creek and will live next door to her sister.

Landis came to Oklahoma in 2003 with her husband, University of Oklahoma professor Joshua Landis, and raised their two boys here. “I connected well with Oklahoma on many levels,” she said.

The sisters said enjoying helping people is something they inherited from their parents, and they see their new venture as the best way to use all their experience to support their community.