When home health aid Frank Ellis arrived to his client’s home, he discovered the man (who was mobility impaired) lying on the floor. He had fallen in the house and couldn’t reach his cell phone. He had been lying there for seven hours.
Horrified by this situation, Ellis remembered he had a Google Nest speaker at his house and installed it in his client’s home. Now, if the man ever falls again, he can simply say aloud,
“Google, call Frankie!” from anywhere in the house, and it will call Ellis’s phone.
This solution got Ellis thinking.
“I was so upset that this man had been on the floor for seven hours with no way to call for help. I thought, this cannot happen. What can I do to make sure this never happens again?” Ellis said. And that’s how he developed the idea for Six Branches of Love ministry.
Through fundraising, government grants, donations and partnerships, the ministry aims to provide durable medical equipment and smart house technology to disabled seniors and veterans.
“The cracks in the system are small, but the people who fall through them are larger than life,” Ellis said.
Heart of the Matter ministries has partnered with Ellis to make Six Branches of Love an olive branch of their own ministry. Six Branches of Love (whose name refers to the six branches of the military) will be at Vet Fest in Denison this October to help spread the word about the needs and services of this ministry.
“We’ve been able to help three veterans already,” Ellis said. “We’re hoping to increase that number exponentially by next year.”
Ellis has worked in the healthcare industry as a home health aid and EMT. While healthcare has been a passion of his for a long time, God put it in his heart to focus on veterans.
“Veterans are important. They give so much (sometimes they give all) to protect us. Then, once their military service is over, they fall through the cracks,” Ellis said. “My dad was a vet for the Navy for 30 years. I think he would be really happy to know that I’m helping people like him.”
To learn more about Six Branches of Love, including how to help and how to receive their services, contact Frank Ellis at 903-506-7390, email [email protected] or find them on Facebook.