Dick Allbee with other founders’ pictures behind him
ABCM Corporation has chosen to keep their home office in Hampton, Iowa. They began in 1961 with the idea there was a better way to care for our elderly. To date, they have grown to 30 long-term care facilities, 23 independent and assisted living facilities, 11 outpatient therapy centers, 7 durable medical equipment stores and numerous other real estate holdings. The story of ABCM is a classic tale of American free enterprise – four individuals with a goal, vision and limited capital built a company to serve the frail and elderly. In Greater Franklin County their businesses include Leahy Grove Independent and Assisted Living, Rehabilitation Center of Hampton, Long Term Medical Supply, Dumont Wellness Center, Franklin Prairie Apartments, and three billing offices.
Long Term Medical Supply (LTMS) and one of the billing offices are located in Hampton’s Main Street District. LTMS has increased their business vision for 2013; they are in the planning stages of increasing their inventory to meet the needs of all customers, expand the market to include younger age groups. In a small town, it would be easy enough to duplicate the products that other locations carry. However, LTMS is working closely with the two local pharmacies, Koerner Whipple and Rick’s, to ensure they DON’T duplicate what those two carry. That’s a testament to ABCM and the value they bring to the marketplace. LTMS rents space in the Historic Coonley Hotel building in the Main Street District. They have participated in the Main Street Façade Grant Program and will have new awnings in place this spring.
The ABCM billing office is also located in the Main Street district. You might wonder how a business office could be of value to a historic district. In Hampton, our Chamber and Main Street members work very hard to support each other, and ABCM billing office is no different. The office area includes a large meeting room. The Corporation hosts weekly meetings for the ABCM Corporation and order their food from local establishments in the district like Breadeaux Pizza, Merry bees (now Rustic Brew), and Morales. Their employees also are involved in shopping local as well, visiting our many Main Street district shops while attending meetings. ABCM models and promotes buying local. The proof being, when the corporation set new goals in branding they used the services of Mid American Publishing for their entire design, printing and advertising needs. Got You Covered supplies many of their promotional clothing needs, screen print, and embroidery jobs for LTMS and ABCM Corporation. Both businesses are in our Main Street district.
ABCM is a valued member of our Main Street community and works very hard to be involved. Two years ago, our Chamber Executive Director Brook Boehmler approached Dick Allbee, CEO and president of ABCM, and asked him to become a more active Chamber member. Dick asked what that meant and Brook explained some different ways they could participate. Here is a listing of the ways ABCM supported the Main Street community in the past year:
- Their local vans have been used, at no charge and with a driver, for Main Street activities like the Wine Walk. Those same vans bring their residents downtown to enjoy many of the concerts, events and activities in the Main Street district.
- Larry Odem, one of the van drivers, is a valued assistant in the Bloggers Tour. This tour brings in bloggers from around the United States to visit our town. Larry drives the van, answers a lot of questions, and is a wonderful asset as a volunteer.
- ABCM facilities advertise in our local enewsletter published weekly.
- The corporation answered the Chambers call for T-shirts for volunteers at our events, by purchasing the shirts needed for our numerous volunteers throughout the year.
- Provided a speaker for our Chamber Main Street banquet
- Employees sit on Chamber Main Street committees
- Participate, plan, and support our Chamber Main Street events such as being our parades, Summer Fest Sponsor, bringing residents of our facilities to the events, sitting on planning and marketing committees and always available for consultation on events.