Pasadena Star News covers Right at Home’s Support for their Caregivers who Lost Homes in Eaton Fire
3 caregivers who lost their homes in the Eaton fire get a lifeline to rebuild
Right at Home In Home Care in Pasadena helps three employees, who continued their work amid devastating loss.
Kiva Tripp went back to work four days after she lost her family home to the Eaton fire. She couldn’t not show up: Tripp, 36, is a caregiver for an elderly client in San Marino. Setting aside her own loss, Tripp said her work, and the routine, helps her cope two months after the fire.
She lists the things that keep her in good spirits: Family. Dogs. People. Work. Routine.
On Thursday, Tripp and two other fire victims received a boost from their employer, Right at Home In Home care in Pasadena. Each received more than $10,000 each from a GoFundMe the company owners started after the fire.
“It was a nice surprise,” said Tripp, who has been a caregiver for eight years. “I love helping people and my coworkers are a joy. We can’t complain. We’re blessed.”
Right at Home co-owners Renee and Joe Concialdi present their employee Blanca Doperoy, a recruiter who lost her home in the Eaton fire, with $10,000 from a GoFundMe during the in-home-care businesses 10-year anniversary celebration on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Two other caregivers who lost homes in the fire also received money. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Joe and Renee Concialdi, franchise owners of the nationwide company, surprised their three employees with the donation under the guise of marking their location’s 10th anniversary.
“We are celebrating 10 years as owners, but more so this extension of family,” Renee Concialdi said. “Everyone in our system really takes care of each other.”
As the disaster was unfolding, the Concialdis worked to account for clients and employees who could have been affected by the fires. It took several days before they confirmed Tripp, Roxana Pacheco and their office manager Blanca Doperoy, all from Altadena, lost their homes.
Concialdi worked with Right at Home corporate leaders, got the okay to start the GoFundMe, and watched as donations came in from the company’s founders, its board of directors, fellow franchisees and offices around the country.
“I cannot be more honored to tell you that it’s all of them that did this,” Concialdi said.
“We didn’t know how it would go, everyone just pitched in,” said Joe Concialdi. “It’s very heartening.”
Caring for the caregivers is second nature to the couple, who grew up tending to siblings, and later, an ill parent. The emotional and physical aspects of the job can take a toll.
“Not everyone can be a caregiver, you have to have a heart for it,” Joe Concialdi said. “You have to be a psychologist and a nurse all in one. It’s really a calling, God’s work.”
Renee Concialdi raises her fist in celebration of owning Right at Home in Pasadena with her husband Joe, left, during a ribbon cutting with members of Arcadia and Pasadena’s chamber of commerces and staff on Thursday, March 6, 2025. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Blanca Doperoy, 37, matches clients and caregivers, coming up with care plans customized to each family’s needs. She also trains caregivers in hospital care and related tasks, from caring for bedbound seniors or those in hospice.
“I love helping the caregivers that provide, in my opinion, the most essential kind of care a person can get,” Doperoy said. “If I can help our caregivers do their jobs easier, I feel like I’ve done something right.”
While her home is still standing, Doperoy is living with relatives while she waits for remediation to be completed.
Roxana Pacheco, a caregiver for 11 years, had to move to San Clemente, where her family found a reasonable price for a rental that would take their pets.
“I’m just thankful to be here, to be working with my senior citizens,” Pacheco said.
Her family home on Las Flores Drive is rubble, and they are considering rebuilding. If they don’t return, Pacheco said she will miss hiking the trails at Eaton Canyon and borrowing books and movies from the Altadena Library.
For Tripp, who was born and raised in Altadena, rebuilding was no question. While the garage is all that’s left of the Tripp family home on McNally Avenue, she reports everyone is in good spirits.
“That helps,” she said. “All of McNally is gone. There’s maybe three garages standing out of 15 homes on our street.”
Tripp remembers seeing smoke in the sky when she got home from work on Jan. 7, waking up at 2:30 in the morning to the evacuation order and having 20 minutes to decide what to take away. The family’s six dogs came first.
“It was dark, it was cold and my job was to take some stuff for myself, pack the dog food, pack the medication for the dogs, all their dog beds went into the trunk, and our three cars, my mom’s, my dad’s, and mine, drove down our street. Embers were flying down the street everywhere and our neighbor’s yard was on fire. The Christmas tree we put in the bin caught fire. And that was the last time we left McNally and we didn’t know.”
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