Barry Bortz has spent his entire career and most of his adult life dreaming about what the future of health care could and should be. Then he has gone out and created it.

Carespring Health Care Management has emerged as the foremost health care organization in Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky and one of the industry drivers and thought leaders in the entire industry. As the Chief Executive Officer, Barry has led this charge and continues to prepare and plan for what has yet to be achieved.

Mr. Bortz has traveled an unusual route to become CEO of Carespring Health Care Management. He left high school to join the Marines and graduated at the top of his regiment in boot camp. He then served 12 months in Vietnam before returning stateside to earn his GED (High School Equivalency).

With the money he earned from the service and the GI Bill, Barry put himself through college while working part-time jobs in Cincinnati hospitals. After earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, Mr. Bortz earned his Nursing Home Administrator’s licenses in Ohio (1981), Florida (1988) and Kentucky (1992).

In 1981, Barry became the Administrator of the East Galbraith Heath Care Center, a 236-bed skilled and intermediate care facility. In 1983 he took on the additional responsibility of running the 124-unit Amber Park Independent and Assisted Living community.

Barry built his first facility and opened it in 1986 as Eastgate Health Care Center. He has since built and opened the following facilities:

1993 Highlands of Ft. Thomas
1998 Dayspring of Miami Valley
1999 Hillspring of Springboro
1999 Barrington of Ft. Thomas
2000 Villaspring of Erlanger

In 2002, Barry created the Carespring Construction Company, LLC, to fill a void in the construction industry caused by a lack of awareness concerning the special requirements for building nursing facilities. Now, all new Carespring facilities are built by Carespring Construction Company, including:

2004 Heritagespring of West Chester
2005 Shawneespring of Harrison
2008 Barrington of West Chester

Further plans are also currently under way to open Indianspring of Oakley and Barrington of Oakley, as well as Barrington of Eastgate as soon as regional strategic planning has been finalized.

In order to ensure proper management and leadership over all of Carespring’s care and services at each facility, Barry established Carespring Health Care Management in 1997. After operating out of corporate offices in the Eastgate area for several years, 2004 brought the grand opening of the new Carespring Corporate Offices at Wards Corner in Loveland. 40 Corporate employees and approximately 80 Department Heads now oversee 1200 employees at the 8 Carespring facilities in Ohio and Kentucky. Carespring is eyeing future development both in and outside of the current region.

Barry and his wife Anne, live with their family in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is active in sponsoring many youth activities. He recently spoke to elementary school students about his war experiences and his entrepreneurial career. Barry has also recently served on the board of a not-for-profit senior community, and been a speaker, presenter, and panelist at several significant health care conferences and seminars, notably the Long Term Care 100 at Aviara, California. Mr. Bortz is also active in personally lobbying Congressmen and Senators at both the Federal and State levels, hoping to improve this country’s ability to care for its people who request and require nursing home care.

Barry’s highest inspiration has been to honor his mother, Elinor L. Willet, RN, who instilled in him both a heart for caregiving as well as a sense of stewardship of all with which we’ve been entrusted. She is the inspiration for the Angel Award that Carespring gives each year to honor a heroic act by one of its employees, and she’s also the namesake of a nursing scholarship at University of Cincinnati’s Raymond Walters nursing school.