For this month’s Like a Boss, we’re talking to a business owner who helps fill a need for care that improves the quality of life in Bossier.

Crystal Lauve, owner of Lauve’s Pediatric Day Health Care, started her medical day care health services to act as an alternative to home health care. Lauve’s began in 2013 as a medical day care facility that provides skilled nursing care, physical, occupational and speech therapies to medically fragile children from birth to 21 years old.

“We’re a little different than a regular doctor’s office,” Crystal explained. “We do a lot of things like a normal doctor’s office but it’s a daycare because we get them in the morning and they’re here through the afternoon and we give them everything they need while they’re here.”

Lauve’s offers a physician-ordered multidisciplinary service, bundling a comprehensive assortment of pediatric care in a non-hospital setting. Lauve’s also provides transportation to and from the facility.

A 2011 Louisiana Medicaid program allowed Lauve’s to be the first PDHC in the local area.

“There was a huge void here. If kids didn’t have an extended care nurse at home, then they had to stay at home with their parents. So mom and dad didn’t get to go to work or school,” Crystal said.

Not only has Lauve’s had a transformative impact on the community by helping children, but it also helps their parents.

“I’ve see so many of these children progress. We’ve had parents who got to go to school for the first time or get a job,” Crystal said. “We’re like part of their family and they’re a part of our family and we all become that way seeing these kids every day.”

She said that makes for a very rewarding job, but she noted that caring for patients to where they’re able to improve and go out into the world is bittersweet.

“We had a patient here in 2014 who was told she would not progress past her cognitive level. She was with us for 3 and a half years, and last year she just started school. She’s walking, she’s talking, and it’s amazing. We were super sad to see her go but super happy for her.”

She credits her staff for helping Lauve’s patients, saying she has the best staff in the world and they’re what makes her business thrive.

“These children don’t have a voice for themselves they need someone to be a voice for them,” said Crystal.

Crystal has seen so much success, and demand, that she’s opening a new location in Longview, TX. She is currently in the middle of construction on a new building there.

“We had so many people from east Texas calling us and wanting to know if they could come here because Texas didn’t have a program, and now they do,” she said.

But Bossier will always be home for her and the birthplace of her business.

“It’s so centrally located. Because we offer transportation, we can go in a 30-mile radius on I-220 and get to the west side of Shreveport, we’re on East Texas Street where we can get to Haughton and even Minden, and we have I-20 where we can get to Youree Drive in Shreveport,” Crystal explained.

But she also said Bossier City is a fantastic location for business because the process of opening was so easy.

“I’ve heard nightmare stories with other cities. Bossier made it so easy, was so nice and helped me so much. This was my first business I owned and it was daunting and they made it not scary.”

The Bossier Chamber of Commerce’s 2016 Small Business of the Year winner also had some practical advice for fellow business owners: “Don’t be afraid to fail because failure is how you learn. If you’re passionate about something, you just have to do it.”

But when she’s not impacting the lives of people in northwest Louisiana, some of Crystal’s favorite things to do in Bossier are to catch one of the horse races at Louisiana Downs or hit The Stage at Silverstar Smokehouse or the CenturyLink Center for a concert. But she also appreciates the parish’s leadership and its many quality of life features.

“The city just redid downtown and it looks amazing, it’s one block over from us. The Bossier Chamber of Commerce is amazing. It’s located close to everything, has low crime, and great schools,” Crystal pointed out.

Looking for more Like a Boss? Check out our last episode on the “Sonic Guy” Paul Reiser.