WELCOME TO CARING COMPANIONS

Meet BIRIDIANA "BIRI" URIBE
Case Manager
​By: Barbara Chalmers

Caring Companions was founded by Emmanuel Verduzco in 2018 to improve the daily lives of senior citizens living in our Central Coast communities by making a wide range of free and subsidized services available to them for the first time. Biridiana Uribe has been at his side from day one, helping to translate his vision into reality, and serving the community she loves. Her guiding philosophy in life and at work is quite simple: “You take care of each other, no matter what”.

As Case Manager for the organization, Ms. Uribe provides both administrative support and direct client services to Caring Companions. On the business side she manages scheduling, payroll and invoicing; processes client applications for services; coordinates appointments; and obtains feedback from service providers. She also works directly with her clients and their families. Her goal is to match what the family is looking for with their budgets, then to find a way to get them what they need. She coordinates transition services for new clients; orders supplies and arranges for their delivery; and accompanies clients to appointments while relaying messages to the family. She also makes home visits to check in on the well-being of her clients, and always makes sure to touch base with the family caregivers to see how they’re doing. Ms. Uribe wants her clients and their families to know that she loves to help and will always try to get them what they need. She wants them to know they can count on continuity of care, and that she is available to handle emergencies, run errands and enjoy a drive or lunch after a doctor’s appointment. She knows she’s done a good job when she hears relief in the voice of a client or caregiver, or gets a smile or a hug or a thank you when she leaves.

Ms. Uribe lives in Santa Barbara with her husband and teenage son, and is devoted to her extended family and to her community. Her dad and husband coach her son’s soccer team, and she helps her parents create events that help kids play soccer and stay of the streets and out of trouble. She studied at Santa Barbara City College and has worked with Mr. Verduzco in the caregiving field for the past three years. She is passionate about helping people, and she loves what she does. In her spare time Ms. Uribe enjoys working out and watching old movies from the 1980s, but mostly she just loves being with people.