Serving Those Who Served

Veterans hold a special place in the heart of Cambridge Caregivers’ COO Ernie Cote—and not just in a symbolic way. Long before he joined the company, two of Ernie’s family members, both veterans, required in-home care as they navigated the final chapters of their lives.

Those men were his stepfather, Tommy Griffin, and his grandfather, Robert Foster—both veterans and formative figures in Ernie’s life.

Ernie grew up close to his maternal grandparents, who helped raise him. Raised in East Texas, Robert grew up poor and worked as a sharecropper. During World War II, Robert served as a gunner in the U.S. Army in Europe. One of Robert’s brothers served in the Pacific theater and never returned.

After the war, Robert came home, married Ernie’s grandmother, and spent decades working on automotive assembly lines at Ford and General Motors. He was proud of his service, but like many members of the stoic Greatest Generation, Robert didn’t talk much about it.

That changed in 2004 when Ernie and his stepfather took Robert to Washington, D.C., for the unveiling of the World War II Memorial. For the first time, Robert opened up about the war, sharing stories Ernie had never heard of.

“It wasn’t until I was an adult that I really understood how much his service meant or how formative that experience was to him,” Ernie says.

Ernie’s stepfather, Tommy Griffin, was equally influential. A Marine Corps sergeant major—a rank Ernie admits he didn’t fully grasp as a child—Tommy was a proud Marine and, in Ernie’s words, his “life hero.” After Ernie’s mother passed away from a brain tumor, Tommy later developed COPD and required in-home care, which Ernie helped manage.

Later, Ernie’s grandfather developed dementia. Initially, his care fell largely on Ernie’s grandmother, who took on physically demanding responsibilities like lifting and transfers, efforts that may have contributed to her own decline from congestive heart failure. After she passed away, Ernie stepped in to manage his grandfather’s care as well.

“A lot of the responsibility landed on me at a time when I was still a young adult,” Ernie says. “That experience stays with you.”

Those personal experiences are part of why Ernie is so passionate about Cambridge Caregivers’ work with veterans today. Cambridge Caregivers is an authorized in-network provider for the VA Medical Center, allowing eligible veterans to receive premium-level in-home care at no cost to them.

“It means a lot to me that we can serve veterans, given the special place they have in my heart,” Ernie says.

Recently, Ernie filled in for a shift caring for one of Cambridge’s VA clients when the scheduled caregiver had to cancel at the last minute. He spent eight hours with a man who had fallen, broken his neck, and now requires assistance due to fall risk. Mentally, the veteran was sharp—and eager to share when Ernie asked about his years in the military.

“He told me about his service in the Air Force,” Ernie recalls. “All these fascinating stories. I left feeling so proud of what we do.”

For Ernie, that day reinforced why Cambridge invests so deeply in its caregivers—training them well, offering benefits, and supporting them so they can provide exceptional care to every client, including veterans.

“The fact that veterans can receive this level of care regardless of income, because it’s covered through the VA—that’s huge,” he says. “To sit in that man’s home, hear his stories, and know we’re honoring his service in a real, tangible way meant everything to me.”

Ernie’s story is the first in a series highlighting why caring for veterans is so important to all of us at Cambridge Caregivers. Because serving those who served is more than a program.

It’s personal.