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Thursday, July 10, 2025

Black-owned health care facility puts family first

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Berder Johnson loves taking care of people. As the owner of B and B Christian Health Care Center, located in Martindale-Brightwood, Johnson whose nursing career spans two decades, turned her passion for care into a successful family-run business which has been around for over 15 years.

“I got interested in nursing because of my mom. Initially, I didn’t want to be a nurse. I had aspirations of going to the Navy,” said Johnson, cracking a smile. Eventually she did take her mother’s advice, went to school and became a licensed practical nurse (LPN) at age 27.

“When I first started in nursing I worked in rehabilitation. I started out as an LPN, but my passion for nursing was in geriatrics,” she said. Her journey from LPN to owning and operating her own health care facility was a strenuous path, one she does not take for granted. “I worked in facilities across the city of Indianapolis for over 20 years. When I left my position as director of nursing at Barton House, after being there for 10 years, I decided to try something new and start a staffing agency.”

After the closing of that business the opportunity came about for Johnson to found her own nursing home. “I was very apprehensive about it at first. It was an uphill struggle. I thought, ‘Do I really want to invest any more money and go into debt with this?,” she said. “People said I wasn’t going to make it and it was very depressing – and I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to try it.’” In those early days, B and B, which stands for Berder and Boys, had just two residents and no staff outside Johnson and her relatives.

“When I came in I did everything; housekeeping, nursing, dietary – we didn’t have money to pay a regular staff. I worked 16 hours and a friend of mine who worked a third shift job would come in after me and I’d go home and rest. We switched on an off like that for 6 months. People really didn’t think that I had the know-how in order to make it, they never thought that I would make this work.”

Although she isn’t required to, Johnson still reports to work every day to check on her clients and to interact with them, flashing her signature smile. Johnson’s sons work in various capacities as nurses, administrators, and supervisors and in March when she retires the business will become theirs. “When we first started we were leasing the building but thank God, (this) January my sons will own the building. The business will be theirs, it is their legacy.”

Today, B&B has grown to serve over 30 patients on a consistent basis, a business model that Johnson feels sets them apart from larger facilities.

“To be perfectly honest, I think our success has come from the fact that we’re family oriented,” she said. “I think people know how I feel about my family and when they bring their loved ones here they’ll get that same special treatment. All of our residents’ families know our staff personally – we take the patients on excursions and my sons take the men to their homes to watch the football games. It’s just a family and that’s what makes us last.”

For more info on B&B Christian Health Care, call (317) 543-0681.

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