Cene Group is celebrating four decades of operation, consolidating and expanding home care in Brazil. Forty years ago, patient care outside the hospital environment was limited to sporadic, informal arrangements lacking technical or operational standardization, and the term 'home care' was barely known in the country.
The concern of Sueli Noronha Kaiser, a nurse who observed hospital routines, motivated the founding of Cene Group in 1986. She was bothered by the persistence of patients in hospitals due to the absence of a structured alternative for continuing treatment at home.
Upon reaching 40 years, Cene Group demonstrates a trajectory aligned with the consolidation of national home care. From its beginnings, through technological advances that revolutionized home care, the group has maintained its focus on the integration of technique, humanization, and innovation in healthcare.
Technical Rigor in the Intimacy of the Family
In the 1980s, transferring care from a hospital to a residence was seen as a major challenge. At that time, resources were limited, routines had to be created from scratch, and there were no established manuals or legislation to guide multidisciplinary action at home.
For the founder of Cene Group, it was essential to understand that home care demanded a sensitivity that went beyond nursing manuals. Unlike the controlled hospital environment, home care required penetrating the routine, fears, habits, and vulnerabilities of an entire family structure.
Sueli stated that the initial purpose was to demonstrate that assistance constituted a safe continuation of clinical therapy. Initially, what was offered in the hospital was brought home, but without neglecting the human aspect. She emphasized that when entering the family's life, care needed to be technically rigorous, but also deeply human.
The Path to Revolution
Gradually, the concept was assimilated, accepted, and expanded, marking a cultural transformation. Family members began to notice the real clinical benefits of recovery at home, and doctors started considering the home as a therapeutic complement, not just a hospital discharge option.
The evolution of medicine and portable equipment drove this shift in perception. Cases of greater complexity, previously restricted to ICUs, began to be managed at home using ventilators, infusion pumps, and advanced pharmacological support.
In addition to the cultural change, other elements propelled the sector. In the 2000s, the model was associated with a sharp decrease in the risk of hospital-acquired infections and the positive impact of family coexistence on the recovery of chronic patients. Simultaneously, health insurers recognized the economic viability of the model to optimize care costs.
Between 2010 and 2019, the sector grew significantly, driven by the rapid aging of the Brazilian population and the increase in chronic-degenerative diseases. During this period, home care ceased to be an occasional benefit and became permanently incorporated into supplementary health care lines of care. Subsequently, the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the strategic role of home care for agile hospital discharge and the freeing up of critical beds, allowing patients with complex respiratory sequelae to continue their treatment safely.
At all these crucial moments, Cene Group remained attentive and prepared, having human and material resources to meet demand and offer every family the necessary care with affection.
For Sueli, much of Cene Group's success over these 40 years lies in the human factor. She emphasizes that working in a patient's home requires behavioral and tactical skills that are not taught in conventional health courses, going far beyond technical knowledge. It is necessary to prepare the professional for a distinct reality, enabling them to listen, respect the family, understand the limits of the environment, and possess the sensitivity to capture what is not verbalized. According to her, every Cene professional understands that knowing how to execute is not enough; one must know how to care.
AI and a New Revolution
Currently, home care is experiencing a new wave of transformation, catalyzed by advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). This technology is changing care from a reactive model, which acts after patient deterioration, to a predictive and preventive model.
In a modern home care operation, such as the one implemented by Cene Group, AI functions as a continuous coordination center. It analyzes large volumes of daily data to guide the decisions of health teams, generating algorithms that help in classifying patient risks or monitoring remotely via connected devices that record vital signs. Furthermore, virtual assistants act as communication interfaces, guiding caregivers and family members on medication schedules, operational questions, and warning signs, which reduces repetitive calls and speeds up contact with nursing staff.
Sueli comments that these technologies are permanent and have been fully utilized, bringing direct advantages to both patients and healthcare professionals. Professionals gain more time to dedicate to what is irreplaceable: clinical judgment, listening, and human contact. The machine assumes analytical, predictive, and repetitive tasks, freeing up the human being to welcome, listen, and make complex decisions with ethical and technical sensitivity.
With the continuation of this revolution, home care is already part of the medical and health vocabulary in Brazil. For Cene Group, the future promises more evolutions, but always linked to the essence that inspired Sueli to start the project. The secret to longevity, according to the founder, is not in the equipment or physical structures, but in the non-negotiable commitment maintained since the first home visit in 1986. She concludes that although technology and home care continue to change, the initial reason remains the same: caring for people at the moment they need it most.