In May, Maggie Drag, founder and owner of Euro-American Homecare, stood in a ballroom at the Aqua Turf Club in New Britain, one of about 400 people there for the YWCA New Britain Women in Leadership Luncheon. She had just been named a 2026 honoree and inducted into the Carol R. Virostek Academy of Women Leaders. Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas delivered the keynote. It was the kind of recognition most people spend a career chasing.
Ask Maggie about it, though, and she will turn the conversation to her caregivers within thirty seconds.
A handshake in 1989
Maggie arrived in the United States from Poland when she was 19 years old, with determination and a willingness to work hard, and not much else. What she found was a gap nobody was filling. Skilled, dedicated caregivers, many of them immigrants like herself, were eager to work. Connecticut families needed trusted, affordable in-home care and had nowhere reliable to find it.
So she started matching them herself. No agency behind her, no system, just caregivers and families connected on nothing more than a handshake. That was 1989. Thirty seven years later, that handshake has grown into one of the state's most respected home care agencies, the same one that just earned her a seat in the Academy of Women Leaders.
What she said when they called her name
When you ask Maggie about the honor, she will not talk about herself for long.
"This recognition belongs to every caregiver who has held a client's hand, shown up on a hard day, and treated a stranger like family. They are the heart of everything we do."— Maggie Drag, founder, Euro-American Homecare
That is not a line she came up with for the podium. It is the same thing she has said internally for years, to staff, to new hires, to anyone who asks her what actually makes the agency work. The caregivers are the agency. Maggie just built the structure that lets them do their jobs well.
An agency that shows up outside the job, too
The award did not come only from the families Euro-American Homecare serves directly. For six years running, the agency has offered free art classes at the Berlin Senior Center, a program that has given older adults in town a reason to get out, create something, and spend time with other people. It is expanding to more towns this year. The agency has also shown up as a fundraiser and participant in the Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's, supporting the search for a cure and the families whose lives the disease has touched.
Maggie thanked the Town of Berlin and Chris Edge for the nomination.
"When I started this agency in 1989, I simply wanted to help people stay in the homes they loved. I never imagined it would grow into something that touched so many lives, or that the community would one day turn around and honor us in return."— Maggie Drag, founder, Euro-American Homecare
Why this matters if you are looking for care, not an award
An award like this is not really about a plaque. It is a room full of 400 community leaders confirming what families in Hartford, Middlesex, and New Haven counties have already told us for 37 years: that this agency does what it says it will do, and treats the people it serves like family, not like a case number.
If you are trying to figure out who to trust with a parent's care, that track record is worth more than any marketing line. Founded in 1989, still non-medical, still run by the woman who started it with a handshake.
Call us at 860-829-0208, or reach out through homecare4u.com, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit for your family.