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Home Care Marketing & Sales Mastery by Approved Senior Network®
Dawn Fiala, Lisa Marsolais, Annette Ziegler, and Valerie VanBooven RN BSN provide insight into home care marketing strategies. They cover in-person, in-field sales and online marketing every other week. These podcast episodes are part of the Home Care Marketing Mastermind, sponsored by Approved Senior Network®. Find more information at https://ASNHomeCareMarketing.com
Home Care Marketing & Sales Mastery by Approved Senior Network®
Unlocking Success in Home Care Marketing: Expert Insights on Partnerships, Marketing, and Care Strategies
Unlock the secrets to thriving in the senior care industry as Valerie Van Booven, along with Dawn Fiala, Lisa Marsolais, and Annette Ziegler from Approved Senior Networks, share their indispensable insights. This episode promises to transform your approach to home care operations and marketing with strategies drawn from their extensive experience in the field. Listen in as they explore the challenges and triumphs of building effective partnerships within the industry, and provide access to a wealth of resources designed to elevate your professional game.
Delve into the remarkable mission of Care Patrol, a pioneering agency dedicated to simplifying the transition from hospital to home or senior care communities for older adults since 1993. We discuss the critical role of senior care advisors who ensure a person-centered approach in care planning. Learn how these advisors, alongside family members, navigate the complexities involved in keeping seniors at home when feasible. Sharing intriguing stories and practical examples, we spotlight the collaborative efforts required to create the best outcomes for clients aged 55 and over.
Discover innovative marketing strategies and partnership-building techniques that can set your home care agency apart. From the importance of trust and communication in agency partnerships to creative marketing materials that leave a lasting impression, this episode is packed with actionable advice. Gain insights into how certifications and clinical backgrounds enhance credibility in the senior care landscape. Plus, explore heartwarming holiday outreach projects that bring generations together and highlight the impact of structured home care in reducing hospital readmissions. This is your ultimate guide to succeeding in the ever-evolving world of senior care.
Continuum Mastery Circle Intro
Visit our website at https://asnhomecaremarketing.com
Get Your 11 Free Home Care Marketing Guides: https://bit.ly/homecarerev
Yeah, welcome everybody. We're happy you're here. I know it's the day and everyone's still maybe, like we said, the sugar hangover. We're really happy you're here today. So we have a guest speaker. We'll get into all of that, but we've got some housekeeping to begin with. We'll start with Valerie. Hi everybody.
Speaker 2:It's probably been a minute since I've been on on a meeting, so it's good to see everybody. I'm glad everybody's here today. Lines muted unless you're speaking, so it's good to see everybody. I'm glad everybody's here today. Lines muted unless you're speaking, so we don't hear your. I always say this, but we don't hear your McDonald's drive-thru order because we and the only reason I say is because I've heard the McDonald's drive-thru order before and I know yeah. So share stories, experiences and tips, ask questions, make recommendations and tell us what you want to know, what you want to see. If there's something that we haven't hit over the last couple of years or something we could review for you or with you on this meeting, we certainly will do that Next.
Speaker 1:Oh, reintroductions. I'm Dawn Fiella. I've been at Approved Senior Networks just over two years. I love it here, but my job before that was home care. Just like you guys, I have been in operations, I've been in sales, I've been recruiting, retention all the things I love growing businesses. The private pay side, especially, was very good at that piece of it and those are the things that we're sharing with you here and in our sales training class as well.
Speaker 3:Lisa. Hey, I'm Lisa Marcele. I, too have been in home care forever and ever and I love it all. And I'm just happy to be here now in this space, with you guys, part of your journey, and help you learn and grow and I can learn and grow too.
Speaker 4:Annette Hello, learn and grow and I can learn and grow too, annette, hello, I am Annette Ziegler and same over 20 years of home care experience. I teach the sales training classes here for ASN and I just love it because I'm teaching what I did working for home care agency and I just love having love teaching you the tips and tricks and welcome.
Speaker 2:I'm Valerie Van Boeven. I'm the founder and co-owner of Approved Senior Network. I'm a registered nurse by trade and I always tell everybody I'm 200 years older than nurse years like dog years, all right, but I want to brag on these ladies for a minute.
Speaker 2:I'm more of your digital marketing gal. I am your website, seo, social media I am that girl. But these three ladies are your in-person sales and marketing experts, and there could not be a finer team on this planet than these three ladies who are helping you. Have really good skills to get past gatekeepers and to keep your referral sources happy, and also creative ideas that will wow your local referral sources and will keep them interested and happy to see you. So these ladies are the ones you want to listen to. That's it, thanks, how to watch the meetings you've missed.
Speaker 2:Okay, you can go to the next one, and many of you on here probably not seen all of the meetings that we've had this year. If you go to homecaresalesforumcom on your computer, you can go, enter your email address that you've been receiving these messages from and then just use the lost password feature if you don't know it and if nothing else, go to our support desk and we'll help you. But once you get there, you can go to the next slide. You will see our forum and you'll see us talking to each other and posting cool stuff and examples and ideas and all the things and the replays of all these videos and us talking to each other and posting cool stuff and examples and ideas and all the things and the replays of all these videos and us talking back and forth.
Speaker 2:But if you look at the middle of this, where the arrow is, it says learning. If you tap on the learning tab and, by the way, on your mobile device, it's going to be at the bottom. You're going to see ASN Continuum Sales Mastery Circle and if you go to the next slide, you's going to be at the bottom. You're going to see ASN Continuum Sales Mastery Circle. And if you go to the next slide, you're going to see everything all the videos, all the handouts, all of the PDFs of the slide decks, everything from January until today, and we will keep adding to this. So you're welcome and we try to put the subject matter with the title. It's not. Sometimes there's a mix of things, but in every single one of these episodes we go over things like handouts and leave behinds and creative ideas that you can use. So you go back and look through these and watch some of the ones that are really good, if you something that piques your interest anyway, so don't hesitate to go back and look.
Speaker 1:Okay, the agenda First. Before we get to the agenda, we are going to start doing free giveaways. We're super excited about this. Every month, one attendee you have to be at the meeting to win. So all of you are eligible that are here today will receive a set of customized December leave behinds. So you know the leave behinds and Lisa's going to go through all the December leave behinds today when, if you win, she's going to, we will send you PDFs. Right, there'll be PDFs, valerie, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll send out a couple of different versions but all the December leave behinds with your logo, your color, your phone number. So you are set for December. So who will do this? Because you have to commit to. You have to commit to sending us pictures going out there, being out there, being a part of it and doing it. So what do we want to raise of a hand or a yes in the chat?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, Remember, if you raise your hand, we want pictures. So you have to be able to say yes, if you do this work and send me these December leave behinds of my stuff on it, I will absolutely go out and use them and show you pictures. That's what it's all about. We want to see your wonderful ideas. So raise your hand and we will make sure that we have you on our list and then we'll pick a name from a hat.
Speaker 1:Yes, and you can put this in the chat yes, there's people clapping. Yes, woo-hoo, it's filling up We'll go through those and we will be sure that I see lots of hands up too Great. So that's going to be great, I would love for someone to do all that for me when I was out there.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, here you go. It'd be awesome. Okay, now on to what we're doing today. We have a wonderful guest speaker, julie Whitbeck-Lewinsky. She's owner of Care Patrol. We have Care Patrols here in Arizona too. I believe I have worked with some people here. So today we're going to discover what a senior advisor replacement agency is looking for in partnering with a home care agency. It's a great partnership, guys, to do this. How collaboration with a senior advisor replacement agency helps with appropriate care options. It streamlines the care process and improves outcomes. What factors would indicate that a senior is better suited for placement in a senior living community rather than receiving home care? That's really good for us to know. And then we're going to do the November, december and January leave behinds. So go ahead. Annette's going to do the introductions, because Annette and Julie worked together. They did the referring back and forth and that's how we know Julie. Go ahead, annette.
Speaker 4:So I'm really excited that Julie's here today. When I worked, I worked for Touching Arts here in upstate New York, in Rochester, for about seven and a half years and we had a great partnership with Care Patrol and she helped us with our Rochester, buffalo, syracuse offices. So I thought it was a good topic to just see how you can partner with them. Sometimes you just think placement agencies are placing people and they don't care about home care, but that's not true. They do have people that need home care and can refer and we can help each other.
Speaker 4:I'm really excited to introduce Julie. She is the owner, certified senior advisor of Care Patrol. She has over 20 years in healthcare and human services. She has a doctorate degree in occupational therapy and certified both in fall prevention and as a dementia care specialist. Julie is an expert in navigating the complex aspects of elder and transitional care for seniors in New York and Pennsylvania. Julie guides seniors and their loved ones to understand the right level of care that they need and uses this expertise to match them with the safest living options possible, whether it's in-home, independent living, assisted living, memory care or a hybrid of these. Her passion and dedication to serve seniors in New York and Pennsylvania has led her career and personal mission. So welcome Welcome, julie.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Annette. Yes, welcome, we're really happy to have you here. So we're going to ask Julie some questions, she'll answer them and then we're going to have an open discussion at the end of all of her questions and then you'll see all of the lead behinds and get to see the December ones, the ones that you might get. So, here we go. Tell us, Julie, about your business and the services that you offer.
Speaker 5:I am an independent office owner through the Care Patrol Franchise Organization. It is a franchise organization that is nationwide, so there are over 200 independently owned offices across the US and they just entered into Canada as well, so they're expanding into Canada. It was started in 1993 by a medical social worker who was working in the hospitals and he really just saw the challenges and more of those crisis situations An older adult finding themselves in the hospital and home is no longer the safe haven that it once was and saw the revolving door of those older adults coming back to the hospital because they didn't get the care that they needed at home or they ended up in the wrong type of senior care community for their specific needs and because of how fast-paced it was looking at moving from the hospitals out back into the community, he knew that there was just a better opportunity of looking at how somebody out there could support those older adults and their families through this process and help them to connect the dots. It is a complex environment to navigate. Even for those of us that are in it 24 hours, seven days a week, it's really complex. So he created Care Patrol and it was one of the first referral and placement agencies in the US and it just continued to grow from that point in time. So, myself and my husband, we own offices in upstate New York and cover the western half of New York from Syracuse area west to Buffalo, niagara, the southern tier area for those of you who are familiar with New York State, and we also have two offices in Pennsylvania as well that we have other business partners with from owners from the Ohio offices.
Speaker 5:Really, we're a group of senior care advisors. Our organization is senior care advisors and every office has to have at least one certified senior care advisor within the office to help to support others that might be working within the offices as well, and our role is to really help older adults in families navigate changing care needs and looking at transitions of care. So are they needing more care in the home? Are they needing more care than what can be provided in the home? Or is the home not a safe environmental space for than what can be provided in the home? Or is the home not a safe environmental space for them, based on their care needs and such?
Speaker 5:And looking at the transition to senior care communities, assisted living, memory care, independent living communities, things of that nature. So we really take a very person-centered approach to every person that we work with to really look at what options are available to them within those types of settings, whether at home or in other care facilities, and help to put those pieces together, along with the family, the care teams, those sorts of things. So that's really what we do in a nutshell Okay, okay, so that's really what we do in a nutshell Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:So what is the profile for a typical client that you might serve, and how do you find your clients?
Speaker 5:So, thinking about our typical client, obviously we're focused on older adults and we generally say 55 and over. And I will say, across different states there's different licensure for the care facilities and different regulations in regards to the age groups that care facilities can take and what their minimum age level is. Home care agencies obviously provide more flexibility in that start age of when needing to support folks, but we say generally 55 and up is who we are supporting and looking at their changing care needs. But oftentimes it's not that older adult that actually needs the support that's reaching out to us. Oftentimes it's care partners, it's family members, it's a spouse, a loved one, children that are reaching out to us really looking at what are options that can help to support our aging loved ones.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I would imagine you work a lot with adult children. Yes, home care, that's a huge percentage, and we're tag teaming, usually to get mom and dad to agree with the children that there's time for a change. There's time, and so I can imagine that's what you're doing too. And how do you find your clients? So do you get them? They call you. We provide support to help folks.
Speaker 5:It's not in our offices. We're not providing full support like going out on tours with them. We help them to understand the steps, identify facilities, understand the admission process, that sort of thing, but it's not as strong of a concierge service. When we're looking at other care facilities, we are really holding their hand through those steps, helping them with understanding the different levels of care and going on tours. What questions do you ask? All of that aspect of things and just in general too, whether it's in-home or looking at that transition to a care facility, we're always connecting people to other resources to help them with their end goal as well, too. It's not just the home care, it's not just the care facility. It could be an elder law attorney that we're helping to connect them with. It could be a moving company or downsizing company or cleaning company. So there's so many different resources that we try to help to connect folks with as part of that process.
Speaker 1:That sounds a lot like home care too, I had like a heavy duty cleaning company contact. I had some a foot doctor that would come to the home. I had medical equipment companies, because we are, we just you get involved with the family, and there's all the things that's never yeah, do they? They?
Speaker 5:need a bedside commode on their first floor because, they don't have a half bath or a bathroom. Is it a hoarding situation? We unfortunately get those situations that are really hard that we can't even find home care agencies that want to go in.
Speaker 5:So we're helping them to set the stage so that somebody can come in to provide that care as well. So there's all those pieces and components and when we look at how we find our clients, it's just probably similar to what all of you do as well. It's just a really combined effort. I can't say that it's any one specific area. It's word of mouth, past families that we've worked with, healthcare providers and health systems, doctor's offices, nursing homes, home care agencies, home health agencies so it's just very diverse. And then there's the sometimes online digital advertising and such that will grab folks, but that, I say, is probably the more minimal side of how people find us.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then how are you paid? Please explain the payment for your services, how that works.
Speaker 5:Yeah, working with an organization such as us we, for example, do a lot of similar things as to aging life care specialists or geriatric care management groups, things of that nature we do have a lot of crossover. We have a lot of crossover with what home care agencies might be doing. Something that sets us aside is that our service, our advisement, our hand-holding through that process of connecting the dots, is no cost to the older adults or their family care partners that are supporting them. The way that we are paid is through the relationships that we develop on these referral basis, where we're connecting people with the different services. We get paid from those services. For example, we would get paid from a home care agency providing them the referral of this client that really is ready to engage in their services. Care facilities might provide us with that referral payment in regards to setting them up in their facility. So that's how our model supports what we do, at no cost for seniors and their families.
Speaker 1:Good, okay, good. And how do you collaborate with health care providers, hospitals, discharge planners, rehabs?
Speaker 5:So they're part of the team. One big thing that's really important to us we go through a process that we call, at Care Patrol, a care discovery, and that care discovery is really us gathering as much information as we can about that individual their specific circumstances at that moment, their past medical history, any current medical events that are going on medications that they're on, types of medical care Do they need wound care, are they on oxygen? What level of assistance do they need with their ADLs, with their IADLs, with medication management, what is their social history and background. And really we gather as much information as we can. So, looking at the hospitals, the discharge planners, primary care physicians, skilled nursing facilities and SARs, we're working with their team members, whether it's their case managers, their social workers, their unit nurses, to also get that picture. So it's a very holistic picture of what that person needs so that we can help to really curate. What are options that are going to meet their specific needs.
Speaker 5:And another big component that I didn't just mention is the financial side. So that's really something that we look at going into as part of this care discovery, because we want to help them to come up with a plan that's going to provide longevity, not that's just going to work for one month, not that's going to be able to afford it for six months, and then they don't have any money for their care. We're really trying to help them to figure out what is a long-term plan and what might it look like as they're changing over time. Okay, good.
Speaker 1:That's really good to know. And do you refer a home care agency? What does that look like?
Speaker 5:Obviously, when we're doing that care discovery, we're trying to look at what are their wishes. So, if their wishes are to remain at home, we look at trying to put an emphasis okay, how could we accomplish that and is it going to be something that's sustainable over time? If we determine that's the route that everybody wants to go, we're going to help to facilitate that and I don't really have a specific answer that I could say. When do we refer to a home care agency? It's when it's the right match, the right fit, based on that care discovery.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you run into seniors who don't want to leave their house. I know, it's not always all the time right. That's typically for us, for home care agencies. That's almost always what they want. They don't always want a caregiver with them, but do typically want to stay at home. So it's probably a hard, a harder kind of thing to get them to maybe want to leave, but I know they're absolutely not. Everyone is safe at home with the caregiver.
Speaker 1:There comes a time not very many die at home, right, but there does come a time when they need to go. So I can imagine you're tag teaming with that adult child to sometimes trying to get mom and dad to understand why it's time to leave.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and I think it's. It's also a financial decision as well, too, because when you look at home care, if you get over a certain threshold of how many hours a day that you really need, get over a certain threshold of how many hours a day that you really need, that's where you have to weigh is this going to be the right long-term option based on that individual, their age, their prognosis, their needs, that sort of thing as well too. So it's really it's part long-term planning as well to really look at helping to educate the family. That's really a huge part of what we do is really education. Ultimately, we can't make the decision for that person. It's educating them and arming them with the information to help them to make the most informed decision that feels right for them. Yeah.
Speaker 3:We have a couple questions from Tammy I think the first one we answered, but the second one.
Speaker 4:The second one is what does that referral look like from the home care agency and, pay-wise, is it a one-time fee or residual monthly? If you do refer a client to a home care agency, I think what she's asking is it a one-time fee or how?
Speaker 5:does that work? So every office is independently owned, so I can't really answer that, because every office has the ability to create their own partnerships in the way that they wish, and even from state to state we have to create those relationships in different ways, contractually as well, so I don't have a specific answer for that. It would be reaching out to your placement and referral agencies, your senior care advisory groups like Care Patrol or your local Care Patrol offices in your area, where I think you have the link later in the presentation where you can find those locations, and it would be creating a dialogue with those folks and exploring with them what that relationship would look like.
Speaker 4:I do have to say, like in New York, I remember our agreement. It was very reasonable. It was like based on a month of service, but it was not an astronomical amount for the referral. It was very reasonable.
Speaker 5:And really where we're coming from is when we have somebody that goes in. I hope I'm not jumping ahead in the questions. I've tried to be mindful of what questions are coming and such. But we really try to follow up and check in with clients over time. So we look at that person that's in home care could be a future placement down the road as well, into a senior care community. We're trying to stay in touch and ensure that the services are going well and if there's any changing needs, that they know that we're there to help to support them should that time come. And vice versa. We have home care agencies that come back to us and say hey, julie, the family has started to talk about wanting to look at transitioning to a care facility and they'll bring us back into that. Or it might be somebody that we hadn't even referred. But you find that person might need more care or a higher level of care, a different type of home care than what you're able to provide, and that could be a referral back to us.
Speaker 3:Yay, I like to see in the comments Care Patrol has been a fantastic partner in Utah.
Speaker 5:That's great, great, perfect, very good, I like to hear it.
Speaker 1:Thanks, Dennis. Okay, I think somebody had asked if there was any in Florida, but we have at the end of the presentation. I think we have a link.
Speaker 5:There's a lot of offices in Florida.
Speaker 3:There are yeah.
Speaker 1:Good, good. What factors would indicate that a senior is better suited for placement in a senior living community rather than receiving home care?
Speaker 5:services. Again, this is going to be very individualized. It's not going to be black and white. In regards to those factors, I think one of them that I mentioned is really looking at how much financially are they going to be able to manage to maintain in-home care services at the level that they need? And if it gets to a certain level that the cost is going to be too much, it might be less expensive to look at the care within a care facility at that point in time.
Speaker 1:Do you find that for me? I just I don't know that. I've never done placement, but group homes are less expensive than like a full full-fledged, like assisted living.
Speaker 5:Do you? I think that varies. I think that varies from state to state, so I wouldn't want to make a stereotyped or blanket statement in regards to that. And there are some states, like that group home or that residential care home like you're talking about, that there's in New York state. There's very few of those. It's in other states like Maryland and, let's say, washington State. There's a ton of them.
Speaker 1:We have a ton of them in Arizona and they're less expensive than assisted living. And I can if home care is too expensive but assisted living might be too expensive. A lot of people will go into a group home.
Speaker 5:And there's different options from state to state and that's really where it can be very beneficial with working with your local care patrol offices to really help to know all of those ins and outs, Because I only speculatively know what I hear from other franchise owners across different states. When we're comparing some states in assisted living, they can do way more than what we can do in New York state, for example. So our cost of care in New York state goes up really quick with people's increasing care needs. So it just it's different from state to state and that's where it's a really great value to work with an organization such as Care Patrol to help with that.
Speaker 1:How do you decide which home care agencies to recommend or who you want to partner with? What's your criteria?
Speaker 5:I can speak to my criteria is really developing a mutual relationship that's founded on trust and understanding of the services that they have been providing within the community. So I do a vetting process of where I look at different reviews with some of the organizations. If they are newer, we're asking for letters of recommendation from past clients to help to support that. We know and trust that this is an organization that is doing a good job with the care in the community. As I mentioned, when we are working with the agencies then we are continuing to follow up with clients to check in and see how things are going.
Speaker 5:Sometimes folks are afraid to bring something up to the actual agency. I have a great example here that a family loved a care partner that their dad was partnered with, just felt like it was a really great match personality-wise and background-wise. However, the care partner was showing up consistently late over and over again and wasn't doing a great job of documenting to let the family know what had been going on. To let the family know what had been going on. They were all afraid to say something to the agency because they didn't want this gentleman to get in trouble because he was such a good match for dad. So sometimes folks are afraid of bringing those things up and we become a great partner that I can have that conversation with the agency, like, hey, we really want this to work with this care partner because it's such a great match, but there's a few inconsistencies that the family has brought to my attention. Is there a way that you can address this so it really ends up being a great relationship from that perspective, so that people really work together to make sure it's the right fit over time.
Speaker 5:And honestly, we have worked with some agencies that haven't ended up being as great as what the reviews looked at and we're looking for agencies that are insured, bonded, that have training for staff in some capacity. All of those things are things that we're looking for in our vetting process. But if we are consistently hearing negative feedback from families, we're going to share with that agency that we've had consistent feedback. We're going to hold on working at this point in time. If your situation changes, please reach back out so we can look at what the future might look like. So we are really looking for partners that are in it to do the right thing for the families and obviously we're putting our name out there to refer to somebody that we're saying, that we trust right. So it's important for us to have that follow up and ensure that everybody's on the same page.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really fair. And it can be really hard because you can be a fabulous agency and have one caregiver kind of mess that up and get a bad review, or it gets back to the referral source and you just, you're just, it's so devastating. Caregivers aren't always perfect, so that piece of it is really hard. But it's good that you would and it's good that you address it with a company and don't just quit referring without talking to them. I think that's really good, Really good. What steps should a home care agency take to successfully partner with your organization or maybe another Care Patrol?
Speaker 5:encourage you to take a look at whether there's a location that is in your geographic territory or range that you reach and reach out to that Care Patrol office. Talk about the opportunity to look at partnering in some way whether it be monetary or just looking at referrals back and forth to one another, and how you can develop that rapport and that relationship with that office. I think it's just a matter of reaching out and connecting and showing and demonstrating your interest if you haven't already made that connection with the Care Patrol office or other senior care advisors in your area as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, and how does collaboration with the senior advisor placement agency help with appropriate care options and streamline the care process and improve outcomes?
Speaker 5:So one of the things that we really do is we pre-vat, we pre-screen all of the home care potential home care clients that we're looking at referring to agencies. So we're doing that care discovery of really understanding what are their needs. What level of care is it that they actually need? Is it companion care? Is it personal care? Do they have a skilled care need? We're really fleshing that out. We're looking at what type of schedule are they looking at, how many hours a week, how many days a week.
Speaker 5:Oftentimes we're working with agencies that have minimums. So we'll educate families on those minimums and what they can expect. We help them to understand the general cost range within their geographic area, but we don't quote exact prices. That's not something that we will do. We'll give them that range and tell them this is what you can expect. Is this something that you can afford? And really help them to look at when do they actually need it as well? Some people are like, oh, I need it overnight. Okay, what goes on overnight? Is that really the time that you need it or is it a different time? So we really try to flesh all of that information out as part of that referral to the home care agency, so that when you're calling this person, it is a hot lead for home care services.
Speaker 1:That's really good, that's really important. And so when I know for myself when I prefer referral sources to get permission for me to call the family, because a lot of times if you give them my information they're just never going to take action Would you agree with that? Is that kind of how you handle? I know different care.
Speaker 5:That's honestly the way in our offices. I can't speak for all of care patrol offices, but in our offices we don't provide the family the information. We say that so-and-so will be calling you from this agency Good and then we ask that the agency, when they are calling, that they make sure that they introduce themselves, as I am the agency that Care Patrol asks to reach out to you.
Speaker 1:That's perfect. I love that.
Speaker 5:That is such a better way to reach out and it's the same way back. We ask the same If there's somebody that you're working with that really needs more care or needs to look at a transition to a care community that we look for folks to do the same with us. To ask the family is it okay if I have them reach out to you? There's no obligation, but this is a good match, right?
Speaker 1:Otherwise they could go weeks, months. Never do it. It's not something that the family's excited to do, right? Most of the time, it's hard, it's challenging, they're not sure what to do. So, yeah, that's a better way.
Speaker 5:And then you guys, as home care partner, you're our partners, so we're really looking at coming back to you. Hey, were you able to connect with them? And sometimes we hear, oh, I tried to call three times and I haven't heard back from them. So then it's me calling up and finding out what's going on. So it's a team approach. It's really it's helpful.
Speaker 1:And I think it's important from the home care standpoint that we give you a follow-up with any referral source as a home care agency. If someone has referred to you, it's really important to get back to the person and say, hey, I spoke to them, or I called three times, they haven't responded, or I have a meeting with them tomorrow. Whatever it is, the follow-up has to happen and I have to say we've been interviewing social workers and lots of different people across the country. Mostly it's in our training program that we share those, but that is the feedback is that home care agencies don't get back to them and so they don't know. Did they reach out? Are they following up? Do I need to give them another home care agency name and number? Not hearing anything back? So the follow-up is going to be really important. It's great that we're talking about that because I think it's good. It's a good reminder for everybody.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's really important. That's what maintains those relations and it just builds stronger collaborations it does, and the trust is so much.
Speaker 1:When you know that this person is going to follow through and call Mrs Smith and get the appointment made and tell you everything that happened and whether it's a go or a no, because you're going to have to jump back in if it didn't work out and figure out something else for this family, then trust is built. It's a great way to build trust too. Do you have locations of Care Patrol in the United States? Does someone want to throw that in the chat? If you haven't yet, they can link on it. You'll get it in the slides too later, but find out if there's one in your area, because it sounds like they would be great to collaborate with Annette. Couldn't say enough about Julie and how wonderful it was to work with her so great. Thank you, julie. Do we have any more questions? Anyone have any questions? This might be your only chance.
Speaker 1:Don't be shy, don't be shy, don't be shy, Unmute and ask yeah or put it in the chat.
Speaker 5:Have any of you ever thought of working with a placement agency, if you haven't already?
Speaker 4:Don't be, shy.
Speaker 1:Okay, you can still put questions Valerie's raising her hand.
Speaker 2:Great presentation, by the way, thank you. I think that one of my questions. If I were a home care agency owner, I would want to know this. This is a lot of what we teach agency owner. I would want to know this because this is a lot of what we teach If I set up a meeting or a phone call with someone from care patrol and owner. What are some of the things that you've talked a lot about? Integrity and quality of care and all that, but from a first impression, what are some of the things that I can do as a home care agency owner to really help you understand and know that I'm serious about this and that I believe we provide great quality care and that I'm really interested in this relationship? What can I do or say to you to make that very clear from the beginning?
Speaker 5:So I think it would be coming in an approach that I understand what you do and I see great value in us being able to work together, and I'd like to talk about how that might look, and it can be a variety of different things and I will share this in New York State, with one of the Touching Heart offices, we're working together to create a caregiver education series and we're co-hosting that together. We've gone out and have done co-marketing with each other as well. One of the sales ladies came to me and said have you had any luck in regards to this hospital? I said, actually, I have a meeting next week. You want to come with me and I'll let them know that you're coming and we'll provide some stuff for the staff and you can talk about what you do and I can remind them of what I do. And we pulled it together from that perspective and I was able to give her some tips and tricks in regards to going into the hospitals. And I think what's also important for you when you're talking about your organization is to understand some things that are pain points for us as well and, like you mentioned that communication follow up is so important to us as well, because we are also answering to other health care providers, to family members and all of that to be able to get back to them. So that communication and just talking about how you are going to be able to communicate and follow up to understand how quickly you're able to get services in place, what type of services you're able to provide, what type of services you're able to provide, what geographic areas do you have good coverage in and what areas aren't you having good coverage with.
Speaker 5:When we look at our referrals to home care agencies, if I have somebody that needs services in 24 hours, I'm not going to go to that agency that it takes them two weeks to get a caregiver in place, but maybe I have somebody that doesn't need services for a while and that agency is going to be the perfect match for that family. So it's really important to understand what you are able to do and be transparent with that relationship, because you also don't want to break that trust either and say I can get you somebody in 48 hours and then all of a sudden it drags on for two weeks, because that can rub that relationship as well. So be very open and transparent in regards to that with your conversations, talking about, if there's a consultation fee, if there's minimums helping us to understand what your rates are and rate ranges, if you have day minimums, if you have shift minimums. All of those things are really important for us to understand so we can ensure that it's a right match for that partnership and relationship.
Speaker 5:Or to ask those questions. So know that those are the types of questions that we'll be asking, along with are you insured, are you bonded? Are you providing training for your staff? How often those sorts of things?
Speaker 1:How do you become a senior care advisor as an owner? Do you advise that level of education as a home care owner?
Speaker 5:So senior care advisors is a certification that is through I can't remember it's CSA.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at my mess of my desk to see if I can. We can send it later. It's okay because we're getting. Our time is ticking. We can send it out in the notes. I know as a Home Instead owner. Home Instead Corporate was recommending that all the Home Instead owners become CSA certified and it was a big test and there's stuff to do every year to keep it up. I do think it's helpful to build credibility. Home Instead said all the owners should do it. They didn't make them, but they said they should. So, tammy, to answer your question, I think it's a good idea and, yeah, it was recommended.
Speaker 5:It creates that level of credibility that you've gone through some training and such. But I also look at my own background in training like totally trumps that certification from my perspective, but I still have that certification as well. I'm a certified case manager, I'm a doctor of occupational therapy and you'll find too, with senior care advisor agencies like Care Patrol, I know Care Patrol corporate really does a strong job of vetting potential owners to really look at having that right match, and there's a lot of owners that have clinical type of backgrounds or social work type of backgrounds as well too. So that has helped in regards to the credibility of the Care Patrol team as well. And yeah, the CSA examination I will. I've been in the field for 20 years in regards to healthcare. I didn't study for it and I was fine.
Speaker 1:The owner at home. Instead, she like looked through it and she said it wasn't very difficult. Oh, Scott, thank you. Scott listed the, so we're good.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay. So I have the same feeling about CSA. Now all of you have your CSA God love you and that's great. It's a step.
Speaker 2:But as a registered nurse and as having done the care management role and the discharge planning role in my lifetime, there is no CSA certification that can prepare you for what you really need to know about somebody when you're trying to help them manage their care or manage multiple health care providers or place them or whatever it is. And I felt this way since CSA came out. That's how old I am. So I don't say it's not worth doing, I'm just saying if you don't have a medical background or you don't have a background in social work, then absolutely it's better than having no education at all. And I see a lot of home care agency owners with the CSA behind their name proudly and that's awesome.
Speaker 2:But I would say, from my perspective, I would rather see you get your dementia live training done or certified dementia. I don't know CDP, but something that relates to understanding the issues that are surrounding dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Dementia live training is great for everybody and it's not hard either, but it will give you a much. If you're not from this world of medical, it gives you a much better idea of what caregivers and families are dealing with and the person with the much is dealing with. So I would love to see that over CSA any day, yeah, and look when somebody is entering the field.
Speaker 5:there's just so much that you'll learn over time. It's the have the humility to know that you don't know everything and to surround yourself when networking groups and reaching out to other organizations in the community to learn about their services and what they do. All of that really helps to support what you do. At the end of the day, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 3:There was one more question, and I think it's assumed that, building the relationship, you're just going to refer that one referral to only one agency. Is that the case?
Speaker 5:So I'm not no, I'm not going to send that name to five different agencies and have five agencies calling that person. No, that is not how it would be done. It would really be looking at what agency matches their specific needs. Who has caregivers that can reach this area matches their specific needs. Who has caregivers that can reach this area? Are they able to get somebody in place in 48 hours? Do they have staff that's trained to work with a person that has behavioral issues and Lewy body dementia? It's really about trying to help them to find the right care at the right time at the right place.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Wonderful Thank you Call me and say Julie would call, there's another Julie.
Speaker 1:That works with Julie. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Call me and say Julie would call. There's another Julie that would call me and say hey, Annette, I've got somebody that's being released from the hospital. I need to start them today at four o'clock. Can you do it? Yes, Then they would send it to me and we'd handle it. But they always you always called me and you asked me, and it worked out great that way. That works great.
Speaker 1:Thank you, julie, so much for coming, and you're welcome to stay.
Speaker 4:We're going to go to our leave behinds.
Speaker 1:Actually, we're going to do the store first. We've got about nine minutes. Valerie, you want to talk about the store, and then we will let Lisa show all of our leave behinds. Oh you're muted.
Speaker 3:Oh, here's the store.
Speaker 2:Valerie created. Yay, okay, oh, here's the store that Valerie created. Yay, okay, home care marketing store. So what? We did this just to help your lives be more simple. Everything that Lisa creates or Dawn creates or Annette creates that's in here is available on our store.
Speaker 2:Now I don't mean the actual leave-behinds that are customized or that are that you can customize yourself. What I mean is all the products. So, whatever and we only did this to simplify life we do not care if you buy stuff from the store or not, but we get asked all the time where can I go and just click on a link and get all this stuff? So we went ahead and put everything in a store. So as you guys go through, you'll see links to the January store, the December store, the November store. So all those products are on our website and you can just click on there and it'll describe and just, it's all Amazon stuff. Mostly some of the stuff doesn't come from Amazon, but most of the stuff is just an Amazon link to what Lisa's referring to. So that's all I wanted to say about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, anything that can go with the leave behind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'd be much easier because you just go in, click October, click November, click December, and they're all there. And we've had people ask and ask for this. Yeah, valerie did it. Thank you, valerie, it's wonderful.
Speaker 2:Thank you, We'll keep adding to it. January is in there now, just so you know that's an old screenshot, but yeah, we just keep asking.
Speaker 1:We'll get copies of the slides, and so the links underneath will take you to the store now instead of Amazon.
Speaker 3:All right, Lisa you are All right, I'm going to try my hardest to get through all of you, being the first. This one here, thankful for our partnership, is what I like to add here. But this is a nice giant personalized coloring poster that I think just helps to build the relationship a little more. You can take this out to hospitals, snfs, I think, just about anywhere, even in your own office, if you wanted to. I don't know, but you can have these customized here. It's pretty quick turnaround getting to you, getting to your office, but this is a great way to be able to get in front of whomever is in charge, at whatever place. You're going out to the social worker, director of nursing, nursing, and ask permission to obviously get this in on their walls. Or you can't just walk in and start placing this on windows and walls, but get permission and you may even want to bring in a little table underneath. You could say, presented by and have your markers and all of that stuff that they need to be able to color. But and I would start to by coloring maybe whatever you customize or personalized in the center or your logo on or anything like that, maybe just, and then be like hey, look at me, I'm coloring and then someone else is going to come in color and then wildfire. Yeah, but you can order here. I think the link is there too, but it's in the store as well. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:All right, don't be a turkey and stress over discharges. This is a favorite. We have trained caregivers ready to get your patients home safely. So this is another one Great talking points here. We have caregivers ready right now to get your patients home safely. So you want to take this out with this little cutie that people are going to use all the time. Every Thanksgiving, every November, they're going to bring this out as a decoration on their desk or their little window or whatever. Pretty good turnaround here as well. I would get these ordered, like this week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like today, like right now, you can have your logo and stuff put on the back too. It's awesome. I have a stress turkey here somewhere and I did this and they got them every year. They love these. I would totally use that. Oh, I know. Yeah, yeah, and don't stress over discharges.
Speaker 3:And it's a stress ball.
Speaker 1:So it's a really fun one it feel it is. It's a really it's got a good feel to it.
Speaker 3:Veterans Day, honoring all who served, and so this we just need to bring this out and spread the love. And here we go. So I found these. I thought this was really cute. It all comes together, so it's a pin that I think you could just pin into the leaf behind when you're taking it out. There's a pen, and then there's a key chain too, and it does come with the organza bag. So I think that's just really cool. It's all together and you can order different quantities there, and the prices are there too. But look in the store. There's a little range, but I would get these orders very soon as well. You got 10 days.
Speaker 1:Exactly, amazon's pretty quick, but you've got 10 days, I know, and if you're new, here. You just take this, put a little hole in it and put that bag. No, that's okay. I just think there might be some. I'm trying to rush. No, I know, go for it, we've got the same for.
Speaker 3:Canada, For our friends in Canada. Of course, they also have their Remembrance Day, and so I just want to include them here with their flag up top. But if you go to the next, there are these cool pins which you can use for either, but Remembrance Day, so I just thought these are really cute. The poppy I learned something that is odd that I never knew, but we use this here too, in the US, so I just thought that I love these. I would wear one probably every day. All right, November, hospice and home care month a recipe of caring. This. Just bring this out. People need to know how hospice and home care work together as a team. I've said this a million times, but I the times that I got a call from the adult child saying, oh, my mom's on hospice, Now we no longer need you. That's not the case at all. You actually do because and then you get to go down the list of why they need to work together as a team. I just thought this was a really cute way to remind folks that you do need to work together as a team. And as a little recipe, getting these mason jars and these sugar cookies or other. There's other different types of cookie mixes, but it fits almost perfectly into this mason jar, giving just a little room to maybe throw in some sprinkles or whatever you want chocolate chips or you name it and just to make this really cute and just, this may go to. Maybe you send this out to just or take it out to a couple of, like your top referral sources or whatever. But I just think it's a really cute idea.
Speaker 3:This one throw a party. It could be at a community, it could be at your. You can do an open house at your location. I did this one year and it was so fun. I had it totally decked out. I want to find pictures one day. You need to coordinate with if you're going to a sniff, you need to coordinate with a social worker and you need to make sure that you're bringing everything. So this is another reason to go out and speak to someone and get permission and figure out all the logistics and what you're going to do here. But bring the music and make it fun and have enough cookies, maybe for everyone to decorate and all the fixings as well, and then maybe hot cocoa and things like that too. But when I say, bring everything, bring tablecloth, garbage bags, wipes. You got to bring everything.
Speaker 1:Assume they have nothing, because they do not want to be bothered with the detail of bringing you napkins or whatever it is. Assume you're going out into the middle of the country and they've got nothing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, do not burden them with. They do not want to bother.
Speaker 1:You want to bring it so that it's okay, she's got this, I got to do nothing.
Speaker 3:Right, if you need a ton of cookies, you can go out and talk to your local bakery, probably in like your fries, your bonds, your, wherever it is, and sometimes I've heard that they will. They end up donating because they go wow, this is really cool, you're bringing your, you're bringing a couple of, maybe you're bringing a couple of kids to an intergenerational type of thing and having everyone do cookies. If not, give them some notice when you're, when you are ordering weeks, or ask them, give them a call and ask them how long they need to create to make this many cookies, a thousand cookies or whatever it is. Yeah, make sure that you ask them and give them a call and give them enough time.
Speaker 1:This is also a really fun event to do with your caregivers. If you want to have a holiday caregiver party, they love to bring their kids in and have them sit down and decorate a cookie the frosting, the sprinkles, all that stuff and so that was a really fun thing that we did with our caregivers too.
Speaker 3:I love that because the cookie is just as usually when the kids do it, it's like this big thing they would make sandwiches with the frosting in between and two cookies like stack.
Speaker 1:It was just a lot but fun.
Speaker 3:Here's another December. You are one smart cookie. Thanks for choosing us to get patients safely home for the holidays. And so just another, take on. We have caregivers right now can get your patients home safely.
Speaker 3:Mason jars again look familiar. I think that this could be used again. You can get all different sizes too. They have really small ones like that are like three ounce this is, I think, an eight ounce, but you can and they even have different types of tops and things like that, even different shapes, so you can get creative with this too. And here's some more of it.
Speaker 3:And on one of them I added like a little cookie cutter, like you could do anything cute like that ribbons, cookie cutters. Maybe get some paper like sticky paper, like where the one that you see, the one smart cookie, is attached to it. So many different ideas, and here's all. The only new thing here is the holiday sprinkles. I think that adding that is really cute too, and I did see these like old timey holiday light ornaments that they're empty and so you can actually fill that. I was thinking of filling that with sprinkles and then attaching it to the jar with a little ribbon, and that would be really cute too. Yeah, here's some more stuff. It's all in the store. You can attach this. I say have ribbon and candy canes all for the rest of the year, because you can add those things to anything and just make it look beautiful.
Speaker 1:It makes it look so good. And candy canes are so cheap. They're so cheap, they're very inexpensive. You can add them to something and it just makes it festive.
Speaker 3:It does. It makes it really pretty. All right, another one. So we added this we were going to use this in january, but we were like this really works for december. So instead of a ticking time bomb discharge week, it's a care bomb discharge. Let us assist you with patient. Yeah, care bomb, let us assist you with patient discharges.
Speaker 1:And if you, go, why a bomb?
Speaker 3:yes, we've got these beautiful coke bombs with marshmallow babe, um, and then you know these little. Clear all these up any which way you want to, but I think that this would be really cute to take out. You can pair this with anything else too for the holidays, but just really thought these were cute. Ok, you guys have to start this, like today. So I would think that going to, if you're going to church this weekend, you may want to take a couple of these to your Sunday school just to get started, but you really want to take as many copies as you can out to the school and start talking to whoever's at the front desk. They're going to be able to facilitate this for you.
Speaker 3:You want these kids to color these and make a message for the seniors in all of your, all your referral sources, any spot that you have that you want to go and take these out to. And you want to give a deadline. Hey, we want to be done by, let's say, the 30th of November. So you want to take these out, give to the schools, have them, color these, make a message for the senior at the SNF or the assisted living or even a senior center, wherever, and you want to be able to take these out and give them out to the seniors give them to the absolutely love this.
Speaker 1:They will take assisted living, will take a hundred of them, and so just know that you need a lot of them because when they have their holiday dinner, this is going to be at the place like they, their placemat. Yeah, they will let you walk through the sniff and hand them to the seniors. It's this, I've done this for years and people absolutely love this and it puts you in the holiday spirit. It's wonderful.
Speaker 3:So I love that one. What does that one say again, can you go back? It's crazy, my snowman is happy.
Speaker 1:My snowman can throw snowballs.
Speaker 3:They just love it.
Speaker 1:It's the cutest ever. They are so cute and you can tell the younger children have big letters and the little the older children. I've had them do it kindergarten to sixth grade. Kindergarten has just put their name most of the time.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, it's super fun lots of different winter ideas here, um, and so you can pick and choose. Put your logos on the top. You can go to the links in canva, google docs and change those out. January look, we don't have time. Okay, let us help you. Bring in the new year with less readmissions. Have a sparkling 2025. And then studies do show hospital readmissions can be reduced by up to 25 to 50 percent when patients receive structured home care support following discharge. We all know that this is very true, and then we have you can change this message if you want to, but call or text for I don't know receive structured home care support following discharge. We all know that this is very true and then we have you can change this message if you want to, but call or text for.
Speaker 3:I don't know what it said. I made it Call or text Valerie about our stay at home discharge package, and then we wanted to pair this with these mini Martinelli's which Annette found, and I think they're so super cute and you could do a million things.
Speaker 3:I like the beads, I like taking the whole box and just taking it out to where you're going or adding some bling on there some ribbons, and they're just really pretty. And there's a couple of different places to buy them on the, at the store, when you link to the store. All right, let's make this year the best year yet. Use this card to get your 2025 goals set. So we were thinking it's all about resolutions at the new year. Right, people have ideas. Readmissions is a big thing, and so we want to. Just, our goal is to help you reduce readmissions and ensure a smoother discharge. We always want to be talking about how we can get patients home safely when they're discharged. Sorry, I think my mom just said something. Sorry distracted me, and then we thought these are really cute, these little goal setting cards. Just take this out with your leave behind, and I just wanted to add some kind of bling. So I just found these cute little paperclips.
Speaker 1:I just I don't know, I just thought they were cute.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I just wanted to combine it somehow without putting a hole in anything. I thought that was would might be cute. All right, this was another one that annette actually brought for me and I just tweaked it and made it different. We get snow yeah, I think this is for us some of our canada folks, as well as the winter weather folks, but the weather outside is frightful, so partner. Partnering with us for care is so delightful again, and there's lots to snow about our delightful patient care team.
Speaker 1:A little town joke there.
Speaker 3:She can go in and do whatever you want with that. And then we found these. I think Annette actually was helping with this too. She found me all this cute little winter stuff the pens, the sticky notes. And then I thought hand warmers hey, because you need your hands to use all those things. Any of these little things will be in the store and you can pair those with the link behind Eat. Well, feel well.
Speaker 3:We do like to remind, give little bits and pieces of information every time we go out, because we need a reason to go out and we need something good to say to our social workers. But if you're going home with a special diet or you know that your loved one is just eating really crummy, you want to know that there's someone who can take charge of that, their nutrition and help. So we want people to know that our caregivers can and they're trained in different dietary needs and understanding balanced meals and how important that is. And so here you go and I thought some honey sticks and some cuties would be cute, but we can put them in a little bag and you can take other things out too with that, but keeping it simple for this one. And those are good things for your health.
Speaker 3:I think we're. Oh yeah, Coffee time. Get those cell phone numbers. That's what this is all about. Get on texting basis with that referral partner and, yeah, take this out, leave it behind and hopefully you get lots and lots of calls and you can either take coffee to location you can get one of those big gallons of Starbucks or whatever, with all the fixes, the cups, everything that they need or you can just have a one-on-one and talk about each other's businesses.
Speaker 1:Great job, Lacey. You did that fast. We've got a cute one from Scott Mendel. Linda says let us wrap you in care and take that. Oh my God, that's adorable. I love that. That is so, so cute.
Speaker 3:Where have you been all my life?
Speaker 1:That's a cute one, tammy says we have a script for when you call to try and book a volunteer opportunity for different facilities. We don't really have a script for that, but, tammy, I'm sure we could help you out. Lisa's great at that stuff, so just reach out you text once in a while. Just send us a quick text, I'll help you out with that. Yeah, and the recipe jars. They love the recipe jars. I think that's everything. Scott Mendel says Julie, you're a little late to the call, but he's going to watch the replay because he could tell it was valuable.
Speaker 5:So, julie, thank you again so much. Oh, you're welcome, and if anybody has any questions, you're welcome to reach out to me as well. Too Happy to help to connect you to other folks in Care Patrol as well.
Speaker 1:Great. Thank you so much. Have a good weekend. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Bye you guys.
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