Senior Care Academy - A Helperly Podcast
Senior Care Academy is the podcast for caregivers, senior care providers, and families with aging loved ones. Hosted by experienced professionals, we explore essential topics like elder care planning, dementia support, financial advice, and emotional wellness for caregivers.
Each episode offers expert insights, practical tips, and resources to help you navigate senior care with confidence. Whether you're a healthcare provider, a family member supporting aging parents, or a senior adult seeking guidance, this podcast delivers actionable advice tailored to your needs.
Subscribe now for in-depth discussions, expert interviews, and real-world solutions to improve the quality of care for the seniors in your life.
Senior Care Academy - A Helperly Podcast
Improving Senior Engagement through Unique Experiences Kayden Grenko
Discover the remarkable journey of Kayden Grenko, a trailblazer in senior care and the Director of Business Development at CareLife. With a fascinating background in healthcare administration and a wealth of hands-on experience Kayden offers invaluable insights into understanding and revolutionizing senior care. This episode discusses the unique value of intimate community settings and the diverse skill set required to thrive in this industry.
Join us as we explore the importance of team development and innovative approaches to senior living. Kayden reveals how aligning team members' personal goals with their roles can lead to success, and challenges traditional activities by suggesting fresh, engaging alternatives.
We also turn our attention to the mental well-being of both residents and staff, as Kayden shares strategies for fostering purpose-driven living and empathetic leadership. Learn how these approaches can enhance job satisfaction, reduce turnover, and transform communities.
Welcome to Senior Care Academy. Today's guest is Caden Grinko. He's a forward-thinking leader in senior living, currently serving as the Director of Business Development at CareLife. You may recognize CareLife from our recent episode with Ezra Torres, another remarkable voice in this transformative organization. Caden's work focuses on elevating quality of life for seniors through innovative technologies and empathetic care strategies, reinforcing our dedication to showcasing industry authorities who set new standards.
Speaker 1:With a master's in health administration from Weber State University, caden brings both depth and leadership to senior care. His expertise extends beyond care life as the founder of Telos Consulting, where he drives impactful changes in sales and operations within senior living. He also sits on the Utah Citizens Living Association Board, helping out in legislation, marketing and education. His career journey, including roles as executive director and director of health services, reflects his commitment to integrating empathy and innovation in senior care. In this episode, we're going to dive into his strategic approaches, his role in pushing boundaries in elder care and his unique vision for the future. Caden's perspective offers valuable insights into the industry and will resonate with listeners seeking expert advice, especially those who share our mission of compassionate, advanced senior care.
Speaker 1:Caden, thanks for coming on Senior Care Academy. I'm excited to talk to you more about senior care kind of your journey, any advice you have, people getting into it and stuff that you've learned along the way. How did your career start? Tell us about, like your early years and the journey that you've went on to lead you to where you are now. What got you originally in the senior care?
Speaker 2:Senior living is an interesting space because I don't think a lot of people start their schooling or anything planning to go into it, right, Like it's not a career that you have since you're a little kid, Like I'm going to go do this right yeah, when I grow up.
Speaker 2:It's not talked about on the playground as something you work towards, but for me, I initially got my start in health care in a physical therapy office. Oh interesting, and I loved it. I loved everything about sports medicine. I was an athlete myself. But the problem with kind of any career that I've had is I spend enough time in it and I get bored of what's going on. You learn the routine and after a little bit in physical therapy it was the same knee ankle, shoulder, hip over and over again, same diagnosis, same three exercises.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and it just didn't have the same alert that it originally had. So I was forced to kind of make a pivot, and I started that pivot even within the physical therapy office that I was working for. Yeah, I started doing marketing for them, outreaching to a bunch of different places In fact. I saw a need for them to do that, and so I took a proposal to them one day and said, hey, I think I can help grow your company.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I know I've just been an aide here, but if you give me a chance, here's my plan.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. What do you think of it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they were willing to take that shot. Let me kind of learn as I go and do a bunch of things for them. And then I liked I still knew that I liked healthcare and I wanted to be in it. So I changed my career trajectory to go be part of healthcare administration instead, because the business side seemed to always have problems that needed solving right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, instead, because the business side seemed to always have problems. Yeah, that needed solving, right. Yeah, so for me, uh, that has always been the allure uh unique problem every day exactly yeah, that is an interesting.
Speaker 1:A lot of people want not the unique problem, so it's a good, good persona that you have to be able to build, step into the problems every day.
Speaker 2:Space exactly, but I got to keep them new and fresh right. So I have to keep breaking things or finding new ways to fix them and, and, and, really just tinkering with it and so um so I entered that program not really knowing what I wanted to do yeah um, and one of my mentors has suggested just go into different types of healthcare environments, yeah, and just see what's going on.
Speaker 2:So I went to clinics, I went to hospitals and eventually I ended up in a beehive homes in Brigham City Wow, and fell in love with it and beehive is basically.
Speaker 1:It's like converted houses, so they're relatively small communities, right, oh yeah?
Speaker 2:Yeah, normally you're going to see a size of like 15 to 20 beds and an administrator. That is over everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So really unique in that sense, just super important for anyone looking to get into the career because you do get that hands-on experience of what goes on in the kitchen.
Speaker 1:What goes on with activities? What goes?
Speaker 2:on with maintenance and, frankly, I went in and I started, I called myself an intern, even though they didn't really have an intern program. They let me hang out and ask questions and and just learn from the environment there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a unique perspective a lot of the people. One of the questions they always ask is like what advice do you have somebody getting this space and like super common answer is like you gotta love the people or you have to like, it has to be more than um, just like work or seniors. I think that that's the first time that we heard like if you want to get into senior care specifically like retirement, this space, go into a smaller community so you can touch all pieces. That's a interesting piece of like. Get in so you understand all the ins and outs, rather than going to, you know, a management company that has their smallest building, is like 75 beds. It's like go find something small where you're super intimately related to every aspect of the business. I think that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Well, yes, start small, with small knowledge, and then grow into it from there, because that's like, I started as that intern and then eventually they gave me um an opportunity yeah uh, not necessarily the opportunity that I would pick, but that's what opportunities are yeah um, so I made the decision to move my family down to price utah nice manage, manage two communities down there, um and uh, man, it was a wild ride.
Speaker 2:Yeah, first, first, uh, like they dropped me off, they. They kind of felt like I knew what I was doing because I had interned for so long. My nearest help was three hours away. I took her through the canyon and the first five days I got the cops in my office right. Wow, and just wild things going on. The state had just visited the things had with the previous ownership. They had been in some financial trouble.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2:And that led to state trouble.
Speaker 1:So lots of tags like 42 or something like that I think when I, when I had walked in and like so. So a giant, a giant problem like I had always hoped for and dreamed for, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, there you go and uh, and you know, you start, you start um first things first, second things not at all right, yeah, so you prioritize and you start working towards it yeah, um.
Speaker 1:So how has your perspective changed and kind of evolved over the years, starting from a single um facility as that intern and then getting just right into the fiery pit and then now kind of where you're at, where you're actually helping other assisted livings and where you had your consulting for a while. What's what perspectives have persisted and what's changed over the years of being in the industry?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the biggest thing that you learn um as a as an executive director in assisted living, is number one, and this has taken me some time. Um, you can't do it alone.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then when I look back on my greatest successes, it's not necessarily grand efforts or heroic movements from myself. It's more of a combination of great team members, great people that I invested time in to develop, people that I gave opportunities um to really shine, or people that were they were in the wrong seat on the bus.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, and instead of moving on from them, having in-depth conversations and finding the right seat for them and then watching them flourish? Yeah, so team development is huge for me. Um, I don't know exactly when, but but but it's been a long time since I haven't had an interview with somebody, or one of the first um questions I asked them is, like what their goals look like. Yeah, to me, interviews are way more of a conversation, um, to find out if somebody is motivated, if they have a dream, why they want to be in there, um and that, and then working with them to help them accomplish what they're doing. Because that's what I approach the industry in, and so that's kind of how I've looked at everyone else.
Speaker 1:It's like.
Speaker 2:You're here for a reason. You have a purpose. Can we find it and can we work together?
Speaker 1:to get it. I think that's awesome. I think that's a good learning curve as well. It's like especially early people, those people that you like that are driven and that have a goal, they think that the way that they can progress. Obviously there's truth, some truth to it, but it's like the Herculean amount of effort and everything's on my back and that's how I'm going to grow. But it's like actually more especially in the senior care space, because it does take kind of a village to help the people that we help, to be able to collaborate and you know, uh, trust other people that you work with and show that you're, um, contributing as a team, even though it feels really good to be crazy busy and being like, yeah, I'm the, I'm the man or the woman, I guess, um, in this, in this community, and everybody can count on me, which which is great, but it's even better to be like, hey, let's work together, like collaborating, and just that's a great insight and lesson that you've learned.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those feelings. Those feelings are awesome, except for, like, when you want to take a vacation or, like you, want to get to your kid's soccer game or just like the little things in life where we're like can't you guys solve one problem without?
Speaker 2:me Right and then all of a sudden you've realized you've put yourself in a box and growth can't happen Like you're only able to do so much as one person. And to me that was a lesson of leadership that I had to learn quickly because if not, like there were too many problems to tackle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely leads to burnout. What are some things that you or? What do you? Believe are some of the most problems to tackle? Yeah, definitely leads to burnout. Yeah, um, what are some things that you, or what, what do you believe are some of the most overlooked aspects of senior care that, um, um, could significantly impact the life of the residents or the clients?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've worked in very small companies and I work for very large corporations, and approaches from both sides are very different and I think both sides could learn some things from each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And a lot of that comes down to financial barriers. Sometimes, obviously, you just have more money to throw at things in larger groups. But the biggest takeaway is really understanding the work that you're requiring from everyone. Far too often have I seen a solution to a problem that someone brings to a corporate office or someone else. That's like well, let's just get you another form for you to fill out and meticulously maintain throughout the day, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I was like well, I don't need more paperwork, I don't need more of this. I need help addressing the concerns of this resident or this family member or my team. And like I need real solutions to that instead of something else that I have to maintain Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um and so and so that's kind of always been my approach and and and maybe I, um, maybe I just look at problems differently. Instead of problems being unsolvable, like there's always a new solution or or an innovation to it or or a different spin on it, yeah and uh, taking those and and coming up with crazy ideas and, and and admittedly, some of my ideas have failed um yeah, and, and I try and learn from those, but uh, there's the occasional one that hits that.
Speaker 2:That, I think is is fun and brings a new light to the game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. I think being a hurdle remover is one of the biggest things that a lot of times, people either add hurdles, like I said, an extra form, or they're just like that hurdles there and it's been there for however long. So that's what you have to do, but just like removing those, what are one of those crazy ideas that you've had that have hit that you're really proud of?
Speaker 2:I mean. So activities was a piece that I always I mean I struggled with it, even having worked like early, early on, as wasn't necessarily an activities director, but I worked in an afterschool program with kids. And so every day was trying to come up with something new to entertain them, yeah, to keep them engaged until mom.
Speaker 2:Um and like that was fun. But for me, um, I always felt like activities and assisted living needed some sort of facelift, Like like we can only do bingo so much. Um, and I worked with a lot of different companies where where they felt like they had it, Um, and I could never quite get the engagement level that I thought should be there. And so I sat down with my team and I kind of interviewed them on, like what they liked to do, and then we looked at the budget and compared like okay, well, if you really like 3D printing, can we get a 3D printer here?
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2:And can you do a demonstration with the elderly and can you? Have them get involved and so like. From that point he had a meeting. It was the maintenance director.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Went out and spoke with the residents, taught them how it works and then, all of a sudden, they're asking him for little gadgets and things like hey, can you make this so it goes on my keys, so they can turn their key easier? Yeah and like little things like that yeah um, and so then it was identifying all of the different um hobbies that my whole team enjoyed, yeah, and then offering the residents to engage with him on that level yeah and so from my aspect um, this is going to make me sound like a total nerd, but it was an idea that I always thought would be fun we held a Dungeons Dragons game with a handful of residents.
Speaker 1:I had a friend who's really into it.
Speaker 2:So he brought all of his stuff.
Speaker 1:He led the campaign.
Speaker 2:We helped walk them through it all, and it was amazing was um. It was amazing to see them participate in something that you'd never see seniors doing yeah and so again, thinking outside of the box and an engaging team with the goal um and aligning all those together, yeah is where I've seen awesome stuff happen.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool what kind of results did you see kind of on both sides as far as did you see more residents showing up? And then I wonder, did that have an impact on, especially, like your direct care staff that a lot of times are in the industry? They're kind of churning through jobs, are going to the highest bidder kind of thing. Were they more engaged and like, enjoyed their work more by being able to be involved in that sense? Or what impact did it have on both sides?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there were definitely activities that showed up as stinkers, you know like nobody.
Speaker 1:Nobody was there for us.
Speaker 2:And it's like, well, did we market that right? Could we get them to go? And, yeah, and even some of them, there was some arm twisting like, no, come try this out. Yeah, right, but I do feel like if you can get your staff to buy in, they'll work harder on getting the residents to buy in yeah. And residents are like. The adage is like when you're old, you're stuck in your ways.
Speaker 1:Yeah, old dog, new trick Right.
Speaker 2:And to me that has never really applied.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you have a good enough relationship with your residents, they're open to all sorts of new concepts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I think that that's a myth that is slowly getting debunked and continues to, but we were at the Senior Expo in Salt Lake a few weeks ago and the question that we were asking to get seniors to stop was what's something you've always wanted to learn but you haven't yet? And at least I would say 85% would say something specific. Oh my gosh, I've always wanted to learn this specific thing. And they're like 85, 90. And they're still like. I've always wanted to learn this. So like, the whole idea of like you can't learn, yeah, it's totally a lie. And then 10 would be like there's so many things, I can't name one and it was like five percent. That was like I'm too old, I can't, and I was like I guarantee you can, um, but out of like a hundred people, only a handful would say like or a handful would say no, I can't, and so like.
Speaker 1:It's totally a myth that I think is ruining a lot of like said activities directors, where it's like we've got bingo. They're like their little, you know their drawer that they pull out right, insert generic senior activity rather than actually diving in, being like. I wonder if seniors would take a liking to 3D printing and then like having it be a huge hit, so that's way cool. Yeah, let me see what's. Oh, there's a good one. How do you know that? How do you know you're making progress in senior care specifically, maybe as an administrator or just as an industry as a whole? How do we know that progress is happening?
Speaker 2:as an industry as a whole. How do we know that progress is happening? Um, progress is a game. Uh, there's a book called atomic habits, where they refer to as aggregation of marginal gains. Yeah, and sometimes you want to get to 100 right away but, but for the most part you have to be patient and get the 1% for that next day.
Speaker 2:And then the next day you're working on how do we get 1% to another 1% and to another one, and then growth happens. In that regard, and that has far more often been for me the rule. It's like we do improvements and again it's focusing on, like I said, the first things first and then the second things really not at all. And I think that's where a lot of directors get confused is they get caught up in the demands of every day and they go and they try and put out all of those fires.
Speaker 2:Yeah of every day and they go and they try and put out all of those fires, instead of being really intentional about like, okay, I've got seven different departments.
Speaker 2:I'm going to focus on this one today, um, and I'm going to work on them and let the other ones kind of float, yeah, um, until I'm happy with how they're operating and they understand their role, and then I can leave that piece of the castle and go to the next one and then slowly develop again the team, the right players and the right processes in order to take on whatever challenge comes my way and ultimately, for my own sanity. So I don't have to feel like I have to play hero every day so.
Speaker 2:I can leave for 10 days, not get a phone call and come back and not have to play three weeks of catch up afterwards. State can show up and I'm not thinking this was a mistake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, yeah, I like that a lot. I think a good comparison that I've heard that I really liked was especially in this space where there is like it's inevitable that you're going to show up the next morning with some a handful of fires at minimum. And so the defining if it's a trash can fire or a wildfire. Trash can fire it sucks and it's going to be hot, but it's contained in a trash can, it's going to burn out eventually on its own, versus something that's like a real problem. Real problems burn bigger and bigger and bigger because they're not taking time to be like I'm focusing on this department today to make sure that that gets smaller and things are getting handled, and so they're chasing around all these trashcan fires that go out by themselves and then all of a sudden they turn around.
Speaker 1:There's like California's on fire you know, and so that's a really good thing, and I think I'd love to ask a little bit about your. They believe can help people. So what need does TELOS provide and what made you feel like you should start doing some consulting?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think assisted living, every building is unique and I've been fortunate enough in my career that I've seen a lot of different kinds of buildings. I've been in the very small to the very large kinds of buildings. I've been in the very small to the very large. I've seen one unit giant properties to a very spread out, seven different buildings on the same piece of land, Huge campus basically.
Speaker 2:Big campus yeah, Seven acres and lots of places to go. So I have a unique perspective of being able to walk into a building and then seeing kind of the fit for the market and then developing a plan to make that building successful. And so why I started it? Honestly, I was approached. They're like, hey, you seem pretty good at this. We've heard your reputation. People like what you do. And then from there it's like can I do this? It's something new. Why not Start before you're ready?
Speaker 2:is another phrase I always tell myself is like jump in and then figure it out, and like there's definitely been growing pains there. And again, I never profess to always have the right answer, but I do always try to do the right thing and to learn from any mistakes that I do make, and that has been it's been an incredible growing experience. I've appreciated everything that's come from it. Even what I'm doing now started as a consulting role with Care Life and talking about how we can better approach and help senior living. Um, and then, over three years time, grew into an opportunity that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like. I think that's a great mentality that more people should have. I don't know if you've seen that. Um, it's like a short of jason momoa and it's like I think it's jason, it's like.
Speaker 1:I don't know that answer, but I'll do everything I can to find that's something that people need to have, like you don't need the answer to get started or to try to help, but do everything you can to get the answer as you're like working on it. So what? Let me see what are some of the biggest logistical hurdles that you've seen, whether personally or as you're consulting, in scaling a senior care or an assisted living. And then what approach has worked best for you to overcome those logistical hurdles?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think senior living is in an interesting time. Right now there's a lot going on where the market is growing. All projections say that supply and demand is going to shift to where there's going to be an increasing amount of demand from seniors.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The silver tsunami is coming, yeah. At the same time we, covid, kind of put a microscope over the industry, said that there's things that we could be doing better and there's legislative movements to hold us accountable to that. And then, finally, I think another thing COVID did was consolidate a lot of properties. A lot of the mom and pop shops couldn't keep up and so they sold off. And then these larger corporation groups they're taking over in management and ownership and that is creating Definitely more competition in who can provide the best product, and that always leads to more demand for data, information, analytics and really revolutionizing how senior living does business.
Speaker 2:I mean it was not very long ago where senior livings were still all on paper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then they saw Everything was just in a filing cabinet Exactly Filing cabinets. Folders Makes me cringe a little bit. Yeah, just thinking about trying to operate a business like that Just an absolutely crazy time.
Speaker 2:And I think most people have moved on to some version of an EHR system and again I see the future is where it gets even more and more defined by technology.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that a lot With kind of the different changes, especially kind of with COVID. Another thing that we've recovered, I feel like for the most part, but during COVID there was a big push obviously like staying in place, and I think it's very. A lot of seniors want to age in place. So how do senior care facilities, how do you kind of adapt to balance the trend with seniors that want to age in place but also there's a lot that are aging in place that really ought to be in a retirement community or care facility of some sort, to kind of reshape the way that people are thinking about aging in place versus moving into a community?
Speaker 2:Well, so that's the game that. I think there's markets right now where the price of moving into the senior living is almost equivalent to hiring your own personal at-home caregiver. And so then, what is your justification for moving into a senior living at that point? If home is best and that's where I want to be Senior livings have gotten good and are continuing to get better at programming, because it's not just being at home. It's like what's your diet look like? What's um, what's your socialization look like, and, and, and both of those things, in particular um, are, are crucial to to the senior's lifestyle, um. But beyond that, it's like how can you guarantee that you're not going to be left on the floor right Like?
Speaker 2:things like that in your home there's risks that are involved and really it's up to the senior livings to prove to the prospective resident that what they offer is better.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And like that's hard because everybody loves their home.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like nobody wants to move out of it, but at some point I often think about what assisted livings of the future would be like. Am I going to be excited to move in?
Speaker 1:there.
Speaker 2:Or am I going to be clawing at the door to stay at my house? Yeah, and really I think there's evolutions happening there. Like I said, it comes down to what kind of activities are we offering? Are we making a better effort on on doing things differently to to attract a different kind of resident?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think it's. I mean, that's in essence what sales is when the when, what you're offering greatly outweighs the cost of doing it, and the cost not just being a price, but like the cost of staying in home, like you said, from nutrition to engagement, to overall health, to mental health, that cost is greatly. The value that you're getting just minimizes the cost in any sense. And so I do think that there's going to be a trend, especially in assisted living, where it's not just you know we have great care staff going to be a trend, especially in assisted living where it's not just you know we have great care staff and some fun activities, it's, it's going to kind of be a whole. It's going to be an offer. You know, it can't just be like this is a great option for you. It's like they're going to have to make a sales offer.
Speaker 1:Um, that greatly outweighs any benefits that they're going to have by staying at home. And I think it'll be an interesting thing over the next five, 10 years seeing that offer take place, where assisted living becomes a place where, like I said, when we're, you know, 50 years from now, 60 years from now, and we're like at that point where we need to make a decision, or even earlier, who knows, by the time we're 60, maybe we're like, yeah, this whole homeownership thing's overrated, I want to move into an assisted living, which would be a cool thing to see. Okay, we've got a few more is overrated, I want to move into an assisted living right, which would be a cool thing to see. Um, uh, okay, we're gonna film right. So, uh, kind of a shifting question. But there's been a big focus on mental health, kind of across all age groups. Um, how do you see senior care specifically like assisted living, um evolving to meet those needs? And then, what personal experiences have you had that kind of shapes the perspective on mental wellness for seniors.
Speaker 2:For seniors or those that work in there.
Speaker 2:I have both, I mean, and again, my perspective is always towards the people in the industry because that's who I, as an executive director, like you, rarely you get moments with seniors, but lot of your um time is time is with your team, right, um? But from the senior side, again, like everybody needs a purpose. There's a few books out there, um, I think it's eden effect is one of them, where it talks about giving a purpose. Some guy went out and he got a bunch of birds and plants for residents and and them all a job to take care of one or the other and all of their health markers increased because he did that.
Speaker 2:Purpose is kind of fundamental to all of us and, again, it's not getting caught up in the day-to-day, it's understanding why you're there, and I guess this is a throwback to what we originally started talking about. Um, what are your goals? What are you working towards? If you keep that in mind? Um, another phrase that we use at my in in my home all the time is like, like, how are you doing today? I'll say that to my wife and and her response will be well, yeah, it's just another. Another day on the slope of mount everest, because um it's all about the climb right, yeah, I like
Speaker 2:that and so and so, like you take that into account and what you're doing, and then, and when your goal is to reach the summit, then then the day-to-day things don't hit so hard. Yeah, yeah, but mental health is going. I think we have to really take stock of how we talk to our employees, the demands we make of them and really listen to the problems we're having. And similarly with our residents. Like you have a resident that has behavioral issues, is depressed, like I can't tell you how many times a 20-minute conversation with one of them has changed my entire perspective of the individual. Yeah, and and and it's really forcing yourself to step away from the day to day and finding time for those kinds of interactions. Yeah, everybody's, everybody has a reason for what they're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that a lot, especially with trying to identifying that Mount Everest early on. Identifying that Mount Everest early on because it, I think, where a lot of mental health struggles come in is especially um. So I have a lot of loved ones and people that I know that have different uh, they're on the spectrum of how depressed they feel, you know, um, and ultimately what it comes down to is feeling like I have to do this again.
Speaker 1:For the rest, of my life like if it's the exact. Every day is the exact same thing and that's it, like I'm gonna wake up. What is it? It's like uh, have to work to pay my bills, or like the bills for the pills so I get more pills to get on anyways, like this whole vicious cycle of like I have to work and it's just like it's never gonna end.
Speaker 1:And so I like identifying something, some mountain that they're working towards and then just helping. You know, you're just realigning them on that of like. Hey, you know, yeah, there's fires every single day when you show up to work and there's hard things and this resident might've been upset or rude to you today, but you're working towards this bigger thing and just like realigning it's like you're showing up and doing ADLs every day but it's for a bigger purpose, because you want to reach this thing. I think is good insight to try to help other administrators, to help their staff stay on that path, so that way they don't it doesn't feel like I'm going to show up again tomorrow and it's going to be the exact same thing and that's it.
Speaker 1:And I think that's what also leads to churn a lot of the time. Is they? If they're just going to have to do the same thing every day, might as well go find a place where they get paid more. You know we're getting close on time, but I have a few questions about care life. So what goals have you achieved so far this year at care life that set you apart and what are your goals or what are some things that you're excited about at care life over this, like next year?
Speaker 2:So, uh, care life, and again I'll I'll reference another book, so it's a book called uh, 4,000 weeks.
Speaker 1:Oh cool.
Speaker 2:Um, 4,000 weeks is the average amount of weeks you have in a lifetime. Um, and it kind of gives you perspective.
Speaker 1:In that sense it doesn't seem like a lot at all. Right Like years, 80 years, 80 years sounds great, you know but 4,000 weeks doesn't sound like any at all.
Speaker 2:So my journey with CareLife came from a decision of like I like assisted living, I can stay in senior living. There's lots I can do like assisted living, I can stay in senior living, there's lots I can do in senior living. But you really only get an opportunity like this one once. And like how many more times is that going to happen in my 4,000 weeks, you know? And so it's jumping in and learning something that's completely different. But what drives that for me is the ability I do feel like it has to change the industry At the core of what Care Life is. We keep residents safer than ever before. And like I don't want to sound like the guy, but it's like I've seen things, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, things, things that have happened during my career that, uh, we could have never prevented but they, but it's unfortunate that they happen, you know, um, because seniors, um, they, they, they have accidents, right, they fall, they get hurt, and it's up to the people that work in there to live with those outcomes, and that's hard. And then the other side of it is like giving caregivers a goal and accountability within the work that they do, and so a lot of the design in the system that we built is with a real intentional understanding of caregivers, how to motivate them and how to hold them accountable and help them take better care of the residents and ultimately, providing tools to operators operators to better understand each community. And so, for me, what I've achieved in this space is like I took a leap. I left the career that I loved and enjoyed to try something new and see if I can have a bigger reach than just the walls of my own community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's awesome. The last question that, like I said, I always like to ask and we kind of started with it, but what's one piece of advice that you would give to somebody just starting out in the senior care space?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think a lot of people, when I've talked to them, they don't know how to break in.
Speaker 2:of people when I've talked to them, they don't know how to break in and my advice is uh there's lots of people that can apply for jobs, like a lot of people have learned and mastered that skill, um, but there's not a lot of people walking into buildings and saying, hey, do you mind if I sit here and learn? Um, that's awesome. There's not a lot of people connecting and having conversations with people on LinkedIn about how they got that way or got where they're at in their careers and so, not being afraid to reach out, have conversations, be a little nosy, be a little intrusive into the environment and kind of demand, an opportunity to learn and grow in the space is a way to set yourself apart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's great advice. Last last question. Last question, for real this time who should reach out for Care Life and how should they reach out if they're interested in getting Care Life installed into their community?
Speaker 2:Yeah, contact me, caden, at carelife, and I'd love to talk to you about it, why I abandoned my career to go after it and to change the world with it. Because that's the ultimate goal Climb to the top of Everest. Very cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can wholeheartedly recommend that you reach out to Caden and CareLife. I think it could make a huge impact in all the communities and they are making impact in all the communities that you're already in. So again, thanks, caden, for coming on Senior Care Academy and I really enjoyed the conversation. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:Always a pleasure.