EP. 103: Navigating Senior Care with Dr. Leslie Leonard

What happens when faith calls you beyond the safety of a stable career? In this episode, Brian Crawford talks with Dr. Leslie Leonard about her journey from 21 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to leading Senior Helpers of Central Mississippi.

Dr. Leonard reflects on faith, vocation, navigating unfamiliar professional spaces, and the caregiving experiences that reshaped her calling. She also shares practical wisdom for supporting aging loved ones with dignity, consistency, and presence—reminding us that even a simple weekly phone call can make a meaningful difference.

Special thanks to our sponsors: 

Nissan, St. Dominic's Hospital, Atmos Energy, Regions Foundation, Mississippi College, Anderson United Methodist Church, Grace Temple Church, Mississippi State University, Real Christian Foundation, Brown Missionary Baptist Church, Christian Life Church, Ms. Doris Powell, Mr. Robert Ward, and Ms. Ann Winters.

Transcript

Welcome And Why We Gather

SPEAKER_00 0:12

This is Living Reconciled, a podcast dedicated to giving our communities practical evidence of the gospel message by helping Christians learn how to live in the reconciliation that Jesus has already secured for us by living with grace across racial lines. Hey, thanks so much for joining us on this episode of Living Reconciled. I'm your host, Brian Crawford, hanging out with some really, really good folks. And unfortunately, my friend Nettie Winters is not with us today. He is attending to a family matter. If you heard that the last podcast, it's because we recorded two podcasts in the same day. So he is still off attending to that family matter, and our prayers are with him, obviously. And if you uh know Nettie, why don't you uh do us a great favor and just say a quiet prayer for him and his family? Uh but we want to do get we want to give special thanks to our sponsors, folks like Nissan, St. Dominic's Hospital, Atlas Energy, Regents Foundation, Mississippi College, New Horizons International Church, Bellhaven, Crossgates, Pearl Orchard, Presbyterian, Anderson United, Grace Temple, Mississippi State. So many good folks are out there helping us do what we do. Even individuals like Doris Powell, Robert Ward, Miss Ann Winners. Thank you so much for everything that you do. It's because of what you do that we're able to do what we do and what we do is we talk to people all across the state and learn about their intersection between faith, vocation, and reconciliation on this podcast. But we also have a larger work called Mission Mississippi, where we are devoted to the work of reconciliation across our state and beyond. If you would like to join in that work, whether it be through uh contribution, whether it be through participation, whether it be through prayer, you can do so very easily. Just visit missionmississippi.org, learn all about us, click on that donate page, and you can invest in the work of Mission Mississippi and invest in this podcast. Um today I am well I am joined by an incredible friend. Um and and a dear, a dear friend. Um this uh this uh sister, this woman of God I've known for a long time, worked together in our core vegineer days, and uh both of us have made very interesting pivots, and so we'll talk we'll talk to her about her pivot in just a moment. But I'm joined on today's episode by none other than Dr. Leslie Leonard. Dr. Leslie Leonard is a graduate of Jackson State University. Um she received her PhD on the on the East Coast, if I'm not mistaken, right? It will remind me, remind me of the university again, uh, Dr. Leonard.

SPEAKER_05 2:46

University of Maryland. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

That's right. That's right, that's right, that's right. University of Maryland. And uh Dr. Leonard is an incredible, incredible uh leader. She's an incredible thinker. Um she uh basically ran the place at the Corps of Engineers, and then all of a sudden the Lord called her to something differently. So I can't wait for uh to hear um hear her share her story around where the Lord has taken her lately. Uh but nevertheless I present to some introduced to others, Dr. Leslie Lennon. How are you doing, Dr. Leslie?

SPEAKER_05 3:17

I am doing very well, Brian. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the invitation to come on this podcast just to share information about myself, information about, you know, my faith and my journey. Just really happy to be here this morning.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yeah, absolutely. We're grateful to have you. And um, and we're gonna give you plenty of space. So I want to jump right in. Your okay your story of uh faith, um, your story as it relates to vocation, it is taking a lot of interesting journey, uh interesting turns, right? And so I would love to just give you all the space that you need um to tell us a little bit, Asa, um, how you came to faith and how you came to the place that you are currently residing um here in the space, in the vocation that you're currently residing.

SPEAKER_05 4:05

Great question, great question. So when I when you asked me that question, it kind of takes me back to my childhood. Um, ever since I can remember, I was always going to church, um, grew up in rural Hines County. I often joke with my dad. I say, Dad, are we from Utica or are we from Edwards? Because we have a Utica phone number, Edwards address. I went to school in Utica and Vicksburg sometimes.

Mission Mississippi And Ways To Help

SPEAKER_05 4:30

So it was always confusing growing up. But now I say I'm from the Utica Edwards area.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Wow. Wow, wow.

SPEAKER_05 4:36

And so uh I come from a family where we went to church almost every day of the week. And there were so many different churches in this rural community uh where we would go to Bible study at one church on Monday, go to choir rehearsal the next day, go to another Bible study. And as kids, honestly, as kids, we really thought we were just having fun. Right? Wow. We were just going to Bible, we were learning, but we see it. We were just playing.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

You know, it was community.

SPEAKER_05 5:06

It was community. It was community, and it was community to the point where our classmates at school would want to come home with us so that they could go to Bible study as well. Because we, I guess we would always go home, go back to school talking about how much fun we had. Right. But in our community, um, my cousin and he was my parents' pastor, Pastor Burks, and he's, you know, he's passed, but he was the one, even when my parents didn't go to church, he we had a he had a little gray van and he would go around the community picking up all the kids, and it transitioned into a school bus. Wow. And so he would take a school bus around the community picking us up. Wow. And I think that it was at that point that I realized, like, oh my gosh, I am in church all the time, but I was having such a good time. And like later on when I met my husband, he was like, How do we know the Bible so well? Or, you know, just thumbing through. And I was like, I don't remember actually studying like where the books were. It's like we were in church so much. Yes, we and we were learning, we had no choice but to learn the books of the Bible. Yes, you know, yes, and um, our teachers were really strict, it's not like they were making up these fun games for us to play. We had to just sit there and you know, we had a lot of fun after church, but um about the business doing service. We were about the business doing service and all of those different churches, and there were so many people that poured into me just as a kid. I can remember maybe doing well in school and not wanting to share it because I didn't want to come off as bragging and all those types of things, you know, those types of insecurities. But there were so many older people in the community that just loved on me, loved on all the kids that came up through my generation. I just think that I had a really strong foundation that was rooted in love. So they were able to show me the love of God, not just tell me about it in the, you know, in the classes that we would take. And then from there, um, high school was really fun. I went to high school at Heinz HS, really small school, um, transitioning to Jackson State. Um I would say during that time, you know, it was like a roller coaster, right? So I would be in church, you know, going all the time, and then I wouldn't go. So it was back and forth, back and forth, but that foundation was always there. You know, it was always there. And then um, you know, once I got into the work world, I really tried to, you know, focus more on like my spiritual health, my physical health. And that was kind of like a roller coaster as well, right? So um, and then just meeting people like you, meeting other people who was just so impactful in my life, there's so many times, and I I keep a little rolling notepad in my in my phone where God has shown himself to me just through people, through situations, through,

Meet Dr. Leslie Leonard

SPEAKER_05 8:10

and even when even when I'm not consistent or doing the things that I know that I should do, he has continuously showed up in my life. Like he always there all the time, even though I'm probably not studying as much or not doing the things, you know, according to my perfect plan. God has always guided me. And that's one thing that I can stand on is the guidance that he's provided me and my family is remarkable. Yeah. It's remarkable, Brian. And, you know, working for the federal government has been, it was an awesome career. I won't take anything from it. I uh saw the world working for the federal government.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Yeah, how how long did you work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers um last year?

SPEAKER_05 9:03

I have 20. So I worked for them for 20 years, but I have 21 years of service because I did an internship at a federal organization. And so that time, you know, that time um added up for me.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Very cool. Very cool. I had 20, I had 21, I had 21 years as well. So that's that's yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:23

Okay, we'll write that together. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yeah, absolutely. 21 years, 21 years. So so you you worked for the federal government, it's it showed you the world, talk, could start, continue from there.

SPEAKER_05 9:34

Oh goodness, man. I just I can remember when I first started to where, like from first the journey, right? From when I first started in the early 2000s until the time that I left. So when I first started, I think I was more about so much more about accomplishment, prestige, trying to get the next job, trying to climb the ladder, right? That's what I really thought it was all about and the recognition and all those things. But as I started to work, I started to work on projects, I started to learn, I hate to say the system, but it's a system, right? It is, it's a system. And I found myself in spaces, and I'm sure you can relate

Childhood Church And A Faith Foundation

SPEAKER_05 10:20

to this, where I was one of few women, definitely one of few African Americans, but my faith taught me to just to not lead with like bitterness or isolate, not try to isolate myself, still try to find common ground with other people. Um, initially that was challenging for me because growing up, I only went to school with people that looked like me. I didn't have diverse experiences as a child, even all the way up to Jackson State. That's what I was about to say. Yeah, from elementary all the way through. Yeah, all the way up to college. Yeah. And now I'm in this world, this corporate world, because I started off at Lockheed Martin in Maryland, and I was there for a year, and then I came, you know, home. But I struggled initially. I did. I kind of I didn't talk as much. I was I've always been very observant, but I didn't quite understand like how to. I felt like I would say something wrong, or I just kind of say to myself, didn't want to um ruffle any feathers. Yeah. But then I understood that I'm like, I bring so much to the table. Like I should speak up. I do have a voice. Um, so I it wasn't until maybe 10 years into my career where I figured out like I shouldn't shrink, I shouldn't, I should just be show up as my authentic self.

unknown 11:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:46

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 11:47

And try to learn from other people and other cultures. And that's when I started to read more and, you know, watch the YouTube videos and learn about, you know, other people and how to interact in the best way possible. And so that transition working for the federal government met some great people. Um, over time, I had some ups and I had some downs.

SPEAKER_04 12:09

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 12:10

But I still found the way to kind of push through. Like even when doors were closed and I was told no, I would go at my shell, like, okay, I'm not applying for anything else. And then someone like you or our division chief at the time would say, Hey, maybe you should try this. And I'm like, Well, maybe I should. Yeah. So I just got used to doing. And some things would make me really nervous. Um, I and people would say, You're nervous, you seem like you do well with public speaking. I enjoy public speaking, but at some point in my life, I started to get really nervous before public speaking, and I would um, you know, do affirmations, I would pray, and I would constantly uh regurgitate scripture in my mind to keep myself calm, you know, before some of those types of things before presentations, that was something for me. And I was finally able to kind of get on the other side of that. But when it came down to um, like the last few years, um, as you know, has been a huge transition for me. Um in 2024, my mom passed unexpectedly. I was right there with her in the ER with her. Um, no, it was the ICU, excuse me. And just to see how when people say, Oh, one day you're here, the next day you're gone, I was like, my mom was right there. Right. It was the same day she was gone. Right. You know, right. And to have such a beautiful relationship with my parents. And I felt like I always, especially in the last few years, maybe the last 10 years, I try to remain present with my parents, go and visit them often, make sure my daughter is out there, you know, uh being around my parents, kind of getting that same country life experience.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 13:53

But to lose her, Brian. That that really changed everything for me, honestly. It did, you know. And I understand that, you know, people, a lot of people have lost parents, you know, but and and I thought, and I f I'm sure I was sympathetic and showed my sympathy, but I never imagined the pain of losing a parent. You know, my father is the one that's been sick over the years, and you know, and I think my dad even said it. He never imagined my mom passing before him. He never even thought about it. Wow. He was always preparing things for life after he was gone.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Because he's because he's been the one in their relationship where he was, yeah, there he was the one that was most often ill.

SPEAKER_05 14:42

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:44

And I and to this day is still unbelievable. And it's been two years.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_05 14:51

Yeah. That was yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

You said it changed everything.

SPEAKER_05 14:57

Everything.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Like I said, are you talking, are you talking like changing like uh posture, change outlook? What yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:06

Everything, Brian.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

I'm just wow, wow.

SPEAKER_05 15:09

It changed, it changed the way it even changed the way I thought about my career. Because even when my mom has for the last, I would say maybe five to ten years prior, I always not really searching, but open for other things outside of what I was doing day to day. I was always open, but I never felt like God presented anything to me in those years that said, hey, go here. This is what I, you know, this is what you I was led to do. Never felt that. But when my mom passed, immediately my father started to fall. I realized how much she did that we didn't know. Like when they would go to the grocery store, she would get out and go into the grocery store. He would stay in the vehicle. Wow. And it would frustrate her sometime because she was like, Your dad is just so lazy. He won't help me do this, and you know, but he really was kind of declining.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

He was quietly, quietly suffering. Wow.

SPEAKER_05 16:14

And my mom, I don't think she, because I asked my dad, I said, Were you falling when mama was alive? He said, No, I wasn't falling. But he was moving slowly, he was moving much slower, almost like his gait was off a little bit. But oh my goodness. So she did a lot, but she did a lot, you know. And when she um transitioned, and he still wanted to stay home by himself. I found myself on my lunch break saying, Hey, daddy, just meet me at Walmart, have your list ready, I'll go in Walmart and get what you need and bring it out to you. So I started, you know, I started doing those types of things. And then, you know, he fell a couple of times while, you know, right after she passed. And then the last fall, that was another pivot point because he fell, you know, injured his spine and he hadn't walked in a year. You know, and so from that time, I took a lot of time off from my job. And it gave me the opportunity to, I was in the hospital a lot. And so while I was there, I had this overwhelming sense of just wanting to be there, like wanting to understand like hospital operations. I was like, what? Why am I? I even I was calling my friends. I was like, how can I get into operations of a hospital? For some reason, I was just so intrigued because if you, Brian, you've been in a hospital. That is a major operation.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 17:43

Especially our university system, UMMC. Yes. That a person, people that put all those differences from the cleaning to um just the CNAs coming in, doing their job, all the equipment, all the personnel. I was like, I would love to understand hospital operation. That was the first glimmer of it when my father was in the hospital. Right. And then I started to think about like what's next for him. And, you know, I didn't want to put him in a home. I wanted to find a way to keep him at home. And so I took off work for a few months to kind of try to figure it out. And maybe around June time frame is when I learned about home care. And so I started to explore home care, what it was, and if I wanted to do this, if it was something that I wanted to explore. And I quickly learned that it was definitely, you know, it piqued my interest. And there were two different options. One, I could

Finding Your Voice In Minority Spaces

SPEAKER_05 18:40

just start something on my own, just grassroots approach. And once I explored that, I was like, I don't think, just the way I think, I'm a researcher by nature, and I would go in a rabbit hole. It would still be in that rabbit hole today, trying to make something perfect. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 18:58

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 18:58

And so that's when I came out of that, and I was like, nah, I'm sorry by myself. Let me look at the franchise, you know, look at a franchise model.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 19:06

So I looked at several, and um, the one that really spoke to me was senior helpers, and for a few reasons. Um, the support center, the training that you get, um, I was able to talk to so many different uh owners who are in the system. They were sharing the good and the bad, totally opened.

SPEAKER_04 19:26

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 19:27

There's some owners here in Mississippi, there are a couple in um Hattiesburg and Gulf Court. They own those two territories, several counties down there. And I would talk on the phone with her for like an hour at a time, just drilling her with questions and talking numbers and impact and all the things, and just to see the excitement that you know she and her husband had, and it I felt like it was so authentic. And I started praying about it, and I've had this sense of calmness. Like for me to to transition from a 21-year fruitful career, felt like I was making, like my my nephew says, good money. Yes. Like I was making, you know, good money. And to have such a calmness about transitioning, I was like, oh, okay, Lord. And I kind of slowed down a little bit just to kind of understand the next phases and talk to my husband about it. I talked to my father, who has has been such a huge part of major decisions in my life. And I felt like everything was saying, yes, this is it. And just the, and I have dealt with anxiety before and just the calmness that I have, even today. Like this being an entrepreneur is just not for the weakest heart.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 20:40

You have to be able to really put your money where your mouth is, and someday, sometimes it's gonna be up, sometimes it's gonna be down.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

There's no there's no one, there's no one to call.

SPEAKER_05 20:51

Yeah, there's no one to call. It's no like feeling good today. I'm just gonna stay in bed. I need a little extra sleep. That's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah, there's no one to call no one to call. When you need when you need a little extra money, there's no one to look up the uh the phone, the email. It's like, oh, okay, I gotta get out here and make this happen.

SPEAKER_05 21:09

But to have a supportive family, like my husband, to have that support now that helped as well, right? Yeah, to have a husband who has had a fruitful career, who's at the end of his career as well, yeah, and to have like that family support that gave me the you know the confidence to move forward in this business as well.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

And yesterday, man of it. Yesterday, man of that. I would have never, I would have never left the Corps of Engineers without Candy support.

SPEAKER_05 21:35

I would still be there. Yeah. Probably mad and trying to figure something else out, but too afraid or too nervous just to take that step. But when you have that support around you, that yeah, it's been amazing. Yeah. It really has.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Yeah, you mentioned you mentioned a couple of things. I mean, I got so many different branches that we can that we can rest on. I mean, one thing that you talked about is the whole idea of being oftentimes in The minority in a space, you know, whether the whether that minority is gender or whether that minority is color, uh, ethnicity, culture. And um, I read a great book uh by Malcolm Gladwell called The Revenge of the Tipping Point. He loves him. Yeah. He talks about the law, the law of the magic third. And and what yeah, what he says is that basically any space that you're in, um it doesn't become comfortable for the minority until it can reach about a third, 25% to a third of the people in the room are are representative of that same minority. And so oftentimes what happens in a lot of spaces is we say, hey, um, we want to make our space diverse. Um we're all men's space, so let's go find a woman, or we're all um um white space, let's go find a black and brown person. And and what Malcolm Gladwell through his research argues is that that person feels incredibly uncomfortable and has to propagate all sorts of discomforts and all sorts of uh uh wrestling with imposture syndrome and all sorts of uh wrestling with you know identity and and speaking up and and showing up as their whole self, as their full self. Um and and that and that is a and that is a real grueling work, and it doesn't become um easier until that person number number one just adapts, right? Yeah or or number two until you're able to fill that space with a few more faces, a few more voices that that that resemble that person that you've invited into that space. And so it's I I've always found it fascinating because oftentimes when we're thinking about diversifying spaces, we say, let's get one of these individuals, let's get one woman, let's get one black and brown person, or if we're in a black and brown space, let's get one white person. And we don't realize that that one person is not the tipping point, right? You may get a few new ideas, but you also it takes a lot to pull it out of that person typically and for them to bring the whole and bring their whole selves. And it's only until you bring more people and invite more people in that space that it can become a comfortable space where everybody in the room feels free to share freely. So so that was one. But here's the here's the other thing. That's total that's a squirrel that I was chasing when you said that. I was like, man, and and I thought about I thought about just that it just that experience you had. But but the other thing that jumps out to me, you know, is this pivot that you made, right? And just how you how you just reflected on it being just God ordained and God established. So Dr. Lynn, I want to pivot a little bit and turn turn uh your attention to a different direction because um, you know, you and I have similar experiences and and trajectories are very similar in terms of going into the, you know, having a long experience and long career at the Corps of Engineers. And for me, when I left the Corps, it was kind of like okay, these tools that I have, I'm gonna sit these tools down and now pick up new tools and embark on a new experience. And now that I'm three years in, I realize, oh, wait a second, God had intentions for me to use the tools that I was using over the 21 years that I was at the core, he had intentions for those tools even now, today. So as you think about the space that you're now in, uh aiding and supporting seniors through senior helpers, helpers, what do you bring to this space that when you look back on it, you're like, God was wiring me the whole time for this, and I just didn't realize how he was wiring, wiring me.

SPEAKER_05 26:27

That's a great question, Brian. Um I had a recent experience, very recent, in the last couple of weeks, um, where I was driving to a client's home. It was on the weekend, I had a caregiver, they couldn't make it. Um she doesn't have any family in the in the area, and she really depends on us. I call her my little 86-year-old baby. And um, as I was driving, I really felt God say, You've been created for such a time as this. And I just kept hearing that, and it um it really kind of made me emotional because I was

Loss, Caregiving, And A New Direction

SPEAKER_05 27:07

tired, but I felt this sense of responsibility, this call to action to do, right? And I didn't mind doing it. And I can't and it made me reflect like on my life in general. I think about just being a child and wanting to serve or watching people serve, not um, you know, seeing the need that someone else feeled and just admiring the hard work that it took to take care of someone, even though I didn't have to do it. And so I watched my mother um take care of my grandmother. Um they were she and her siblings were pretty much maybe in their 40s when my grandmother um had a stroke, and they couldn't like physically take care of her because they had their own families that just were not able to do the things that I'm able to do with my father. And so they put her in a nursing home, but I watched my mom after work just running, going and making sure she had everything that she needed, picking her up on the weekend and bringing her out to our home and taking care of her during the weekend, taking her shopping. And then when my mom retired, she did the same thing. She helped people who couldn't help themselves. And so I watched this for many, many, many years, but I never had to actually do it. And so when the opportunity presented itself for me to actually do, it was just a natural spring into action type thing. And my dad looks at me now, he kind of laughs, and he's like, I cannot believe you're around here taking care of people. And I'm like, sometimes I can't believe it either, you know. But I feel like all the tools that I have, I've had for quite some time, maybe since birth. You know, I just never really had to use them until now. And I often hear God saying, You have been created for such a time as this. And I'm telling you, it's so many people out there that need help. A lot of people don't know the options that they have, especially when it comes to senior care.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 29:08

Like myself, a lot of people think that if you have something traumatic to happen to you where you think you can't live alone, you may think that you need to go to a facility, but home care could possibly be an option. And so I'm just here to let people know that you have options. You don't necessarily have to go to a facility if you don't want to. There are a lot of caregivers who are compassionate about their space. And I guess to answer your question, I feel like all the tools that I have to operate in this particular space in home care is something that I was born with. Um I've watched, I admire people who work hard, I admire people who serve, whether it's, you know, in the government realm and academia and healthcare. And um, I feel like I have those same tools to do well in this area.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Yeah, that I mean what you just said is really uh really um I mean inspiring, but also uh really, really compelling for me because there are times in which we have tools that are just buried deep in us that don't get unearthed until the moment where we really have to lay claim to them. You know, and and there there's potential that lies in us that we don't even know is there until the moment arrives where we where we gotta be stretched into into reaching reaching deep into that space where where God has placed those tools. And so that's that's that's really that's really interesting to me. And and and do you find, I mean, this is this is not this this question was not in my in my uh list of questions, but now I'm interested, so I gotta ask this question. Do you find in this new space that you're in a lot less uh a lot less uh um backup support, so to speak? You know, you're you're you're you're now you're you're running this organization, you're you're you're leading the charge. When there's a phone call where somebody has an emergency need, or when they're or when you're sick or when you're not feeling up to it, do you find now that you're in a space where you you have you have to trust God even more? Oh, because because I mean yeah, I'm trying, I'm trying to find a way to answer that. I mean, to to ask that question. I'm thinking about the times where when I was working for the core, and if I wasn't feeling my best, I make a phone call and say, hey, just can't come today. And nothing drops. You know, you don't have to worry about anything dropping. But but there are times in which if I'm not there, there's probably going to be something that drops because the the staff is just a lot smaller and there's a lot more responsibility. Do you feel that weight right now and how do you manage it?

SPEAKER_05 31:58

Okay, so that's a great question. And I have to give credit to like my office manager. She'll jump in when a shift isn't covered, she'll say, Okay, let's I can go do it. Um, her weekends are a little bit tricky. She can't really do weekends, but there are clients that really rely on us to show up. And so there is this heavy responsibility that when things are not, when there are gaps that need to be filled, it does fall on me. Okay. Um, there have been times where we're like on a Thursday and trying to figure out how we're going to fill these weekend shifts. And I always feel like ever since we've opened, I have this sense of calmness that it's all going to work out. And it does. It really does. So I, for example, this 24-7, we have we had some a lot of open shifts this weekend, and we were dealing with this like on Monday. And so the caregiver pool that comes through, like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, we were just not finding really great candidates. So, you know, it was just kind of dry, so to say. So I picked up the phone and I started calling friends who are social workers or who know people who know I got like four or five referrals for caregivers who came to orientation today. Wow. Who are working this weekend. Wow. So that kind of stuff has been showing up in this particular area for me, is that I try my best to stay calm. If it's something that I need to do, I just do it. Um, my family and I, we went to Georgia to um Savannah just for the weekend. And I made sure I put my most dependable people on, you know, my clients while I'm gone because I know things happen. But yes, with if no one shows up, we have to find a way to. And it's very hard to call a family member who lives across country and they're depending on us to take care of their parent or loved one, and we call them and say, Oh, we can't come today.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_05 34:03

You know, I know there may be times where I'll have to make that call because maybe I absolutely cannot go. And I'm always up front with our clients when they become clients and I say we're gonna do everything within our effort to show up, but it will be great if you had a backup person, maybe a neighbor or a friend, someone local, uh, because that's the nature of this business. So, yes, it's a very heavy responsibility that I don't have. Um, like I can't call in sick or but I do have a great staff, I have a great full-time person, and I do have a core group of caregivers who are ready to show up when it's time to work, even in on-call situations.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

No, that's that's that's incredible. That's incredible. And like, and like I said, it for me is a whole nother it's whole not a whole nother example of reaching into the toolbox to pull new tools and unearth

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SPEAKER_00 34:57

uh things that are buried deep in us that we don't even know is there uh is there uh because you know for me it was wait a second, okay, Lord, I didn't even realize that I that there was another level that I needed to reach in terms of trusting you until I was in this space. And it's like, oh, so I wasn't trusting you as much as I thought I was trusting you. Now I realize that there is another level to trusting you because I don't work for the federal government anymore. And the the the checks, the checks aren't as guaranteed as that were in the federal government. And so I was working and and just kind of doing my thing and not realizing how much I was kind of trusting in in the sufficiency of the federal government to provide me with a check every week and all of that. And then it wasn't until I got in this space that I was in kind of this uncertainty or lingering in this uncertainty for a period of time where I realized, oh now I now there there's there's another level of trust I gotta I gotta reach where I can depend on you and rely on you and and and trust that you will be my daily bread and you will provide and you will enable. And so yeah, I I I just I just felt like I just felt I just felt the the the the need to to inquire and just hear your story because I definitely have seen some of that experience in my own story.

SPEAKER_05 36:20

Yeah, right. And even when I started to hire caregivers, it was such a sense of response I was like, oh my goodness, people are relying on me to get these clients so that they can work to feed their families.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

Yes, yes, yes, and these clients are relying on you to put good people in their homes.

SPEAKER_05 36:39

Exactly. It's like yeah, so that's just when I really sat down and thought about that, it was like, oh my goodness, what a sense of responsibility. I don't take it lightly at all, though.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Wow, wow, wow. Let me let me let me ask you another question uh uh about about the clients, you know, turning to them uh a little bit. Talk to me a little bit about the gap as it relates to understanding between the elders, the the the legacy generation, the baby boomers, and the Gen X's, Gen Y, Gen Z, and what do we need to know about our baby boomer generation that is now reaching, you know, reaching that that that older age, that elder, elder chapter in their lives? What do we need to know that might help us tell a better story um regarding them or that might help us be more informed as to how we relate and interact with our elders and our previous in the previous generation that has uh blazed the trail ahead of us?

SPEAKER_05 37:48

Okay. Um I would say that a lot of seniors, especially the ones that I've been working with, they don't want to feel like they're a burden. Right? They want to, they're not, they're not gonna always tell you what they need. Um as the younger generation, we really have to um sit back and observe what's going on. Um I experienced that with my parents. Like my father was slowing down even when my mom was alive. I noticed it, but I didn't notice it. You know, I didn't say much, and you know, but my mom would go in the grocery store, he would stay in the truck. He probably would go in and pay once she finished, but he wasn't doing a whole lot of walking. And so it wasn't until she passed that he fell, right? And I feel like as the younger generation, the GNH, he millennials, we need to be very observant of what's going on with our elders. Um, and once we see something, say something, but you got to say it in a way that's not um overbearing or like you're trying to take over and be controlling. It's one thing to say, Mom, um, like, how are you doing? Have you how have you been feeling versus mom? You need to go to the doctor, you need to do this, you need to do that, you need to do Ace. They don't like that. They don't like and we have this program called Senior Gems, which is dedicated to Alzheimer's and dementia, but it talks about the various stages of aging. And the first gemstone is sapphire, and that's just signs of normal aging. That's like you and I. Sometimes we get forgetful or we are we want to be in control. We feel blue sometimes. And so, as someone is aging, they're thinking about the losses. Like they may have had friends to pass on, they may have had friends that have gone to nursing homes, that have gone across countries to be with their daughter because they can't stay alone. Wow, they have low vision, um, they can't transfer as they normally could. The social interaction may um have decreased over time. So they're dealing with a lot on top of health issues.

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SPEAKER_05 39:58

And so it may seem minor to us, but it's major to them. And so letting them know that we are available, that we observe what's going on and we're not being pushy. And I think it just takes us um, I and we come from a generation where it's like now, now, now, fast information. We have to learn to slow down. We have to learn to maybe make lists, show them a video. You know, if they're trying to learn something new, just show them a video. Um, call to check on them often. It's not like calling if you're not a person that talks to mom every day, but maybe you talk to her every other day, or um, you go see her on Sundays. So keeping up those routines to older, the older generation is really important. One lady said that um she looked forward to just walking to the mailbox and getting a car from her granddaughter um once a month. That was just like the highlight, you know? And so, how can we figure out with the older generation, like what makes them smile, what makes them happy, or what makes them bubbly on the inside? And sometimes it's something very small: a phone call, a car, a ride to the store, those things really mean a lot to the elders because they always feel like they're a bother or it's just too much. You have your family, don't worry about it. I don't want to be, I don't want to intrigue those types of things. And so that's what I dealt with with my father, even with him staying with me now. He's very, very grateful, but he always well, he hasn't said it lately, but he's kind of he used to be concerned with um being a burger. Like this is just too much. You're starting a business, you have a husband, and uh, but we're all like that. I wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah, because if you were at home, if you were at a facility, my life would be much different. I would be worried, I would be going, you know, driving back and forth and trying to run a business. I said, so you being here with us is helpful for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:02

Yeah, and you have to continue to explain that. And as the younger generation, you're like, man, I already told you you're not a bother. But you got to continue to lovingly reiterate those points just so they can get it and hope that they get it. Yeah. And love them in the midst of it.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Yeah. No, that's good. That's good. I mean, we're we're a busy, we're a busy generation, Leslie. Uh, I I would I would argue probably way too busy.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

You know, but but before before the busy culture that we exist and live in and the busy generations that we interact with on a daily basis, there may be somebody who's listening in and saying, Man, I got a lot going on. Uh so oftentimes saying that because I have so much going on, that they kind of use that as an excuse for not giving anything back to our seniors. For that group of people, the very busy people out there, um that that may be listening to this and saying, okay, man, I'm busy, but man, I really want to help. What what where's one place that we can start? Uh what's one uh one step that we can take towards being a part of the solution as it relates to helping people um live that live the final chapters of their life well? Um how can how can the generations that are super busy uh play a role in in that?

SPEAKER_05 43:30

It's not rocket science. It's really simple. It can be as simple as a weekly phone call. Weekly. I know that I'm really busy, but I have a calendar that I put everything that's important to me, I put it on there. I put it on my calendar. I can put a note to say, hey, call Mr. John bi weekly or you know, on the weekend and do it. Mr. John probably doesn't want to talk that long. He's probably happy to hear your voice. Um, those small gestures, it doesn't have to be a whole lot. You don't have to spend a whole lot of money or a whole lot of time

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SPEAKER_05 44:08

to show someone that you really care. I feel like we place importance on like we do the things that we really want to do or we have to do or that we're motivated to do. So you have to have some type of internal compassion and know that hey, this population really needs some extra attention. I'm gonna make it my best effort to do what I can. And if a phone call is what I have to do when I'm driving to pick the kids up from school or driving.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

That's good. And you're right. I I find it um I find it not to be a law, but it is a it is a general rule that most of the seniors that I interact with and I talk to, um five minutes, ten tops.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

And they're kind and they're typically kind of pushing you off the floor, like, okay, I know you got stuff to do, baby. You know, it's so it's they're turning you loose.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

You know, and it's they they they they just you know they're they're excited and encouraged just to know that there's somebody out there that's thinking about them. And so, you know, there are times in which people think, oh, I'm too busy, and you think that you're having to carve out seven, eight hours a week in order to actually make a difference. And the reality is that number one, you you're too busy because we are we've we've added too much on our calendar, so we do need to confront that. But even beyond that, um, there are opportunities in which we can just simply take small steps and small investments of time that will make a huge difference and that will display the love of Jesus that we've been called to display as busy Christians because we're busy, but we're still Christ followers at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_05 45:58

So I agree.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Yeah. How can we keep up with uh Leslie Leonard at uh Senior Helpers?

SPEAKER_05 46:06

Yeah, so seniorhelpers.com. Um you can just put our location. We're located in central Mississippi, located in Clinton, but we cover Hines, Madison, and Rankin counties. Uh we're on all social platforms except TikTok. So if you just Google Senior Helpers of Central Mississippi, you'll find us on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Good deal, good deal. It is a pleasure and a privilege to have have you on the podcast, um, not just as the um the fearless leader of senior helpers, senior helpers central Mississippi, but as a dear friend. So thank you for uh for joining the podcast and sharing some of the wisdom um that the Lord has given you that we can glean from. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

Thank you. Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Absolutely. And for those of y'all who are listening, please feel free to uh like, share, and subscribe to this podcast. You can do so by visiting Living Reconciled on any podcast

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SPEAKER_00 46:57

app or missionmississippi.org. That'll give you some information on this podcast as well. Don't forget that September the 24th, we will be meeting at Mississippi Christian College, formerly known as Mississippi, Mississippi Christian University, formerly known as Mississippi College, um, Anderson Hall, where we will have our annual celebration, Living Reconciled celebration, 6 p.m. September the 24th. We would love for you guys to join us on behalf of my good friend, Dr. Leslie Leonard. My name is Brian Crawford, and we're both signing off saying God bless. Thanks for joining Living Reconciled. If you would like more information on how you can be a part of the ongoing work of helping Christians learn how to live in the reconciliation that Jesus has already secured, please visit us online at missionmississippi.org or call us at 601-353-6477. Thanks again for listening.