The Care Girl Podcast
The Care Girl Podcast
Launching a Legacy in Home Healthcare Entrepreneurship
Navigating the intricate dance of being a healthcare entrepreneur and a mother to three has never been more revealing than my recent stint as a caregiver for a senior with Lewy body dementia. In today's episode, I'm opening up about the raw and real experiences that come with this role, painting a picture of the steep challenges and heartfelt rewards it entails. We delve into the world of caregiving, where I advocate for improved compensation and robust training to ensure that those who give so much receive the support they deserve. As we unpack these narratives, you'll also hear why embracing self-care isn't just encouraged; it's essential for the well-being of caregivers and the quality of service they provide.
But that's just half the story. I'm thrilled to extend an invite to my fellow nurses and caregivers who are ready to take the plunge into the home care sector. Imagine starting the year by joining an elite group of no more than 10, embarking together on a groundbreaking home care startup initiative. This opportunity is built on a foundation of shared values and passion for delivering compassionate care. Are you ready to make a significant impact in the lives of those who need it most? If so, tune in to discover how you can be part of this empowering journey, transforming the landscape of home care one agency at a time. Let's celebrate the start of a new chapter filled with growth, excellence, and community.
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And coming on today with my first solo podcast. I'll be doing more of these talking about chairs, talking about shuttle wellness and just overall entrepreneurship, momy hood and just different things, cause I feel like last year I did a lot of interviews and people that really get to know me and what I do and who I am, so I just wanted to come on and just really, really reintroduce myself. So, for those who don't know me, I'm a mom of three amazing boys. I reside in Atlanta, georgia. I am a healthcare entrepreneur. I have a home care agency where we send nurses in caregivers to take care of sick kids and adults, and I've been in home care since 2015. Right now I'm on a journey of spiritual growth, financial growth and just overall, just to become a home manure and I heard that term on another fella's podcast the other day and I was like you know what I really love the term home manure but I came once today to talk about my experience.
Speaker 1:This weekend I had actually worked with a one-on-one senior care client and I just had an epiphany while working with him. It was extremely difficult because I'm not used to being in the field, I'm not used to being a caregiver, but I wanted to. I kept getting the message that God told me like, hey, I need you to be in the field more to really understand that the distance of what's happening and what's going on with the families and caregivers, and it really opened my eyes to see that you know for one caregiver if I'm being paid enough for two families. They just want a few different things from us as agency owners. They want us to be able to provide quality care, so the training needs to be there. So the guy that we had he had Lulip has Lulip body dementia, which is a disease where the brain is having abnormal deposits of a protein called Aflostiduline and so when it happens they lose they're losing the ability to walk, they their brain is not signaling different things that you tell this person to do this thing. It may take them an entire hour to do it and this particular family still wants him to remain independent. But you have to kind of like walk with him and help them get up and stuff like that. And it was, it was a lot. It was. It was not only physically draining, it was mentally draining because you're constantly having to repeat yourself the entire time and it's taking a whole hour to do one activity such as get out of bed or to go and take a wash up and get ready for breakfast, and every activity that that person is doing takes time.
Speaker 1:So now that I kind of see what these caregivers are going through is like, oh my goodness, like we definitely need to pay more money. We definitely need to understand that you need to actually go in and work these cases or pass on in the field that can actually be, you know, the trainer to match the proper caregivers. So I think a lot of times we say we want more clients, we want more clients, we want more clients, but we are really not doing the things that to retain current clients and to retain our current caregivers, because we are not in alignment with what they really need. It's some ways, you know, I'm not saying to everybody, but I know that I've been out of touch with the caregiver side because I've been more focused on the nursing piece than the caregiver side. But there also is, you know, a big need for caregivers, just as much as nursing care in the home as well. So kind of once the tap in this year on just the element of like, hey, you know, what is it that we need to do as agency owners. What do we need to do? As you know, leaders in you know our homes and in this industry to get order, to make their people's lives better, because a lot of times we're worried about a dollar when you know this is a thing where you have to really understand the care side.
Speaker 1:But that, just that experience really woke me up and I was like, wow, like we really, we really have people's lives in our hand and I think that that is the main thing that we need to understand when it comes to caring for other people. First of all, you have to know your limits and you have to also know when to bring in help. Because, like, the daughter actually has cameras in the home, which I know. I'm not opposed to a family having cameras in the home because, hey, that's their little one, but like, okay, yes, no cameras in the bathroom where the kid could reduce the bathroom, but if it was my mother, I would have cameras in the home as well, because you just want to make sure that their little one is being taken care of properly and, of course, if that person falls, you kind of have a record of what time it happened and all those good things. So it was a very sobering experience. It was two 12 hour shifts and after the last shift I was a bit traumatized, I'm not going to lie to you. So it definitely takes a special person and an experienced person to deal with certain type of patients and you need to make sure we need to make sure that we're screening properly and that the family is satisfied with the care. So that's one thing I want to bring to the forefront. I have partnered with a company called Care as One. They have a discount code. The caregiver is the discount code for whoever wants to find caregivers. Any agencies that want to find the caregivers go on Care as One.
Speaker 1:And for me, I just really didn't realize how visible the job is and I believe what we need to be doing, you know we need to for one, this one For one we need to be taken care of ourselves as much as we are taking care of others, and I think that when you're working 12 hours just at the hospital, when you're taking care of a family, when you're trying to put in, like working out, eating right, all those things with yourself, it's almost like you forget about yourself, and you forgetting about yourself is just is you can't do that, because how can you really really give to others and fulfill others' needs when you're at a deficit, right? So I think this year should be about you know, what can I do to feel better in order to show up as my fool self. What can I do this year to take better care of me? Because without you, you can't do any. You can't do XY, nz.
Speaker 1:So I think prioritization of risk, prioritization of you know, just really your spiritual health and your peace, like what you watch, like less social media, less screen time, like with my kids, like I'm trying to find different ways to like weed out on a screen time because you know, at one point they were mostly like on technology, because they love technology. But I noticed that you know, when I take technology, that it was an issue and a problem and it became more of an anger versus like you know, and whenever we would do activities, they're like okay, I'm done, can I need to make on my technology device. Versus like using their left, left side and right and like actually creating that, being creative and doing stuff that little boys do. I know it's cold outside, but when it was cold outside I went outside as a kid.
Speaker 1:So I think, really just for me, this year I'm gonna be talking more about that spiritual side the shelf, the willingness, peace, and either bringing on guests, still bringing on guests as well, that it's all sitting around. You know the holistic side of you know wellbeing, and also, of course, I'll still be talking about in-home care and you know agency stuff and just overall, like my journey through, you know, restarting my company and me, restarting my relationship with God and understanding, you know the having the patience and understanding that everything is gonna take time. So I just wanted to bring on this first episode. It's gonna be short, not long. I just wanted to really talk about you know what I saw.
Speaker 1:Another part that I saw when the daughter came in was that I believe she kept it come. He put him into bed and she came in and she put her hand on his walker and she said dad, I'm tired. You know, what are we exhausted from? What do we need to get let go this year? Because it's a lot of things that we need to let go.
Speaker 1:Me seeing her, you know, saying that I'm tired, and what I did was I said, hey, sit down, you know, and she sat down and she actually, like, fell asleep on the couch with him in it and I have to tell you she was exhausted. So I figured it out, I got down in the bed and you know he laid there and you know he was all keeping stuff because people with dementia, they basically turned into babies, like they can't talk anymore, they can't use the bathroom vinylsos anymore. It's just turns, they turn into a baby. That's why I tell some people you know, mom, dad, they're not the same, they're another version of themselves. So she still love them, but it's a little bit more difficult. So you know she woke up she said, oh my gosh, you did everything she had gotten a bit and all that. I'm like, yeah, I figured it out.
Speaker 1:And sometimes you do have to figure things out in life and just sometimes the things that you can't control, you have to just let it go and really you know they go, they die. Like that's really a model of mine now, because I think that we want to control every aspect of life where we can and when you really really understand, you know the aspect of faith and believing, you really move towards another element of hope and you know we, somewhere in between, we stop hoping Somewhere in the world there's somebody that doesn't have what you have, and you know, there's bonds of one often and it's complete chaos. So I think that we should really really understand that we are extremely blessed and there is way more that to go wrong than that there is one wrong, so I just wanted to reintroduce myself. I'm Alexander DeKerger. I'm in Atlanta, georgia. If you want to start a home care agency, message me. I'll have my link to schedule a free call with me.
Speaker 1:I have a small VIP home care startup startup force going on this year. I'm going to help as many nurses or people that just care about others start their home care agencies, limiting the group to 10 people. So you know, if you want to join that group, let me know and we can get there going. And if you just, you know, drop comment below on anything that you would like to hear. I would like to love to hear feedback on what you all would like to hear from me. And you know, happy new year and we're on. Thanks for listening and y'all have a good rest of the day.