Ep #23: Care That Doesn’t Clock Out

What if the most powerful kind of care is the kind you barely notice? We pull back the curtain on a quiet, privacy-first safety net that keeps seniors safer at home without cameras, wearables, or daily checklists. It learns normal routines, listens for care-related signals, and alerts us to real changes—so we can step in before small issues turn into hospital stays.

We talk through the moments that keep families up at night: unanswered calls, missed meds, a creeping cough that won’t let up, or the nagging worry that something feels off. This plug-in system builds a baseline in about two weeks, then flags meaningful shifts like increased coughing, balance concerns, or phrases that hint at dizziness or fatigue. When an urgent event occurs, our team gets real-time alerts and responds quickly. When patterns drift, we’re nudged to check in, coordinate with a doctor, or add a little extra support.

Privacy matters, and we designed around it. There are no cameras and nothing to wear or charge. The devices are small, discreet, and focused strictly on health-related context—no TV habits, no personal calls, no step counts. Think of it like a Ring doorbell for well-being that only pings when it truly matters. We even explore a powerful story: a vibrant 92-year-old whose signals of loneliness surfaced quietly through the system. A small change—an extra visit and more social connection—made a big difference in her quality of life.

If you want independence without constant oversight, and peace of mind without invading privacy, this approach offers a true middle ground. It helps families collaborate, reduces friction, and gives doctors clearer information about life between appointments. Ready to learn how proactive, dignity-first monitoring can support your loved one at home? Subscribe, share this episode with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Please visit our website for more information: https://www.comfortkeepers.com/offices/florida/davie/

Transcript

Setting The Stage

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Comfort Keepers Davy podcast, where we elevate the human spirit. Here's your host, Christy Grule.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Well, hello, hello everyone. We are back. Christy, it is I feel like I say this every time we record, but it truly has been a minute, has it not?

SPEAKER_00 0:22

A few minutes, maybe.

unknown 0:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

So so good to see you as always.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

It's good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

So you recently wrote an article for Cooper City Cooper City Living Magazine. And there was a line in there that stood out to me. And the line was care doesn't stop when we clock out. What does that really mean in your day-to-day in life?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Well, what it means now, I think, is really what you're asking. So we saw an opportunity as a company because we're always looking for what is the best thing that we can offer to the people that we care for? What can we also offer their families? And there's always that hesitation and question what is actually happening once we're not in the home. No one else is in the home. So when we essentially clock out. Today, I can confidently say that with our care and safety program in place as the standard of care for all of our clients, the care never stops. My caregiver leaves, but there's this quiet in the background monitoring of care that is current occurring without any invasive, I don't even know the right exact word, Jeremy. There is nothing there except a beautiful safety net.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Oh, you just took the words out of my.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah. So a very common call conversation that could happen with a loved one that's not in the same state as the person we're caring for. Can you go and check on mom? She's not answering the phone. Is there any way? What is the caregiver saying? Did she actually go to her doctor appointment on Tuesday? She's supposed to take medication, but I'm worried she's not taking it. Very normal conversations. And let's be real, these are things that you could live in the same state and just be across town and still have these thoughts. It's like micromanaging your loved ones that nobody has the ability to do. And you want to respect their dignity and their independence, but there's still that question. So it was really with all of these very common conversations that have happened for years that we were able to then say, okay, this is going to be the solution. And so far it has done exactly that.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

And just having that right, the peace of mind, knowing that there is something in place that kind of answers those questions from a psychological standpoint will get you to stop obsessing and worrying about and the thoughts that come up in your head that are like making you uneasy because you know you're got you know you got a cover.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah, that's exactly it. There are so many ways that this new program has helped families have peace of mind, that have helped our own clients have peace of mind, that have helped their care team, including their doctors, also have a better insight to what life looks like in between the appointments.

Emergencies And Real-Time Alerts

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Well, I want to get a little bit more into the care and safety program, the safety net that we're talking about, to kind of outline exactly what it is. And I'm curious, is this something we've talked about this before uh outside the podcast where it kind of like recognizes patterns? Does it do that in real time? Like if there's an actual emergency situation, is it also integrated into that component or is it just like overall analyzing patterns? Yeah. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Yes, it does. And it's both. It is both.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Okay, perfect.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

So should there be an emergent need, which nobody wants to experience, but should it happen, then I and my team, we will be alerted, which allows us to respond quicker, whether that's going to the individual's home, getting them on the phone, contacting family in an emergent situation. But just like you also said, it is it's creating a baseline of what this individual's unique routine is. And based on that, only anything related to care is being um monitored quietly in the background. And if there are changes, then we are given a notice, a helpful tool for us that is proven to actually help people not be hospitalized because we have been alerted to a potential increase in coughing. Like I love to use this example when I talk to families, and my husband will kill me, but I'm gonna just say it. So when you're married to somebody that is allergic to life and has asthma and allergies, love him, allergic to life, he okay, he sneezes, he coughs, and we've been married for years, and so for me, I I tune it out. So think of anything that's repetitive in your life that you just tune out, whatever that might be. This is something that's not going to tune out ever. So if my husband were to have an increase in his coughing and I'm not here counting them, I may get an alert to say, hey, there's been a 75% increase over the last four days in his coughing. It's also the time of year for flu, pneumonia, you know, XYZ. I recommend a follow-up with his general practitioner. Let's just make sure he's okay. I use that as a personal example because we all can think of something that we can relate to, right? This has been a phenomenal thing because I've seen it now work firsthand, and we have helped people, especially our elderly, not prolong in something that is is happening and not be hospitalized to get an antibiotic in their system ahead of time. Doctors have seen this as, oh my gosh, because I don't know about you, but if I'm like asked 37 questions before I even get to see the doctor, and then the doctor asks me more questions, I may forget the exact time. Yeah, I may forget the exact time that this actually started and when, but now I have really helpful, real-time information that can be provided to help, again, overall the care team. I'm a part of it, and I'm assisting now a professional that I may never come into contact with, but the care and safety program is what's bridging that gap for overall well-being.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

It it seems to me like this technology is applicable not just to the elderly in terms of caregiving, but could has a broader use case to like everybody in terms of just tracking, because like the older I get and the more I try to be cognizant of my body and take care of myself and optimize myself for performance, like the more information, the more data I have on my patterns, on everything from my diet to my exercise to like tendencies I have, the more I have that information, the more I can analyze what I'm doing and make sure that I'm I'm optimizing myself. You know, right, get the most outputs.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Is there a broader use case for this? Is this like designed specifically for what you do, or is it more for just broad use?

SPEAKER_00 10:38

So it has that potential. Of course, that's not what our initial intentions were when we introduced this to the people that we care for. But yes, it does. The most important thing though to remember is that this is not it's not a recording device, it's not a camera, it's nothing like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

That is one of the first things I said to you. It's not always like a wearable or something, it's not supposed to be no wearable. It's just like a background, yeah.

Baselines, Patterns, And Health Signals

SPEAKER_00 11:01

So the easiest way to describe it is like the glade plugins or Fabrize, if you will. The little plugins that go into the wall. You get a couple of those. There's nothing that emits from it, no light, nothing at all. Very discreet. And that is what picks up on care-related incidents, per se, will you? That is it. I can't tap into anything. It's not gonna tell me that you hated what you ate last night because you uh it's not gonna tell me any of those things, but it is gonna pick up again, coughing, it's gonna pick up on potentially you saying out loud, oh, I really don't feel good today, or I'm really dizzy right now. Anything along those lines, only care related. And as it silently in the background determines that this is what this baseline is here, when there are subtle changes, then it starts to recognize those patterns, and then hence helping us be able to make proactive changes ahead of time before it becomes something much bigger. So it's being proactive, where a lot of times by the time I'm called into the picture, we're almost being reactive to something that has happened.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah, so if you're listening out there and you have that skeptical mind where you're thinking everybody's always watching big brother this, big brother that, this is not that, right? This is very, very minimally invasive, if that at all, works in the background uh and really, really there uh to put you at ease.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Kind of like a ring doorbell. I know it sounds crazy, but think about it. Your ring doorbell isn't just going to alert to anything unless it's actually activated. Right? A lot of people have that. That's exactly what this is. Nothing is actually happening unless it needs to determine that this is something that I want to make sure is noted.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah, I'm curious when you're installed, like I know I I I know that that folks don't have to do anything to for this to work, it just operates in the background. Is there is there um what's I'm trying to say, Christy? Goodness gracious.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Okay, we're feeding off of each other, too.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

No, I almost think like not knowing it's there would be more effective. It's like if you know something's there monitoring, you might act a little bit differently. I guess after over time you'll settle into patterns and whatnot. But like I almost think like putting it there, I guess I guess you're gonna have to tell them that you're putting it there, but not knowing it would be there. Everybody knows it's there.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Like, let's just be real, it's not snuck anywhere. I need to make that PSA real quick. Well, what does it look like?

SPEAKER_01 13:43

What is it like what is what is how does it you mentioned like plugging in the wall, like what is what is one to expect when you come in and you install this in the house? What does it look like?

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Well, we need to look at the overall environment, right? If we're if we're looking at a nice apartment condo, or we're looking at a three-story home, where are the places that you spend the most time? Most of the time we're looking at a general living area, your living room or maybe foyer type area. Kitchen is a very popular one. Um, but we choose three different locations. And if there is like a common place in between those areas, we can use that as well. Just a plug-in. Very small, nothing really is not obnoxious, it's not this big old black box. It's actually white, it's very small, just gets plugged in, very cute, demure. I actually had somebody um in their living room, they plugged it in behind their TV. That's fine, that's totally fine. It's there, it's still doing what it needs to do. You don't see it, and it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

It's okay.

Privacy Without Cameras Or Wearables

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Like, I am so excited about this. I don't know if I can like emulate that through the computer, through a podcast, but like the absolute potential of prolonging everyone's total health and safety while simultaneously giving answers to families to give them a more sound like check-in, right? I feel so much better and so much more secure and positive that I can give that to families, I can give that to doctors, I can do that without being there with a clipboard asking a whole bunch of questions.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Yeah, so without getting too technical, let's get a little technical because my mind is swearing. I'm trying to think like these devices, they're gathering data, they're gathering I like what's actually happening, it's it's taking note of like physical movements, sounds, all these different patterns, and then it's it's pulling them off and putting that and like transmitting it into your system so you have that data that can be compiled. What's actually going on there? Because I'm my head's spinning here.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Well, I try not to go into like the universe that I also don't like without getting technical. High level, not IT, not at all any of this. Okay, so don't get too nitty-gritty with me, Jeremy.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Um, what can I say?

SPEAKER_00 16:11

But high level, what I can say is yes, it is determining is determining the routine. So do you have a smartwatch or anything else that you use? You're talking about performance and stuff, exactly. Just picks up all the data and then yeah, this is not a wearable, but I like to refer back to that. So your watch is probably taking your pulse, it's telling you when you're stressed out and you need to go take a couple breaths, right? It's a little bit more. That watch is more invasive than what my care and safety program is. Okay. Our this program here already has a baseline of a billion data points for health-related things, events, phrases. It's also in uh I don't even know how many languages there are, but it can be translated to like that's not even a barrier, which is awesome. Okay, I'm being serious. Chrissy, you don't you don't know how many languages I won't I won't know all the answers. I just told you today I'd give you my best answers, right? Let's remind that we can always rewind and replay. But I know that um it takes about two weeks to really get a solid baseline on activity. Okay, it's not counting steps, it's not picking up how many phone calls we make during the day or what shows you're watching. These are the things that I really like to throw out because it's not that at all. I will not get any kind of alert or gentle nudge in my side of the system to say any of those things. I will get positive and or things that I need to watch, and then I can create like a watch list, if you will. So practical experience that I've had. I had a woman who just a lovely lady, like the brightest light. I'm not even kidding, Jeremy. Just like so full of life, and I said, This is my goal. When I am 92, I wish to be this person, like just beautiful. I mean, serious. We come in and we help her with some of the things that are a little bit harder once a week. That's it, and that's fine. And we have loved having her, we really have. When we introduced her to this new standard of care, she was, of course, very supportive and excited about it because she just loves seeing what we're doing and always welcomes us into her home for pop-ins, whatever. What I began to get alerts for over the following weeks to come were notifications about loneliness.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Oh my god.

Discreet Home Setup Explained

SPEAKER_00 18:42

I I'm telling you, let me not even bring it down. I'm being serious. Uh, this person that's cracking jokes that is like so lively, bubbly, never irritable, it seems, which I know is unrealistic, but still. I'm getting just gentle nudges. Nothing saying this is exactly what she's saying, but you know, isolation, loneliness, lack of activity. Perhaps she may benefit from us coming in an additional day during the week. And that's what this is for. And this has nothing to do with a fall or coughing, but now we're talking about our emotional behaviors, and some of the things that this was picking up was I feel so sad. I haven't seen so and so. I I really wish that tomorrow was already here, and that gives me very practical information to say we've we have to do something with this, we need to go check. Maybe that means I'm gonna call her a couple times during the week to check in. Simple things, Jeremy, but everybody's overall well-being, overall well-being. If family were to call and ask me how she is, I would say we love her, everything is fantastic, it's great, and it is, but having this extra layer of protection, of awareness allows me also to say, I really feel that she would benefit from an additional couple hours during the week for us to come in, or we need to get her involved in a local group or something, and being able to say that with knowledge I never would have had, truly, makes me feel like all the people we meet on a daily basis. You never know what somebody has a battle, you know. That you hear that saying, you just never know what people are going through.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

This isn't an invasion of privacy, but this allows me to help somebody in a way that they never would have just come to me and said, I'm very sad when you aren't here. Because there's not a lot of people that say that. So that has been one of the most beautiful success stories out of this, and had nothing to do with care, but somebody's like heart. And that that makes this whole thing worth it.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

I love that. It really is a beautiful thing, and I think it speaks to like a broader uh problem that that people typically have with being vulnerable. Um, right, like you said, you when you see her, she's in this unbelievable mood, she's so sweet, and then again, on her own, she might not be doing so well. And for whatever reason, she's just not wanting to speak up about that, and that stuff will eat away at you. Uh, and it's so important to have human connection. It's one of the things that I've I'd been missing up until recently in my own life. I'd been withdrawn and I hadn't been really engaged in a larger community um of like minded individuals. And once I plugged in and started opening up, it started opening up so many new doorways for me. So it's just so incredible that you're taking this work to our elder population, and and we've talked about this before, who tend to be more stubborn and not wanting to ask for help, much much more so than than uh. Current generations.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Right. You know, I've had some really great conversations with families who were not helping assist with anything yet. And one of the common things that I hear is, well, he really, he or she, they really don't need any help yet. That's the perfect time to have the care and safety program in the home because nobody else has to be there. But should there be things that happen, emergencies, those are the things nobody plans for. And that's what I mean when a lot of times, like fast forward, conversation happens two months down the road, and now we're reacting to maybe something that happened. Whereas it's the perfect time to have the care and safety program in someone's home without a caregiver. We'll be there when you need us. But again, we're just that extra quiet, discreet protection in the background as your loved one is continuing to live their very best independent life at home, which is awesome. And should there be things that are notable to share, we absolutely will be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

That is an excellent point because I tend to have this as well. Right? People are reluctant to ask for help. And then not only that, to bring somebody else in, like an outside agency like you guys, but that the program, right? The care and safety net program as a bridge to potentially see if another conversation is warranted, right? Like you have that monitoring in place, and like it did with that lovely lady, uh brought up some concerns, and that opens up, and we talked talked about this as well, opening up that conversation um to just entertain the idea of potentially getting some help and making some small changes, nothing too drastic. Absolutely into that process could go a very long way.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Yeah. And my my hope, really, my hope is that those who are are so independent and so doing so well right now, they they should remain being there just in that same state. But this is there just in case, without anything to charge, anything to check in, nothing to wear. It's just it's there. And I feel like we can help people stay that way.

How The System Learns

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Love it. Someone's out there listening right now, whether whether it's somebody that maybe they they themselves need help and maybe they've been reluctant to ask, or maybe it's a family member, a loved one, family member, a friend that knows of somebody that kind of they're thinking maybe it might be time, maybe not. What would you say to them?

SPEAKER_00 24:35

I I would say that this is this is like the uh happy medium, right? I feel that when we talk to our elder generation, a lot of times it's a family trying to convince, it's trying to convince someone to do something that they don't want to do. This is a great meeting in the middle. And normally you'll have a happy person who gets to stay at home and nobody's coming in their home. That's fine, but they're also happy that their family's happy. And now you have happy daughter, happy son, whatever. They're happy to know that. Okay, now the just in case is like covered. We will just stay quiet now. Now it's like not a constant conversation about you need to get help. No, this allows this is this is gonna be something to bring families together. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Beautiful thing, Christine.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

We're gonna solve all family drama with this.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

So how how does how does one find out more about the program? Do they just reach out to comfort keepers directly? Is there more resources online? What's the best way to learn more about you know?

SPEAKER_00 25:42

I think that the best the best way is having a personal conversation myself. You know, they can always contact me directly, but my team, my team is just as passionate. Everybody in our company is so excited about this. So yeah, they can call comfort keepers at any point in time. They can specifically ask to cur ask for me if they would like. No requirements, but I love to talk. So I can tell you all the things, all the nitty-gritties, but it really is an awesome, an awesome thing to talk about more and and talk about how it specifically could help someone in their individual needs or how potentially it could help in in so many different cases, because we could talk all day long about all the different scenarios because there's a million of them.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Excellent. We will we'll throw a link down in the description to all of this information. But if you're out there listening, reach out. You know, it's all about the human connection ultimately. You know, Christy is a wealth of knowledge and she's there to help when you need it. Everyone, thank you so much for joining us on this journey. Always a pleasure, and we will catch you all next time on the next episode, the Comfort Keepers Davy podcast.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yay, take care.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Bye, guys.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Thank you for listening to the Comfort Keepers Davy Podcast. For more information, visit comfortkeepers.com or call nine five four nine four seven seven nine five four.