A Lifetime in Long-Term Care Nursing

In this conversation with Illuminus CEO Matt Mauthe, long-term care nurse leader Lynne Wagner shares how she entered nursing, discovered a passion for older adults during clinicals, and moved into long-term care leadership.  

Lynne recounts joining Illuminus, the demands of Director of Nursing roles, the changing regulatory environment and the importance of relationships with residents, families, staff, and community partners. She built a leadership philosophy centered on visibility, teaching, and supporting staff.  

She also discusses her later work with Commonheart Home Health, joining the Illuminus Board, advice for future long-term care nurses and hopes for healthcare’s future. 

00:00 Welcome
00:58 Choosing Nursing
01:55 Early Elder Care Calling
02:47 Army Life and BSN Path
03:36 First Nursing Home Leadership
05:26 Joining Iluminus and Director of Nursing Role
07:10 Demands and Regulation Shifts
09:29 Community and Family Bonds
10:39 Staff Relationships After Retirement
11:44 Commonheart Home Health Growth
14:07 Mentoring Matt and Leadership Style
17:48 Growing Through Certification
18:21 State Fair and Costume Memories
19:28 Joining the Board
22:31 Advice for Long-Term Care Nurses
24:57 Hopes for Healthcare’s Future
26:41 Tech and Changing Patient Needs
28:41 Radical Change in Senior Care
29:39 Being Heard and Human Connection
30:52 Closing Thanks 

Learn more about Illuminus at https://www.illuminus.us/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Illuminators, Changemakers and Senior Living, the podcast that explores the past, present, and future of senior living through the eyes of those who are transforming it from the inside out. I'm your host, Matt Mothe, Chief Executive Officer of Illuminist, a faith-based not-for-profit that aims to transform senior care for the better. Join me as I seek to reimagine the aging experience through an ongoing dialogue where together we'll shed light on current issues and shine a light on a brighter tomorrow. Hello and welcome back. Today I'm joined by Lynn Wagner, a longtime nurse in long-term care, and we're gonna spend the next few minutes talking about your career, what got you into nursing, and and and hopefully share some fun stories along the way. So thank you for agreeing to do this. You're welcome. I've been looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I know.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

So just start and share with us how you decided to get into nursing.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

The career start. Certainly, it was a little slow coming out of high school. I had gotten a scholarship actually for technical college. So I was way in a different direction. But graduated and felt I really needed a career with some teeth and future. So I started studies for nursing. UW Madison, Marion College, and then landed at a three-year hospital school of nursing in Milwaukee. Deaconess Hospital. It doesn't exist anymore in those three-year programs, unfortunately. Went by the wayside.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

And graduated as a registered nurse in 1980.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yeah. I I wanted to work with the elderly. There was a clinical nurse instructor. We hit it off, and I was the only one who volunteered for taking care of the older adult.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

And you knew you wanted to do this in nursing school?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

It was that clinical experience, you know, they have you go and do all a lot of different types of nursing during the school. And so I knew it. And I was the only one who volunteered to take care of older older patients after graduation. And it was a neurointensive floor. We had a lot of stroke patients. Anybody who had a dementia issue coming off the street, landed on that floor, brain issues, spine issues. So then, as I shared with you, I was the wife of an army officer. And shortly thereafter, in 1982, we went to Germany. And there are no I couldn't get licensed in Germany. Yeah. So I ended up managing an officer's club over there on base. Finally got back to the States and I decided I was going to get my Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. Sort of opened more doors for that nursing career. And worked part-time home health at Watertown Hospital, had a home health end.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

So I worked part-time there with Cheryl.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

And then when I graduated and had that degree, I needed to work full-time. And there was an ad in the paper for an assistant director of nursing at the nursing home that was next to the hospital.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

It's a for-profit. Yeah. I had no idea what I was getting into.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

And when you went back to get your hair bachelor, was that an additional year?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

It was all because I had to work part-time, be a mom part-time, and then go to school part-time. Yeah. It took a little longer. And I was so thankful. I went to UW Madison and I said, I don't want to take care of don't give me clinicals with babies, pregnant moms, uh, give me the older adult. And they gave me a wonderful clinical experience with the VA and UW.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

And what what do you think that uh attracted you to working with older adults?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

It really, it just it was comfortable. It just was comfortable and it was all encompassing, you know. There's med surge, there's psych. The only thing you're not doing is taking care of babies. But you've got you can apply all of your clinical knowledge. Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

And so that older adult. So did you think that you would end up spending your entire career taking care of older adults?

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Well, I that's where my comfort level lies, and that's where most of my education was focused, you know, at the VA hospital, a lot of their clinics, you know, the incontinence clinic, the the falls clinic, it was such a great experience. And then being able to apply that in practice.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Yeah. And what year did you begin working for Illuminous?

SPEAKER_00 5:30

For Illuminous in 1999.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

And so tell me a little bit about how that happened.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Again, I was out of state. We were assigned in out at the Pentagon. So I was working in Virginia.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

And he retired, and we moved back to Watertown, and I needed a job.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

And there was an opening for a PM supervisor at the Markwort. And I accepted it. And probably within the year they needed a director of nursing.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

That's my start.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

So then you took over as the director of nursing and had how what about 30 nurses working for you?

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Oh boy. 140 residents. And we were often quite full.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

I don't know how many nurses, but quite a few and CNAs and And so over the years, what did you enjoy the most about your role?

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Or the roles that you had?

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Taking care of the staff and taking care of the residents. Certainly. Yeah. And their families. You know, I remember at my retirement, I told my kids, I said, You you kids, you can never call me unless you're bleeding or dying. Because I'm busy.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

And I'm busy making 700 people happy.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

And taking care of them.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

They accepted that out of their mother. It was pretty nice.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

So let I want to talk about that a little bit, the demands of being a manager, a director of nursing and in long-term care. Just talk about the the good, the bad, and the ugly for a moment.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yeah. They are great. And you know, when I accepted that ADON and then tr it turned into a DON position initially at the first nursing home, I didn't know what I was getting into. And I think within a week of starting, there was a survey that was occurring. No clue. No clue. So much learning on the job.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

And studying. I think education, you know, never stop.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

What from a regulatory standpoint? Just talk about some of the changes you saw over the course of your career.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah. The I was reflecting on that a lot, actually. And you know, when I left, I had the regulatory, the survey process had dealt a gut punch. And it didn't feel good at the end of my career.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Because of the it just over-regulated. The process. Didn't allow nurses to be nurses.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

You know, I used to be able to, when that process was ongoing, I used to be able to have conversations with them. Yeah. The regular uh the surveyors. We would have those conversations and it would be logical and made sense. And we'd have this dialogue about what was going on in the facility. And that doesn't happen anymore. They, when I wanted to engage them in some of the uh things that we had done that were positive and improved the quality of life for the residents that were living there, they didn't want to engage. Right. And there was no conversation.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

There's been a lot of change.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

They don't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

And that's a hard change to accept because you pour all of your heart and soul into making sure that every resident's care is wonderful and perfect. Right. As perfect as you can make it.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Just share with me the importance of relationships with the families that you interacted with, the residents, the staff, providers in the community.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Those relationships started and stopped as I moved about, but it was very, very easy to reconnect coming back. Hospital staff, our partners in the community, and it made it a smooth transition.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

And how meaningful was it for you to be serving in the community that that you had grown up in?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

It was wonderful. I felt a lot of pride and joy being able to work there. And then I was working side by side sometimes with family and just getting to know everyone again.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Yeah, lots changed over the years. Back then, the residents stayed for a long time. You got to know them well and their families. Yes. Which was fun.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Still to this day, there are still family members that I see out and about. And we remember.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

So I wanna let let's I want to talk a little bit about your connection to your staff because you've been retired for a while.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

And you've been you've been out of managing long-term care organizations, but you have a very close relationship to a lot of your staff.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

I do. I do. You know, and and I I'll we cross paths with each other.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

I know they do, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

And so how meaningful is that to you to have managed these staff, work side by side with them for many, many hours a week to maintain those relationships into retirement?

SPEAKER_00 11:15

It's important to me because I want them to know even today, even though I'm not their director of nursing or their boss, yeah, that I still care about them and I still want them to be successful. I hope they're still working there as much as they can. We need good staff.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

And we had some and and I I had the joy of having wonderful staff.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Yeah. I want to transition a little bit into because you you left our organization for a while in between working for Illuminous and Common Heart.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yes, it wasn't very long.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

I told you you could you could take the summer off, but that was it.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

And then I said, then you gotta call me and you were when you're ready to come back, and you did call. And then you began working for Common Heart, which is our home health at home.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

And I started as a home health nurse part-time.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Oh, when you came back. That's right. I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yes. No, I was a home health nurse, and they needed somebody to make some of the visits.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Now, home health was at that time on campus, 30 30 clients.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

30. And we dare not go outside the city limits.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Look at where you are now.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Look at where, you know, um after eventually I transitioned into the intake specialist and all of the counties.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

So let I want to just talk about that a little bit. Unbelievable. When you were when you were in the director of nursing role, your focus was on taking care of the patients. But when you when you transitioned into into home health into the intake nurse, it was more of taking care of the staff.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

And so I'm interested to no, it was really it what was I think very important was to take care of my customers.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

I can't tell you how many times I picked up the phone and it was a distraught social worker at the nursing home and they needed to do discharge planning and they needed help. Or it was the social worker at the hospital trying to do discharge because the pressures on get them out of the hospital and give them quality of care. That was very enjoyable. Letting them know that I cared about them. And there's a way you can do that.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

And they felt it, and then it everything was going to be okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

And how many years did you work for Common Heart?

SPEAKER_00 14:03

2013, and then I retired in 23.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

So now I want to go back and talk. Lynn's had a major influence on my career, which I think you know, and so I want to talk about it. Tell me about it. Well, I know I want you to tell me about some of these. So I think it'd be fun to. Do you have any recollection of when I started at the Luminous?

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Well, you were an intern.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

And at the time, the interns from the university had to go through each department. Right now, as I recall, and correct me if I'm wrong, when it was my turn to have you, we survived one day because the surveyors walked in.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

And then you you had to go right over to the administrator and learn that that experience. And I don't I don't know that we ever got back together in the teaching sense.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Yeah. Or we we did later on.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Did we?

SPEAKER_02 15:02

And then probably more so when I came back. Because when I when I started as a staff member, it was in 2010. And that's when I was the CEO and and the administrator.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Administrator, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

But the here here are some of the influences you've had. And we you know, I want to talk a little bit about this, especially from just your the the way you worked with staff. So you your philosophy always was I need to be present, yes, and visible to the staff. That was very important, which meant that you were there no later than six in the morning because of shift change.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Right. And you needed to make it.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

And so just talk a little bit about kind of your philosophy on on that and being present for your staff.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

You know, I it's important that I demonstrate what I expect.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

And am there and available for the staff. But I'm there were always opportunities to teach them. So whether I'm just out there and doing rounds, you're learning what I'm assessing and identifying, and we're having an exchange. Um it was really more the demonstration. This is what I expect. So why wouldn't I do it?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yep. I mean you you were you were tough but fair. And and that's what gained you a lot of respect. Yeah. And you were visible.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah. Now these are staff that when I waltzed in, you know, many of them had already been there for 20 years. And that's a tough road because first you have to listen to them say, This is how we do it here.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

But you have to have that evolution and change. And kindly, this is how we'll do it now.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

And and how you get there is is huge.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Yeah. I think the other thing I always appreciated is you were willing to roll up your sleeves and work right alongside your nurses.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

That's when I was happiest.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

They needed the education. You know, I came with a lot of uh specialized assessment skills that they didn't have, but they needed in order to survive. And I think the demand from a regulatory standpoint is huge that these nurses operate at this level. Right. And many of them haven't had the opportunity to have the education.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

They need it. Yeah. They need somebody who can do that and support them. It's hard to get somebody, you know, to encourage them. Read your professional journals.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Yeah. Do do things on your own phone. Yeah. You know, I did the certification for gerontological nursing. Huge, awful testing. Awful. But it made a difference. You learn.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Right. And we had fun along the way.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

You remember when we'd bring the cows and a horse and a donkey and a duck through the nursing home for state fair? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

We had a real state fair.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

I had to bring all the animals through the building. The courtyard had no extra.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

And the hay and everything.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

It was so much.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

And so did you ever, I don't remember, did you ever dress up for Mardi Gras or Halloween?

SPEAKER_00 18:45

I was a witch. And it made children cry. Yeah, okay. What about Mardi Gras? Did you participate in that? No, I didn't.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Do you remember the dragon we used to have and we'd have like 10 staff of each dragon?

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Going through the halls. Oh, you have a better memory than I do.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

Do you remember what I dressed up as the one year?

SPEAKER_00 19:05

For Halloween.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Anne Fisk and I.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

For Halloween.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

For Halloween, yeah.

unknown 19:11

No.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

I was a priest and she was the nun.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Yeah. We had fun. And the residents had a lot of fun. Yeah. And that's what we did it for.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

It was. Great, great times together. So now I want to talk about your time as a board member because you've recently just joined our board within the last year. You and I have known each other for for a long, long time. And as we've talked, you've had a huge impact on my career, my my own career, just kind of how I go about my day, how I interact with residents and families. And that stuck with me. And as as you transitioned in retirement, as you know, I don't let anyone just fully retire. I told you, well, there'll be a role for you in the future. Sure. And in my mind, I was thinking at some point of asking you to join our board. Sure. And and for a very strategic reason, you have a very different perspective than many of the members that sit on our board. Many of our board members have financial backgrounds. Right. And I want to get your thoughts on what that means to you.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Well, it was such an honor to be asked to consider it, truly. But in my own brain, in my mind, I thought, Lynn, what are you going to be able to contribute here? You're a nurse. These are all businessmen. You're surrounded by bankers and businessmen. Although there's the pastor is female. But I just I I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to contribute the best. You know, going into the meetings, we're just under a year.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Going into the meetings, certainly I read everything, the minutes, pay attention, learn how the organization Illuminous has grown, how Illuminous takes care of and enhances the services of so many elderly people in Wisconsin and elsewhere. And then I look at retention rates, things that I truly understand, the quality measures, the retention rates, those are important to me. But the the actual impact that I might you haven't felt that yet.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

It's coming. Now I told you we get the dashboards up and ready.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Yes, that'll be helpful.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Quality metrics. And you bring a completely different perspective that's so incredibly needed in our organization as we continue to grow. And that is from the clinical perspective, the quality outcomes that we expect, and and just how we go. About caring for patients. And so we're excited about that. I know you're you're new to the board, you've been on for about a year, and it takes a little time to ramp up. But as we continue to move forward and really bringing to light the quality metrics and the Baldridge criteria and how we kind of want to set the tone for and kind of setting the tone for our quality expectations, you're gonna have a very influential role in that. And I'm excited about it. Good. So as just the the last piece that I want to just go into is what for nurses that are for individuals who are thinking about a career in nursing, what advice would you have for them?

SPEAKER_00 22:44

A career in long-term or elderly education. That's one piece of advice. Always learn. I think you know, back when I was making career decisions, the nurse that chose to go the nursing home route or to take care of the elderly really didn't have it going. Everybody wanted the ER, the OR, the hospital setting. Nobody went down that path. And I really respect any nurse who in her heart feels like she'd like to go that that path.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

And advice stay strong. It's not for the weak.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

You work awfully, awfully hard. I that's why I wish when some of the regulatory changes had occurred not too long ago and they were considering a nurse practitioner on site as a requirement. I was sort of like this. I said, those nurses need that extra level of support and resource. Because they're hanging out there alone in the middle of the night with a a client that's having a change of condition.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

And they're expected to take care of it expertly and perfectly. All alone.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Right. Do you have any regrets?

SPEAKER_00 24:20

None. I really don't.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

That that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

I don't have any regrets. I used to pull my kids into the nursing home and make it. That's all about the normal. You're gonna make beds this Saturday morning. I think it's good for you. And then interact.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

And I would bring my grandson. Yeah. And let's sit in the living room and have a conversation with this 95-year-old. Throw the ball back and forth. And he remembers that.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

But he doesn't really remember what grandma does.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

Yeah. When you think about just big picture of the future of healthcare, what do you hope it looks like in the future?

SPEAKER_00 25:04

That it survives. Number one. That we can always provide care at different levels, at the level that the individuals need it to be. That's number one, that we survive all the threats that that are upon us and coming. That's a big hope of mine. But I hope that the nurses and staff are helped at many different levels with information, resources, technology, and equipment because you know there's been a lot of change over my years. Right. You know. So I hope they have that. I hope we have enough people interested in taking care of the elderly in the future. But it's tough. Hospitals are even experiencing the same dilemmas. And the hospitals were always a safe place. Everybody wanted to go there. They didn't suffer from low retention, difficulty recruiting, but they're there now.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Just like we've been suffering my whole career.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Well, you know I'm an optimist. We'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

We will. And you will always have. I know. I know. Ding on it.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Healthcare's changing. The way we provide care is changing. But it's also a lot of pretty awesome stuff we get to do. You know, think about even when I started my career, a person with a hip fracture was in the nursing home for at least six weeks. And today they have surgery and they're out of the hospital the same day.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

They don't even need you sometimes. Which is in rehab.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Think of how amazing that is for patients.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Um, when I started in nursing, a laminectomy spinal surgery, repair the discs in the spine, they were on my unit for weeks.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Weeks and log rolling them and very slow.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Um, when I started in the hospital in nursing, one of my responsibilities was to make sure that the residents who smoked had an ashtray.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

So and we had circle electric beds where there was a gentleman, you know, equipment, nothing.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

And today nurses have an iPhone that has so much AI technology in it that they don't even have to chart anything.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

I can't imagine.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

Yeah. And as so much as that they're fear kids. They do for sure.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

They need it.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Yeah. Patients are more complex.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

They're I was always hoping or wishing, you know, I spent hours making rounds because I felt it was my responsibility to help the staff to identify a change of condition that needed attention.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

And that I was staying on top of it hours making those rounds.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Well, why can't there be an algorithm that just makes it pop up in front of me? Why do I have to go search for it?

SPEAKER_02 28:26

And you're on as your time on the board, you're going to see it come to light. Good. Because it exists today.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Because I I wish for that. There's so many things that could be done more efficiently and help the staff.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Yeah, for sure. Definitely. So the last question I have for you is you think about the future of senior care and 20 years or 20 years into the future, what would you like to see radically change?

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Okay, then I'll be 89, maybe here on earth. And you'll your organization will take care of me.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

20 years from now, I gotta think about it. I'll be getting close to retirement.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Yeah. But I do think about it. This organization will end up taking care of me, perhaps, as I age. And what does that mean to me? And how do I want that to feel?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

And I think you look for that answer in every customer you serve. So yeah, I expect a lot.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

And so And so what do you what does that look like to you?

SPEAKER_00 29:38

What does it look like? That someone will listen to me. Certainly, if I can't speak for myself, that there'll be some great advocacy. But I want to be heard and I want people to listen. And I saw that in the evolution of the care of my family members because I was going taking care of them within the facilities on campus and within the luminous. I wasn't the nurse or the D-O-N, I was the daughter or the sister. And a keen observer of how good we can do it, and sometimes how we make mistakes.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

So I was blessed with that insight. But I I think at the same level, I want the same things. I want to be heard. The relationships, the human connection, the connection, yeah, communication.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

One of the greatest parts about working in this field is the human connections.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

Well, thank you. This has been fun. I was looking forward to this. It's been a great time together. And thank all of you for joining us here today.