Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh

E94: How Independence Care Helps Seniors Stay Home Longer- with Dignity

• Leila Carter & Max Troiano • Episode 94

Share episode

What makes Max Troiano with Independence Care a good neighbor?  

Keep your parents at home, safe and supported, without guessing your way through the maze of options. We sit down with Independence Care’s Max Troiano for a candid, hopeful conversation about what real home care looks like when it’s done well: practical help in the kitchen and living room, reliable transfers and mobility support, and a concierge mindset that fills the gaps so elders keep their routines- and their dignity.

Max shares how he traded a corporate path for a mission-driven career, offering an insider’s view of the home care ecosystem. We unpack stubborn myths, including the widespread belief that family members can’t be paid to care for loved ones on Medicaid. You’ll hear how programs increasingly support family caregivers, why multi-generational living is a powerful, modern solution, and the very real constraints agencies face when reimbursement rates limit what they can pay the aides doing the hardest work. The result is a grounded framework families can use to plan: combine trained caregivers with family support, build a simple daily routine, and choose partners who value responsiveness over marketing hype.

We also dig into health habits that compound over decades- consistent exercise, sunlight, sleep, and real food- filtered through lessons learned in living rooms across the city. And Max opens up about Independence Care’s broader vision: projects that connect housing with behavioral health support and a commitment to serve homeless veterans with stability and respect. It’s a story about care as community infrastructure, built one reliable visit at a time.

If you’re navigating elder care, considering paid family caregiving, or exploring work as a home health aide, this conversation will give you clarity and next steps. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest question about staying independent at home.

To learn more about Independence Care go to: 

https://www.independence-care.com/

Independence Care

(888) 538-5081


SPEAKER_02:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a home health care agency? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Max Troiano with Independence Care. Max, how's it going today?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm doing very well. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, thanks for being here. We're excited to learn all about you and your business. So please tell us more about your company.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'd love to. Thank you again for the opportunity. I'll probably say that a number of times throughout the podcast. Yeah, so our business, we provide um personal care services. Uh, you know, home health care is a general term, but we send um aides, caregivers into elderly people's homes usually, and they help with um, we kind of consider our concierge, consider ourselves concierge. So whatever you need, dog walking, um, you know, house sitting, whatever, but most of the time it's housekeeping, cooking, cleaning, helping people with, you know, feeding them, transferring from the bed to the wheelchair. Um, so you know, kind of a plethora of uh services we provide, but um, yeah, that's basically the nuts and bolts of it. We go in and just try to make sure that elderly people don't have to go to assisted living facilities.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, very sweet. And I think it's so important that people can retain their independence through agencies like yours. So the name independence care really rings true, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I appreciate that. Yeah, my boss would love that you put that together. That is that is the idea, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, very nice. And how did you get into this business, Max?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, um, good question. I will say um home health care is not super enticing, especially for um a young male out of college, um, just generally speaking. But um I did have an internship opportunity at Penn National Gaming. So for a while I wanted to um, you know, run the casinos and whatnot. Um, but as I got a little older, um my college roommate had started um this um one one office in um Pittsburgh Um with our our boss, Philip Vyer. And uh he called me after I'd been a few months in an internship. He was like, we could really use you. And you always told, you know, when you're a kid, take risks, just do whatever. Um, so I had no idea what Philadelphia or Pittsburgh was going to bring. So that seemed like a good reason to go. Um, yeah, and and the rest is history, and you know, I'll say thankfully, I made that decision because you know you probably feel the same way. You make an impact with this podcast, and that seems to be a little bit more where I'm headed. Um trying to you know help people out, make an impact on society as opposed to making as much money as possible. Um so just a different direction, I guess.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I love that you're in Pittsburgh. Um, I do think uh just a side note that we have better cheese steaks over here.

SPEAKER_00:

I for what it's worth, I think the Philadelphia cheesesteak is a bit overhyped.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, with the cheese whiz on it. I just can't get down with that. I hate cheese whiz.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, probably seriously. Yeah, um, where are we off of uh Carnegie Way? Um Southside of Pittsburgh. I yeah. Some uh people don't uh some people I uh hang around with, they they don't like um south side of Pittsburgh, but I think Pittsburgh's the best all over.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah, anywhere in Pittsburgh's the best. I'd say especially whenever you're born and raised here like I am. It's just like nostalgia anywhere that I go, really. So what are some myths or maybe misconceptions in the care industry that you're in?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, some myths and misconceptions. Um yeah, well, I'll say one myth is that um you know we encourage family members taking care of other family members. I know there are some people who get Medicaid and they think um, you know, I can't obviously have my daughter taking care of me. That seems like a conflict. I actually would encourage, I think that's the best. Um, a family member taking care of another family member for obvious reasons, they're going to care a little bit more, um, just innately, like nothing you can do about that, just a family to family. They're gonna care a little bit more. They're going to stick around if the you know someone else doesn't show up. Um, so I think you just get a higher level of care. So I think more people should reach out and see if they can provide um care to their loved ones. I'm also a bit traditional. I do think the multi-generational household should make its way back. You know, I think there's good things that can come from elderly people spending time with grandchildren, just lessons learned, and then vice versa, they can be taken care of. So that is a misconception. I wish more people did that. Um I would also say a myth is sometimes when you're like we're a private company, I the and I will just say blanket-wise, we have 15, 16 offices across the country. Home health aids caregivers are severely underpaid. Like they do tremendous work, and the best ones aren't in it for the money. It's just the reality, and you know you can tell. Um, and I think sometimes it gets put off to us, it's like you should pay us more. And just so everyone's clear, you know, we you know across the nation, we get like two or three dollars more than we usually pay our caregivers through Medicaid and with capital costs. So, yeah, I would love to give everybody$50,$100 an hour. I do think they deserve it. I think they're some of the more important people in this country. Just it, yeah, I think more people could get perspective on how the trickle-down effect works. We're not the bad guy, we're just you know, here doing a job. So that's those two would say the big misconceptions.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. And in speaking to the point that you made about more family members taking care of their family members, um, I'm not sure if people are aware, but there are programs that will financially help incentivize people who are at home taking care of their loved ones. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, totally. And they're constantly coming up with new ways. Like it's a fundamentally a good idea to have multi-generational of the same family living together. So there's going to be more um programs, and you know, we're trying to facilitate some as well that allocate money towards those sorts of things. And just objectively, everyone who watches this will say, yeah, I'd rather be taking care of or my sister taking care of my mom instead of her being in a facility where they're understaffed.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, yeah, it's very much like a family first mentality, absolutely. Yeah, it should be. Yeah, agreed. Um, so as we know that marketing is kind of the heart of any business, right? Um, have you ever thought about doing a podcast to reach your target customers and your target audience? Who are these people and how are you currently reaching them?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, um, I think Elon Musk once said, if you um we don't you know we don't spend money on things that don't directly improve the product. Um so for in terms of marketing, um, we'd hate to spend money on um getting our name out there just for people to find out, you know, they could do this better, this better. So a lot of our focus is kind of repairing and internal fixing what we have. I think um our reputation will eventually get out there and people like us. So I'll say this no, we don't do a great job marketing. But I've um when I was in high school or when I was in college, I tried to start a podcast for just my friends. So I've always thought it's a super cool idea. Um, kudos to you for actually following through and making it happen. But um, I I do think, and this is somewhat nuanced, I think your idea is like just getting general people in the community talking about ways to help each other. I think that's amazing. So after this conversation, I may have to consider it more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Very cool. Yeah, so outside of work, what do you do for fun, Max?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I really spend just a lot of time I exercising, hanging out with my girlfriend in the sun. Um, I'll say this getting into this field, um, you notice a lot. Um, there people are getting Alzheimer's and dementia at an unprecedented rate, 55, 60 years old. People are yeah, not able to walk and move as much as they were able to. So just seeing that, I know that the best things for longevity are consistent exercise, consistent sunlight, you know, good eating. So I just try to learn from the people I'm taking care of and try to actually implement it. So I'm kind of boring. I go to bed early and I wake up early and work out and sleep. That's it.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, those are all good things, and you know, it'll pay off in the long run, I'm sure. Hopefully. So yeah, Max, please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about independence care.

SPEAKER_00:

One thing that you should remember about independence care. Um we're relatively young, except for our leader, uh, ambitious group. Um, we really care. Um, you know, I want to house the veterans. We got a project down in Arkansas where we're providing housing for people who have uh behavioral health and substance abuse issues. That is going to eventually escalate into providing housing for homeless veterans. Um, so I I we are just so motivated to fix the problems because I I feel like our family, my ancestors or my uh relatives did a good job providing for me. And I just think it's kind of our duty um to try and set them up so they have an easy way out. Um so anyway, uh we really care, and you know, we're open to all ideas, we we entertain everything. Um so I guess that would be the big thing. We're we're just trying to make things work.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

The caring home care company.

SPEAKER_00:

The caring right. Independence care cares, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. And how can our listeners learn more about independence care?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, um, is it all right if I just you just call me, I will field all your calls. I'll just give you my cell phone if you want. I'll uh I'll take them all. Um it's uh 603-520-7779. So call me anytime. Questions, concerns, you want to get hired, you want to be taken care of by us, let me know. I'll happily walk you through the process.

SPEAKER_01:

Excellent, Max. Well, I really appreciate your time today and having you as a guest on the show. We wish you and the business the best moving forward here.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, thank you. You're you're the best, Lad. Thanks for the opportunity. This is an amazing thing you're doing. Keep it up. I'd love to come back.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, thanks so much, Max.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppittsburgh.com. That's gnppittsburgh.com or call 412 561 9956.