Sarah Barker :How to Navigate Senior Care: Expert Advice for Aging Parents and Family Caregivers

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Welcome to the Legacy Leaders Podcast. Are you doing the best for your client to help them create their legacy? Are you creating a plan that goes far beyond finances to help people ensure that it becomes the driving force behind all decisions? On this podcast, hosts Katie Beth Hand and Stan Miller will help you with growing your practice and your client's peace of mind.

Together, they bring the best and brightest minds to share with you how to help your clients develop their best legacy. And now, here are your hosts, Katie Beth and Stan. Welcome to Legacy Leaders Podcast. I'm Rod Hatley.

I'm one of the co-hosts of the podcast series, and it's my privilege today to speak with a longtime colleague and friend, Sarah Barker. And Sarah is the founder and CEO of Connect Our Elders, which is a company based here in San Diego, but it really has a reach throughout all of the country. Sarah, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Thank you so much for the opportunity, Rod.

I appreciate it. Welcome. Why don't to help the listeners understand a little bit more about who you are and what you do. Can you kind of give us a brief background of who you are and what you do and how did you come into this line of work?

Absolutely. So to be brief, I have a military background. Didn't even know the senior care industry existed in 2012. I fell into it, Rod, if I'm not mistaken.

And it's because you knew an agency owner, Dr. Teresa Shanahan made an introduction. So that was my entrance. And I spent years doing what we call business development, building relationships with referral partners to get connected to seniors and their families that needed to have caregiving services, professional caregiving services to age with safety and dignity and the comfort of their home.

Right. Over the years, great agencies I worked for, but one thing that weighed on me was that there was more of a need for a navigation, an education, more of a very consultative approach. And so what Connect Our Elders is, we are not a caregiving agency. However, we have a national network of providers that are professional caregiving agencies, a national network of senior living advisors who specialize in helping seniors figure out the right independent living community, assisted living, memory care, or the big ones that have all levels, continuing care retirement communities, and then aging life care managers.

And so I wanted to start a business where somebody could talk to somebody in which they didn't feel like they were going to be sold. It was about tell me your situation based on years of experience. I can slow down, not be beholden, be beholden to any one company, hear it and identify what are the real needs that you have. And it's so complex, too, because what I've realized oftentimes is not just one.

And there really needs to be this proactive conversation around care planning for what's needed now, but also looking for the future and making sure that you're identifying, okay, when do we need to bring in the next option? When do we need to make these transitions in a safe, responsible way? Right. Okay.

So let's see. How long have you been doing this kind of work? I mean, I know you started your business and it was to fill that gap or bridge that gap, I guess. And how long have you been doing that to help get folks get connected with the right advisors April of 2020 Oh wow Okay Perfect time to go into business during a major pandemic Okay.

But obviously it's for it because six years later, here you are, and you're continuing to do this kind of work and teaching, I think, all over the country. The last time I checked, you're all over the place. So obviously it's found an audience and it's resonating with the caregiving community. what do you like best go ahead anything else you want to say well so there's it all by chance a great fortune is what i call it the connector elders then led right to somebody asking me to do some consulting so when you're talking about yes i serve families seniors and their families can get them resources across the country but then i was very blessed because someone said can you teach us basically.

And that has led to a whole other side of the business, which is providing education and training and coaching to senior care professionals all over the country on how to approach the need that these seniors and their families have, not in a transactional way, but in a very consultative way, understanding that people have six domains to their health, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and usually that's addressed with a care provider. But it's really important to know that people also have their legal health and their financial health.

And so I'm training these professionals on how to ask the appropriate questions to make sure that seniors, six domains of wellbeing are being addressed and they're connected to people like you, Rod, if they haven't done proper legal planning, advanced healthcare directors, If they're not working with a financial planner, they definitely should be working with a vetted person at that point, right? So that's the other side is training people how to do the connector elders model.

Got it. Let's see. Can you share with our listeners a success story? And this doesn't have to be the most, you know, the biggest number or what have you, but one that felt really good for you.

You were able to make a difference in the life of the senior that was being provided for, being cared for. this is a recent one and a lot of the professional care there's multiple payer sources right and everybody wants the person who can pay privately and you know it's a lot of revenue and there's nothing wrong with that it's a business and you're providing good high quality care but this situation where i'm going to you know i'm going to share about how connect your elders made a difference I received a random call from a gentleman from Smyrna, Tennessee, and he couldn't even remember how he got my information.

And I was listening to him and he was expressing that his wife has dementia. There's some mental health issues. They're both in their mid seventies and he's just burnt out. He said, I can't do it anymore.

I have my own health issues. And they're so frustrated with the healthcare system, not listening to them. He received a phone call the day of discharge saying, your wife needs to leave today. And he's like, oh.

And it turns out that he had been navigating this for two years. And what stuck with me is at the end of the conversation, he said, I feel so much better. For two years, nobody has even taken the time to listen. about the struggles, but by listening is where you're able to identify what is actually needed because the healthcare system at large is not going to do that.

What he actually needed was a connection to a geriatric care manager onsite, like in that market to provide a higher level of healthcare advocacy. There was a little bit of funds so they could pay out of pocket for what we call respite care. He could get a little break, life would be okay, but it wasn't going to be financially sustainable. And so they don't qualify for Medicaid, but they not going to be able to pay privately for long And that where that geriatric care manager can help them navigate that make sure that she getting proper care in she was in a rehab, right?

Getting stabilized, had to be a medication review, all of that. So that is a resource that I connected. But the long-term plan was, how are we going to get you qualified for Medicaid. Okay.

Well, I knew the care manager in the market would know the best elder law attorneys in that market. And I gave some ideas, but I said, talk to her. And just his gratitude at the end of going through a period of two years of feeling hopeless and nobody listening and not knowing where to turn. Now, of course, there's lots of success stories where, you know, you have burnt out family caregivers and they can pay out of pocket and, you know, they finally get connected to you and we put high quality caregivers in for 24-7, that's satisfying too.

But there's a sector of the population as well that just aren't being heard. Understood. Okay. Let's see.

Is there anything else that our listeners should know about the care industry that perhaps, I mean, obviously what you've just shared is incredibly important. Is there anything else that would be valuable for listeners to know about as they, especially as they may have a loved one who's getting older and they're coming to the point where they're going to have to make some hard decisions. Yes. If there's anything that I have learned in 16 years now, you've got to start learning about your options now, right?

And you need to sit with yourself and say, what do I want my aging experience to look like? Because if you want to age in home with private care, well, you really need to talk to your financial planner or get one and say, what is the true cost of that? And how do I need to do the proper decisions so that I can do that when the time comes? You need to speak to an estate planning attorney.

You need to do your advanced healthcare directive. You need to designate people that are going to speak for you while you can still decide, because if you wait too long, it might be too late. And the deeper issue there is, how is your family even going to know what your wishes are? So one, your wishes may not be honored because they don't know.

And now you don't have the capacity to tell them. But number two, why would you want to put that burden on their family that possibly they live the rest of their life wondering, did I make the right decision? So understand the legal side and the financial side of preparing for aging, right? But start learning about what is non-medical home care because it is not skilled home health.

And there is a lot of confusion around that. Even physicians still get it confused. Skilled home health covered by insurance. Right?

So the difference is start learning about, again, what do you want the later years of your life to look like? Because there are the majority of the people end up having to make these decisions under duress in crisis mode, and they're not making informed decisions. Unfortunately. Yeah.

Okay. Let's see. And how would somebody work with you or what would be the process of them getting smarter about what the options are, either for themselves or for perhaps a loved one who is reaching that point where some kind of health skilled care is going to be required? I would suggest you're welcome to reach out to me and I will have a conversation just to educate you on what I call the senior care landscape.

Okay. Or let's say you live in Birmingham, Alabama, for example, let me put you in touch with somebody that I know that's in that market that will sit down and have a conversation with you pro active care planning. Right. And, you know, it's very tempting to say, go to the internet and start looking, but I'm very passionate about this.

There's a high chance. If you go to the internet, you're going to want to know more information about, let's say a specific option. But a lot of times where it happening is you ending up in these larger big lead generation companies And now all of a sudden they own your information and you got six different care providers calling you and it just creates a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety and it's not proper advisement. So find somebody local or reach out to me.

And it's just, what do you want? Do you want to stay in your home or are you open to staying in your home? But let's look at the financial picture. When would staying in the home now not be financially sustainable?

And what is that triggering event that says, okay, we really do out of necessity need to look at a senior living community option. Or sometimes it's better to go into a community because you're a very social person. And even if you have quality care, it's still one-on-one, you don't get your peer interaction anymore. So you just got to start asking the questions.

And there needs to be more discussion between adult children and their parents, which is a very difficult thing, you can hire someone to facilitate that conversation. Fabulous. Because that can be really challenging to have that conversation with a loved one, especially an older loved one, whether it's a parent or a grandparent or, you know, anybody that you care about who's reaching that point where, you know, hard decisions have to be made. As we come down to the clock on this, how can people reach out to you and how can they get in touch with you if they want a further conversation about this.

Yes, thank you. So.com or you can reach me via email, Sarah, S-A-R-A-H at connectourelders.com or my phone number 858-222-9241.

Okay. That number one more time. 858-222-9241. Okay.

Sarah, thank you for sharing your wisdom and your insights with us during this podcast. It has been a pleasure to reconnect with you and have you share some of this information that I think is so vital, especially as we, I guess they call it the graying of the boomers or something like that. You have this kind of generational shift in the world here in America as the boomers start to retire. And, you know, they may need some of these services.

It's valuable to know that you can be kind of, you can be their Sherpa to kind of guide them through the wilderness there. Rod, that was perfect. We're going to call it care Sherpers. No, I like that.

Go. Okay. But I want attribution. Okay.

Sarah, it's been a pleasure to reconnect with you. Thank you for being on the podcast. And I hope our listeners find it valuable as I'm sure that they will. Thanks again.

Thank you so much. You've been listening to the Legacy Leaders Podcast with Katie Beth Hand and Stan Miller. For more information on them and the show, please visit pinnaclelegacylaw.com.

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You should, not because it's trendy, not because content is king, But because your voice has weight, your ideas have gravity, and the right people, they're waiting to hear you. We build shows that don't just sound good. They work for your brand, your business, your audience. Ready to step up to the mic?

To see if you can grow your business with a podcast, apply at yourdream50.com slash Seth-Green. That's Green, G-R-E-E-N-E. Because your story deserves more than just ears.