Joel

Hey everybody. Welcome to the Senior Reset podcast and events, we are talking about resources, education solutions, entertainment, and training for the senior community and their families. 

Today, we’ve got a great show lined up for you. We are going to be talking with our very own co-host, Nicole Farmer. We are going to explore everything related to caregiving. So, who can be a caregiver? What’s it like to have a caregiver? What happens if, you know, your caregiver isn’t what you’d like them to be? And you know who qualifies for that kind of stuff? So, if you are thinking about being a caregiver or you are someone looking for one, this is going to be a very enlightening episode. So, hey, Nicole, how’s it going?

Nicole 

Pretty good. How are you, Joel?

Joel

I’m doing well, so I guess to kick this off, let’s talk just a little bit about the basics. So, what exactly is caregiving? Can you just kind of give me a high-level overview?

Nicole 

Caregiving is a combination of things. It can range anywhere from skilled services to nonskilled services. So, in general, caregivers on the non-skilled side are going to be someone that comes in, does light housekeeping, meal prep, and medication reminders, all the way up to someone that may be skilled and certified, they can come in and help with bathing, dressing, toileting, grooming, and more hands-on stuff. So basically, someone’s coming in and assisting a person with their activities of daily living to better assist them, to stay independent, and to stay in their home a little bit longer.

Joel

I mean, that is kind of the goal of it, right? Caregiving is all about trying to keep people in their homes, or, you know, as close to that as possible, for as long as possible. 

Nicole 

Aging in place with dignity is how I like to say it. Our job is to go in and provide the support that they need to stay as independent as they can to keep their dignity intact and hopefully prevent them from being frequent flyers in the hospital or stuck in a nursing home or an assisted living facility, so that is our goal. Keep them in their home as long as possible.

Joel

So, who exactly can be a caregiver?

Nicole 

Quite honestly, a broad answer is anyone. I mean, there are certain regulations and rules, and those do vary state by state, but overall, you need to be able to pass a background check, meaning you don’t have any felonies or any major violations that would keep us from hiring you. And there are only two state representatives. 

You need to be able to pass a physical examination by a doctor that says you are capable of doing this job. You’re free of any kind of communicable disease. Most states require a TB test. As signal. We go ahead and get those up front anyway because we keep it consistent across the board. 

And then there are competency checks that you need to go through to make sure that you at least have a level of understanding to provide the care, and if not, we can educate you. If you decide to go even further and be skilled, then there are things out there where you can get licensed and certified in different states at Signal, we will help with that process, and some agencies do that as well.

Anyone can; we have daughters that come in and care for their mothers. We have grandchildren that care for their grandparents, and neighbors that are looking in on someone anyway. Maybe they need to get hired and find out if there’s an avenue to get paid. So again, really anyone, as long as they meet the state requirements, the background checks, and all the other things that we have put in place. Will provide safety in the home as well. You know, good caregivers.

Joel

That’s interesting. Focusing on that I bet there are a lot of people out there who are already doing caregiving without realizing that they get paid for it through the state if they qualified for Medicaid.

Nicole 

Absolutely, yeah. And there are multiple different avenues to do that. You can be hired directly through an agency, which is usually a little more expensive because the state kind of caps that off. If you go through a structured family plan. There are different avenues to get paid, but the concept is that most people are losing hours, quitting jobs, or taking time off. Neglecting their family, whatever the case may be, to put in all the work that a family caregiver does, there are avenues to get you paid for that, which is sometimes a hard concept for families to accept, but ultimately someone can get paid for them anyway. If it benefits you and your family, it’s a nice way to have someone in there that you know cares for you, so you don’t have the fears that we’re going to talk about later.

Joel

Now, I know we talked about this a little bit in some of our previous episodes, but who qualifies to have a caregiver?

{04:27} Who qualifies to be a caregiver?

Nicole 

Now that’s going to depend, too. If you have the beans and the funds to pay privately, anyone you know, if you’re kind of declining a little bit, maybe you don’t have Medicaid; your Medicare-type stuff is not going to cover these services we’re talking about. It’s going to be more of a state-funded program or private-pay type of thing, so private-pay options, anybody? We can come in and help you with housekeeping and meal prep, but not a whole lot of medical stuff. We can do more medical stuff with private pay, so anyone can qualify. As far as other insurances go, long-term care does cover that. So, for a person who has long-term care insurance, we would have to check the benefits. But typically, there are, you know, a few hundred dollars a month available for caregiving on those.

And then your kind of just go down from there as far as what your income can be. If you qualify for state-funded programs, there’s either, you know, traditional Medicaid-type services straight to the state, or each state has some type of waiver program, maybe called something different in different states. It’s Medicaid’s aging and disabled waiver in Indiana, but it could be called something different. 

Those avenues—there are a lot of things that go into them. You know how much assistance you need with your daily life. Typically, to qualify for a waiver, you need to have at least three things you need help with. You’re not skilled in nursing-level care yet, but you could be if you get much further on those kinds of things. If it’s non-medical and they qualify for a waiver-type service, it’s just as simple as that.

Now, if they’re on Medicaid and they need more of a medical-type service, then we do have to get a doctor’s order and make sure that you qualify through your doctor. Check your Medicaid and that kind of thing, but really, it’s a situational thing. It’s case-by-case, so everybody could qualify in one way or another. We just have to find it. The right way to get them paid for the services they need. So, we look at every referral independently. To see if we can help.

Joel

What do People generally need help to qualify for services, so there are all these different state services, but I imagine a healthy individual and anybody else would want help with laundry and cooking. You know, I suppose if the state would pay for it, but I imagine there has to be some sort of physical limitation that those seniors are bumping up against.

Nicole 

There it is again. There has to be, and there is, and I can give you a general. I don’t know the exact ins and outs of what happens when, like, a waiver qualifies for someone, but I know typically what to qualify for a waiver program, so waiver is basically kind of like Medicaid only it’s just a separate pocket of money that it comes from.

So, if you qualify for traditional Medicaid, chances are you might qualify for a waiver, but at that point, you have to show a need for assistance with your ADL. So, it’s harder for you to get dressed by yourself. Maybe you need someone to dress you, but you trip up a little bit. And you try to put your pants on. Or maybe you don’t need someone to bathe you, but you get a little nervous in the shower, so we can send someone to stand by and assist you. 

So, if you can show that you have those kinds of needs, again, all of the qualifications would ultimately be up to the area of aging. And they’re specific guidelines, but in general, if you need help with your activities of daily living and you qualify for a Medicaid program, we could likely get you qualified for a waiver.

Joel

Gotcha. So, if somebody’s kind of struggling at Home with the activities of daily living, that’s like cooking, cleaning, dressing yourself, bathing, hygiene, etc. Could be a whole lot of things.

Nicole 

Yeah, I mean, it’s an overall view of everything you just said. So, the things that you do daily that keep you independent are: you get up, you trust yourself, you brush your teeth, you brush your hair, you can put your clothes on, you’re able to cook your meals, you’re able to do all your dishes, and you don’t take breaks.

So those are the kinds of things that, if you see yourself declining, we can step in and see if you qualify, and maybe everyone doesn’t qualify, but we take every situation on a case-by-case basis. So, we’re going to look at everything you have and everything that you need and find an Avenue where we can try to help you. That is kind of the idea.

Joel

Yeah, I imagine that those families might have a better view of when someone might need a service like this. It’s kind of like if your mom or your grandma is constantly calling you over to assist with bathing, cooking meals, or cleaning the house because they can’t do it anymore, that might be a good indication that, hey. If they need me to come over and help, you know, they may need a caregiver, or, you know, I may be able to get paid to go over there. Through, you know, an agency like Signal Huffer.

Nicole 

Yeah, you’re exactly right. And that’s again where it’s like a situational thing. And family members that are listening have people that are declining, and maybe you’re spending a lot of your time running yourself ragged. I mean, my mom did it. You know, she took care of my grandparents until they died. And so, she had to find this balance between her kids, her life, and us and them, and it’s a lot.

And she took care of my aunt, too, until she passed away, and my mom chose not to get paid for it, even though she could. And I know that’s a hard concept for families, but truly, if the money is out there, even if you don’t want to take it for yourself, it’s helping you provide care for your loved ones. 

So, I know that’s a hard concept sometimes for people to swallow, but it’s also hard for mom and dad to know that they’re ready for that kind of assistance too, because when you do need to try to qualify for these programs, you need to be as honest as possible about where you’re at. A lot of the seniors that we work with are like, oh, I’m OK, and I don’t need this. And yeah, you probably are OK, but it’s our privilege to be able to come in and help you, so it’s OK to admit that you need that. And for the family members, when I meet with families, I try to encourage them. Like you’re no good for anyone. If you’re not good for yourself, at least let us come in.

There are also respite services where we can come in and just give the caregiver a break for a couple of days. There are a lot of things out there that say caregiving is hard work. It’s hard work for the people that we hire and pay to come in and take care of your loved ones. 

But it’s an It’s a lot harder when it’s your family member, and you’re adjusting your whole life while watching them decline at the same time. So that’s where we’re perfect to step in and take some of that burden off. And you know, it’s not that you don’t love your loved one. Not that you’re not still caring for them, but let’s help you… Kind of concept.

Joel

Yeah, it’s Certainly, I imagine it being the case if you’re setting up a thing where a family member is taking care of the family. It’s got to be a lot easier to carve that time out of, you know, all your other responsibilities. If you’re getting paid for but again, with the seniors now that are getting up in age—you know, in the late 80s and 90s, they grew up in the Great Depression. You know they’re very self-reliant, from my experience.

Nicole 

This, honestly, actually brings us to a topic that we didn’t discuss and that I didn’t touch on: seniors being caregivers, because you’re right, I mean. Some of our best caregivers are seniors. I mean, even if you’re on a fixed income, you can usually make around $200 a month. 

And if you’re checking on Suzie down the street anyway, like seniors, some of the seniors that we have on staff are some of the best caregivers that we have, and they relate better just like our, you know, how we kind of go after veterans to take care of other veterans, like we try to find the right people for the right people and we try to find the right fit. So yeah, you’re right. Seniors are amazing caregivers. If they are still at that point in their lives where they’re very self-reliant, they don’t need us yet. Can step in and help other people who need us.

Joel

Yeah, it sounds like there are a lot of interesting combos here, but with all of these things that you know, what we’ve just spent all that time talking about is seniors and family members or friends taking care of each other. But I imagine it’s got to be hard for seniors to kind of mentally wrap their heads around having a stranger come Into the house. You know when somebody needs that assistance, but there aren’t friends or family that can come over and take care of them, they’re just reaching out to an agency and saying.  Do you have Do you find that there’s a lot of pushback from seniors, or that it’s really hard for a senior to kind of wrap their head around the idea of a stranger coming in and taking care of them?

Nicole 

Yes and no. I think typically, by the time they get to me, somebody has eased their mind a little bit. You know, by the time they get to me, at the agency, someone has calmed them down a little bit. But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to have apprehension. When we send people in. 

So, a safeguard for that is that we do have a signal, at least on our rigs. Everyone should be following these as we do. So, in addition to a state background check, we do a federal background check in our franchise locations where fingerprints are required. We do that. I mean, we make sure we do things. Vet them as Thoroughly as possible to make sure that we are doing the best we can to send good-quality caregivers in. 

But again, at the same time. We’re dealing with humans, you know, right? So yeah, it is a little scary to let a stranger come in and try to take care of you in your home, especially with you. Not quite ready for it to happen in the first place, and then a stranger comes in. Yeah, absolutely. Those things can make it a little difficult and a little scary, but that’s what the agency’s job is to do pop-up visits, which is another safeguard we have in place, are when we show up in the homes. We make sure that they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. There are a lot of different things that we can do, and communication is key. If you’re feeling uncomfortable and this is with your caregiver or any agency, you have every right and responsibility to speak up about what you’re concerned about with your caregiver, and it is the agency’s job to step in and look into that. 

You know, there’s not always going to be perfect matches every time you put a caregiver with the client, so we’ll do trial and error and find someone that you’re comfortable with. But we have to know what you’re uncomfortable about. And I do see a lot of seniors. Hesitate to speak up. You know they don’t want to go into a nursing home. They don’t want to get someone in trouble. They’ve made a connection. They’re friends with these people. It all happens in-home care. But it’s your responsibility as the patient too. It’s our responsibility to give you good-quality care and to provide you with good caregivers, but it’s your responsibility to let us know if that’s not happening so we can fix the situation.

Joel

So, is it fair to say that in a situation like this, where you have a senior with a caregiver, maybe the senior is fairly uncomfortable with their caregiver for whatever reason? And that the senior can speak up to you, that you can arrange to have their caregiver replaced, and that there should be, you know, an open dialogue between the senior and the agency about their caregiver and how the caregiver is doing. Because feedback, I imagine, is very important, as is making sure that we have good matches.

Nicole 

It is. We can only handle what we know. We can only deal with problems that we know exist. So, if you’re putting up with something and it happens more often than not, it’s tragic and sad when it does that. Patients are afraid to speak up across the board in nursing homes and home care. You’re afraid to speak up, like these people are responsible for taking care of them and they’re afraid of retaliation or whatever it is. I just tried to encourage them, and we talked to them about our grievance policy and all of those things upfront. 

If you have a problem, you have to let us know. We can’t fix it if we don’t know it’s a problem, and we will step in and investigate and find out the problem. If the caregiver needs to be eliminated, that’s fine. Is it just not a good personality match?

So, it is a little bit of trial and error when you’re dealing with people coming into your home, but yes 100% encourage you to speak up in any situation where you feel uncomfortable with a caregiver, whether it is family or professional, whatever it is.

Joel

What are some things that people should speak up about with their caregivers? Like, what are some behaviors from caregivers that a senior might put up with but are fairly unacceptable?

Nicole 

Well, in-home care, you know, we trust these people in the field to be doing what they’re supposed to be doing and showing up when they’re supposed to be showing up. You know, is it possible that maybe they clock in and out and don’t stay their whole shift? Yeah, you get close enough with the client that the client doesn’t want to tell on them. That’s something you should be speaking up about. Those are your hours. Those are your time, and they can’t be billed if the caregiver is not there.

So, if you’re in a situation where you have someone that’s coming in late all the time and it’s not OK with you, you know some clients and caregivers get their system, and they’re like, hey, I dropped my kid off, I will be a little bit late. That’s OK. If it’s a consistent thing that’s bothering you, speak up. Things are missing from your home for any reason. Speak up, and we’ve got one client that wouldn’t let anybody bring big bags or help just as a precaution. You have rights in your home, and as you know, we need you. Be flexible with us as we try to find the right caregiver for you. But if someone puts their hands on you, someone’s making appropriate comments. And honestly, just while we’re talking about it, we send the same message to our caregivers.

So, we are advocates for our clients and our patients, but we also advocate for our caregivers too. We’re not going to put them in a home where they’re unsafe or uncomfortable, so we kind of have the same conversation. With both likes. You know, if you see these things, we have to be made aware of them, and then it’s not necessarily like a black-and-white list of rules. You know, we have to go through our investigation and see where everything stems from, but for sure, any kind of abuse or neglect they are stealing your cards—they’re using your cards to buy stuff, not give it back. 

I mean, you know, anything that could happen as you get close to a caregiver and they’re going to the store for you or they’re doing these things I would just say to be alert and aware of anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, even if it seems insignificant, because the thing is, If you don’t speak, up until then, there was no way for us to know. And what? If another person is about to go through the same thing. You know, we want to know if there are bad apples out there. We want to know if there are people that we need to address and get rid of.

So, any of those types of things, if it wouldn’t be OK for a family member or someone else to Do it, You and I shouldn’t be doing it either. You know that in your home, you should feel comfortable. If anything makes you feel uncomfortable, I will say speak up about it.

Joel

It’s good to know. So, you know, all this talk about, you know, the negative things or how to deal with the negative side of caregiving is good information. But, you know, caregiving isn’t easy on the caregivers either. 

And you know, I think that you know. It’s hard work, and sometimes caregivers can be almost considered heroes for what they can do. Have you seen any lives transformed through caregiving? You know that seniors struggle, and they get matched with the right caregiver, and they just come alive and are…

Nicole 

Absolutely yes. I mean, we have one particular person in Richmond. She has a caregiver who takes care of her seven days a week because the caregiver works for us. And just recently, we’ve had trouble getting people in there consistently.

So, we do have some other help in the evenings. It gives her a break, but she is just forming an attachment with her. She’s there seven days a week. We have another lady who was opposed to having a male caregiver come in because we do have male caregivers as well. We always make sure that a female is comfortable with us and that a male is comfortable with us before we do that. 

But in this case, the woman wasn’t sure, and they’re best friends now. I mean, it’s almost like he replaced her son. And, you know, she gets out more and does things; she gets out and walks the dog. It is amazing what can happen if you put the right people together. I mean, I’ve seen it over and over again where people have just been depressed and sad, and then we send in the right caregiver, and now all of a sudden, they’re going outside some more. They’re maybe going to bingo; maybe they’re doing more things in the senior living facility that they’re in. So yeah, absolutely, I’ve seen that.

Joel

And you know, I know some of the stories because you know that this podcast and event schedule were set up by Signal Health Group. You know, I’d love to hear or just share with the audience some of the hero stories—issues where, you know, people are really in need and the caregivers just came through. Would you mind sharing any of those stories that you’ve got?

Nicole 

No, not at all. We have so many. So, we have a couple of ladies that we take care of who are pretty much shut in. You know they don’t get out at all. So, we have caregivers who make sure that they have their food and the things that they need. We have one lady. A caregiver was calling in regularly. We sent the office staff out. It was grocery day. She needs her food.

So, the caregiver was calling in. We were looking for a replacement. We just sent the office staff out to make sure that she had the food and the things that she needed in her home. Caregivers that form such a personal connection that maybe someone calls in and they don’t have time to, like, pick up a full shift. They’re like, hey, I’ll go make sure they take their medicine today. I’ll make sure they get their food because they live close to me. We do have issues with staffing. Sometimes caregiving is a very hard job, and not everyone is cut out to do it. 

So, we have office staff that we send out regularly to make sure that these people don’t go without care. It’s a very important thing to signal if we commit to doing the hours, we don’t take on patients that we can’t staff, which is why we look at every referral before it comes in. But if we take it on and agree to staff it, it is very important to us that we keep it staffed.

So, if their caregivers aren’t reliable or we’re finding out that maybe someone we hire is not going to work, then we put team leads or office staff in place to do that. I mean, we, as office staff, go to the funerals of our clients. We touch family members and live like we just had one pass away a couple of weeks ago; when you and I were in Georgia and we missed the funeral, I missed the funeral. 

But she has been our client for a long time, and her family—her daughter was just, you know. And the woman wasn’t always… She didn’t always love us, we had to involve family and take care of her. Didn’t always. We didn’t always make her happy as office staff, but her daughter was very thankful for those services that we provide, and that’s the coolest part of it, you know, to see the difference that you make to the end of their life. 

But we have caregivers. I could probably sit all day and tell you stories about the caregivers that we have. The good ones—I mean, you get good ones. You hear about the bad ones, but you get good ones that love these people, treat them like family, and go above and beyond. You know, we’ll have to tell them you’re not doing things off-clock like you. You do things on that. They just get so attached that they make sure that they’re taken care of.

Joel

Yeah, some of the stories I’ve heard through my involvement have just been crazy. You know, like finding out through the Grapevine that someone hadn’t had groceries in days and doing midnight food runs. And one of our franchisees was doing a wellness check on one of the clients and ended up saving his life because he was in distress. 

Nicole 

And that was just because I was in Wisconsin. I know you’re talking about him; you know, he just likes fixing. He volunteered to fix meals or carry meals to people, and this guy hadn’t been answering his door, and he found him and saved his life, and that’s something really little you want to think about. It’s not like he’s in there performing heart surgery. He was just delivering a meal when he helped save his life. I mean, there are stories like that all the time, and we are very person-centered at Signal.

So, one of the coolest things that we just did that kind of ties into caregiving is that we had a caregiver who used to take care of one of our clients that passed away. From cancer, and so not everyone is cut out to handle all that kind of thing, and not everyone’s cut out to come back from that. 

So, she chose not to come back as a caregiver because it was too much for her. Aunt died later of cancer, but she started a cleaning agency called Lock Cleaning Services, and she will go into the cancer patients’ homes and clean for free. So, when I found out about that, I just promoted it to our team, and our owners said, hey, let’s donate supplies. So, we donated, asked her what she needed, and took the supplies and gave them to her. And that was just a cool way to give back she worked for us for a long time.

It’s kind of a bittersweet story because she didn’t come back as a caregiver, but it turned into something great for her that she’s doing that also still benefits our clients. So that’s one of my favorite stories currently, but I’m sure we get these stories every day; you know, it’s easy; we get some crazy ones too; you know, it’s not. As I said, it’s not an easy job. We’re dealing with people, but the good is always the bad, for sure.

Joel

Yeah, and if you find yourself in a situation where you need these services and you do end up with one of the bad apples, you just need to feel empowered to speak up. And you know, we can find new people until we get the right match. That’s really what it is. There are so many different types of people out there, and when you get the right match of the caregiver with the person that needs caregiving, it can be a big benefit for both people and the situation.

Nicole 

Yeah, I’ve always compared it to, like, a game of Tetris, because there are so many different time spots and so many different dates, there are so many different people, and maybe one caregiver takes care of a couple of people, or, you know, it’s always like a game of Tetris. And it is about finding the right match, and if you have the right agency that cares, they are going to make sure you find the right match. Now, if there are minor disagreements, we might ask you to be a little patient with us. If there are major violations, we’re going to take them out right now.

It is a game that you kind of have to play to figure out what works. For everyone, but always speak up. I’d say that’s if you don’t take anything away from this conversation. Besides that, I would take that away. I mean, you never should have to sit in your home and feel You feel uncomfortable and scared to speak up because you might have to go to a nursing home. We’ll find you someone else. You don’t have to put up with anything in your home that makes you uncomfortable. Feel uncomfortable, so I would always encourage you to speak up.

Joel

So, if somebody is thinking that they might need services, what’s kind of your recommendation for, you know, trying to find the right caregiver match? I mean, should they start looking at family and friends and then kind of move up and eventually reach out to an agency or reach out to a local area on aging?

Nicole 

I think the answer to that probably depends on their situation. I mean, I like it when they’re thinking about it and they reach out to me, and I can help them through the process. So, I can’t speak for how every other agency operates, but if you’re in one of the areas where we have a Signal, if you reach out to us, even if we can’t provide the services, you need or even if you don’t qualify, we’re still going to help you navigate through the process. So just like this podcast, we want to be a resource for our seniors.

So, if you don’t know where to start, call a Signal agency. Even if you call the Indiana branch and get me, I’ll direct you to us. Have one If Signal can’t help you, then I will help you find another agency too. That’s one way to start. And I like that just because I like the chance to see if we can help first, but if not and you’re not comfortable that way, maybe talk to your family members. If you guys have a plan and a caregiver, go to an area on aging together because they can transfer you both to an agency. 

OK, if you don’t have a caregiver plan, you can still start with the area of aging. If you want to, that’s where I’m going to ultimately refer people that aren’t set up yet. I just like to get in there first and kind of feel the situation out, but you can start in any of those directions where you’re more comfortable. If there’s not a signal around you or you don’t want to reach out to a signal, find someone comfortable Googling and looking, you know. Do you have reviews of different home care agencies in your area? Maybe start there and see if they help, but an area on aging in your area is probably the best place to start.

Joel

And I imagine that also applies if you’re in a situation where you’re caring for a loved one, or if you are the loved one and someone’s caring for you and you want to try to help them get paid for their services, they can probably follow the same model. You know, if there’s a signal near, you can reach out to another agency, or you can reach out to the local area in aging and say, Look, here’s the situation. Can you connect us with an agency that can help formalize our relationship and get Medicaid to help cover this?

Nicole 

If you go back to the first podcast, we also have integrated health systems; they’re a bridge between, like, the caregivers, the aging, the disabled, and the clients. You can even start with a service like that. They can help you navigate. All you have to do is get to a person who knows the system.

So, in an area of aging Case Manager Resources or a home care agency, any one of us should be able to point you in the direction you need to go, whether you’re the caregiver or the client trying to figure it out. We could point you to the right.

Joel

So, if I were to try to summarize what we talked about today, caregiving is the general industry for people in need. Help with activities. Of daily living, you know, whether it’s cooking, cleaning, hygiene-related issues, or getting dressed. The things that you have to do on a day-to-day basis to be independent, when you start becoming unable to do those, that’s when you start becoming eligible for caregivers through Medicaid, or sometimes through having to pay if you can afford it, or through long-term care insurance, or if you’re a veteran, the VA can provide some of these services. 

 And then you know that working with your caregiver is all about finding the right match. You know, if you’ve got friends or family that might be taking care of you already, you can formalize that caregiving if you qualify for some of these, like long-term care insurance or VA Medicaid. You can formalize that, and they can get paid for what they’re already doing.

If you need to bring somebody else in, you know an agency in your local area that can help find the caregiver, and then it’s just about finding the right one. I mean getting somebody you don’t know into your home can be scary, but if you get the right match, you’ve also just found a new friend that you can spend time with, talk with, and share your life with.

And so, it’s just about finding that right match, and if things do go South, always communicate with the agency that’s covering the care, and they can try to address the issues or find you, somebody. That might be a better match. And you know it. And in a lot of cases, having somebody take care of the hardest things you have to do daily can empower you to do more of the things you are capable of. Doing so can give you a new lease on life in some ways, as you know. Relieve some of the burden from some of the hardest stuff so that you can focus on the good stuff. Is that? Does that sound like Is a good Wrap up of?

Nicole 

I think that’s it. And I would just encourage that maybe we end by saying it’s OK to ask for help. I mean, the generation that we’re talking about is very, very proud, and they, you know, it’s just not easy to let someone come in and care for you, not just because it’s not easy to let someone come into your home. It’s not easy to admit that. Are ready for that. But it’s OK. I mean, if you look at it the opposite way, it’s not that you can no longer Do stuff for yourself. It’s that we’re empowering you to do more for yourself.

Joel

And just remember, you know, we talked about the generation being proud. We’re not talking about you. We’re talking about, you know, the listener. We’re not talking about you. We’re talking about other people. Yeah, yeah. 

Nicole 

Of course, yeah, of course.

Joel

Yeah, you know how other people are.

Nicole 

No one was specific in this conversation. I mean, it would be hard for me to accept that I get it. It’s hard to accept help, but if you look at it from the other direction, you know we’re just aiding you a little bit. So, you don’t decline in other areas, and maybe they strengthen you some too.

Joel

Well, thank you for your time, Nicole, and thank you, everyone, for listening today, and we will be back next week.

Nicole 

All right, thank you.