The Let's Get Comfy Podcast
Hosted by Founder and CEO of Comfort Measures Consulting LLC, Norman Harris. The Official Healthcare Edutainment station. Empowering listeners with the knowledge and resources to age comfortably. The podcast platform will uniquely provide laughter, peace, joy, resources and most of all COMFORT. Fostering professional partnerships and engaging the audience by providing them access to a REAL family-like conversation. That gives them the REAL reasons. Connects them to REAL reliable resources. To get REAL results. For REAL Comfort! Through interviews with C-suite healthcare leaders, experts, caregivers, founders, authors, educators, and thought leaders who are doing incredible work for older adults, family caregivers, and the healthcare community.
The Let's Get Comfy Podcast
Advocating For Healthcare Leaders – with Karen Northover, NHA, MSSL, CMDPP
Join us for an enlightening conversation with Karen Northover, a trailblazing healthcare administrator renowned for her transformative impact on the Florida chapter of the American College of Healthcare Administrators. Discover the remarkable journey from just three members to an astounding 385, and gain insider knowledge on evaluating skilled nursing facilities with practical tips like weekend visits and the importance of survey binders. Karen also lets us into her world beyond healthcare, sharing her passionate pursuits of historical travel and the therapeutic art of crafting miniature dollhouses.
We address some of the most pressing challenges faced by healthcare administrators today, especially in Florida where the shortage of AIT programs and preceptors has reached critical levels post-pandemic. Learn why mentorship is vital for the next generation of leaders in navigating this complex landscape and how Comfort Measures Consulting is stepping up to support caregivers. Karen shares her firsthand insights into effective team building, highlighting the power of inclusivity, identifying individual strengths, and the delicate balance between corporate expectations and genuine patient care.
Lastly, Karen provides invaluable guidance for selecting the right healthcare facilities for loved ones, emphasizing the importance of weekend visits and speaking with housekeepers for authentic insights. We explore how to effectively use resources like Florida Finder and the potential of innovative approaches such as gene testing for personalized medical treatments. Healthcare accessibility in the U.S. poses significant challenges, and Karen discusses the disparity compared to other countries while offering practical advice on utilizing community resources to ease the burden on caregivers. Tune in for an episode brimming with professional expertise and personal inspiration.
One of my greatest accomplishments is actually establishing the ACHCA, which is the American College of Healthcare Administrators, and not just establishing it but growing it. This was a fledgling chapter. It's a part of the American College of Healthcare Administrators nationally. So for Florida it was barely there. There maybe had three members and I was able to grow the membership from three to 385.
Speaker 2:In a year you started.
Speaker 1:In a year I started.
Speaker 2:What would you guide them on in regards to doing the proper research on a skilled nursing facility?
Speaker 1:I would literally say do not go in the middle of the day, because everybody's there. The administrator the social services person.
Speaker 2:She's giving you jewels right now.
Speaker 1:Everybody's there, and they're gonna put their best foot forward, because that's what they're there for too. What I would advise is you go in on a weekend. This is when all the you know, when the cat's away, mice will play this is what you're going to see and smell when the powers that be are not around. But also you need to ask right away can I see your binder or your book of all your previous surveys? It lets that person know you know what you're doing family.
Speaker 2:Please keep your thoughts. I just want to say do you understand? She's saying you're setting precedent from the start, so as you enter the facility now with your loved one, your name is not going to be ringing throughout the facility. Oh, you know, mr for the binder. Welcome back, comfy listeners to another episode of the let's Get Comfy podcast. Your home of love, peace, joy, but most of all, comfort. Your florida number one health care education station. I'm your host, norman harris, an owner of comfort measures consultant, and once again I come with another another heavy hitter in health care. All right, um, this wonderful individual is a hospital, uh, and licensed health care administrator and consultant, not only just here in the US, but also in Europe as well the president of American College of Health Care Administration, ms Karen Northover.
Speaker 1:Hello, thank you for joining the show. Thank you, yes ma'am. Thank you, pleasure right. Thank you, pleasure, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for joining me for this wonderful conversation. I've been knowing you. I would say just e-knowing you. They don't say that, do they? I just made that up. I'm incorporating that.
Speaker 1:I've been e-knowing you you know via LinkedIn finally, but in person now in person.
Speaker 2:it's 2019. So so glad to have you and, as we get started, I just would like for you to introduce yourself to the audience. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1:Sure, sure, sure. Well, hello everyone. I am so honored to be invited to join you on this podcast. Be invited to join you on this podcast. I was born and raised in England and now count myself as a dual citizen. I do work here in the United States and have done for the past 20, almost 30 years. I do have the opportunity to go back and forth to Europe, so because of that dual citizenship, I'm able to work in several different arenas and different countries, all under health care, and I received my, my bachelor's degree from UCF one of the first for their first program and then went on to receive a master's with University of Charleston and received a gerontology certification and Montessori dementia professional practitioner through Oxford in London. So I am a hands-on individual, so I truly, truly enjoy what I do around the world and this is an opportunity to speak about how we can better provide resources and care not just to our customers, our patients, but also to our staff, our employees, our team members, at every level. So yeah, thank you, thank you for having me here.
Speaker 2:Of course, wonderful introduction. Good thing I didn't have to introduce myself Comparing to that, but yeah, so have to introduce myself. I was comparing to that, but yeah, so tell us about your interests, what you enjoy doing.
Speaker 1:I love. I like movies, I'm a movie buff and I actually enjoy traveling. I like historical traveling Makes me feel like I can go back and walk in the shoes of those who have been there before me, and I'm an avid traveler around the world and enjoy it immensely. I've just gotten turned on to something new. And who knew that I was good at it? And who knew that I was good at it? But I was given a gift for Christmas which was a miniature dollhouse kit. Why do I need a dollhouse kit? I don't have time for that. Who?
Speaker 2:has time for that.
Speaker 1:Turns out that it is very meticulous. It requires an infinite amount of patience and very detailed, and I consider that I'm kind of hyper. Anyway, probably got some what ADHD in there somewhere mixed in there, but that was the only thing that could keep me still and focused for a number of hours and it was very cathartic for me.
Speaker 1:So now that's my thing is that you know, getting miniature kits from scratch and they're very tiny, so it's like really taking the time to do that and I love how, what the outcome is, and gotten quite good at it. So that's my thing for relaxation. Well now, um, so it's odd, most people wouldn't think that, oh, you're into miniatures. That's so weird but, it's.
Speaker 2:It's really cool, it's very cool so yeah, definitely a different aspect you introduced to me, because I wouldn't think to do something like that. I just want to massage, yeah.
Speaker 1:I like those too, yeah, yeah for sure, uh.
Speaker 2:So tell us about, uh, just um, some of your greatest accomplishment. It doesn't have to be an award, just something that you're proud of, just in general, that you've accomplished. I mean, you talk about the travel uh, traveling, which is, is huge. Someday I hope to get to being able to travel more, but what would you say?
Speaker 1:I think one of my greatest accomplishments is actually establishing the ACHCA, which is the American College of Healthcare Administrators, and not just establishing it but growing it. The American College of Healthcare Administrators and not just establishing it, but growing it. This was a fledgling chapter and it's a part of the American College of Healthcare Administrators nationally. So for Florida it was barely there.
Speaker 1:There maybe had three members there there maybe had three members and I was able to grow the membership from three to 385. In a year you started. In a year I started 2019, 2019. Uh, yes, I was the vice president and then became the president. Uh, when the president had to step down and had moved to another state.
Speaker 1:So originally I was like, oh, do I really want to do that? But it is a passion, because I identified this is an area where we can help just our administrators. There are so many organizations that help the facility or the organization and if you're not working or you've left the state, those organizations and those associations don't follow you. They're there to represent the facility, the facility. But what I liked about ACHCA which is why I embraced it was this was an association that represented the nursing home administrator or a health care leader. No matter what state you're in, no matter who you work for, it follows you everywhere, even Guam and Puerto Rico. So it was, it was a triumph. We became more of a presence in the healthcare field for the state of Florida and, in fact, hosted one of the national convocations in Florida, and that was a great success. Over 1,800 people attended Wow, across the country.
Speaker 2:So it was really great it was really great and fun right, you leader of advocating for administrators absolutely amazing. So what led you to do that? Or participate or join.
Speaker 1:I did not know about them. I did not know, and that's just how. They weren't a presence. I was approached by the then president, who had contacted me and said hey, do you want to join our board? Oh well, who are you? Hey, do you want to join our board? Oh well, who are?
Speaker 2:you.
Speaker 1:So when they told me and he told me, and I was like, okay, sure, I'll try it, and managed to see what the benefits were and how we can help and education, and it's a catalyst for professional growth and know certification, being certified as a nursing home administrator, being a fellow um of achca, and its benefits. So from there, just kind of learned from there and just decided, you know what everyone I know, I'm going to make sure that they know we're here for them. Yeah, and whoever reaches out, I'm that person I'm not person is going to help you because I've been there, you know, and there's years yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna applaud you again. Yes, thank you. So, uh, for ACHA, for an administrator, let's say, if they're a new administrator going through the AIT process, even in some cases, if they're listening here in the audience what are some resources and benefits that the organization offers and how can someone become a member?
Speaker 1:Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Well, I will first start with the ACHCA website. That's the first place. I advise everyone and anyone to go, whether they are seasoned administrators or if they are emerging leaders or in an AIT program or even just a student. There are several scholarships that are available on the website, which is achcaorg, and on that website they have a career and job board. They actually have already developed and established a mentorship program for AITs and students, as well as emerging leaders newbies I call them and that mentorship follows you through for at least five years. Wow, I know that one of the big discussions is the limited amount of AIT programs and preceptors that are available in the state of Florida.
Speaker 2:Pay one soon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and it's very limited and we used to have quite a bit.
Speaker 2:Limited means like 1%. Yes, yes, and unfortunately that 1%. Yes, yes and unfortunately, that was defining what limited means in this case. Yes, yes, please.
Speaker 1:Because, unfortunately, but COVID, when it first started and became a pandemic, and unfortunately this country as well as many first world countries were so unprepared. I like to say and I know a lot of people don't like to hear it, but I always say there was many first world countries that had third world response to something like this. But as a result, you had a lot of preceptors that either left the business yes, were one of our victims early retirement or decided to do something else because it was that stressful. And for those who lived and worked through the COVID pandemic they know exactly what I'm talking about the constant fear of what tomorrow is going to bring. What's the new rules? They changed it again. What are the?
Speaker 2:you know, what do we suppose to do? It was almost every day, every day.
Speaker 1:Where's the supplies coming from? Why? You know this, that it was extremely stressful and there was quite a few people um, beknownst to a lot of people. They did do a study, um where there was a high rate of suicides amongst health care and I'm including physicians, nurses, those who are on the front line. Yeah, a lot of suicides Because of the helplessness and the unknowing of where are we going with this. I don't know if I'm going to come home and give that to my family. You know I'm working 24 hours with a two-hour break for trying to save lives and that that helplessness, that dejectedness, that despondency made a carved out quite a bit. And then we didn't, as as first world countries, we did not anticipate that once we had managed this pandemic, this awful infectious disease, this deadly disease, how we were going to recuperate employment labor wise to ensure that the holes that have now been vacated are backfilled. No one thought about that. And then what happens is boom, now I've got 15,000 nurses I need.
Speaker 1:Right 18,000 physicians I need, and across the country, if not across the world. And we didn't do any training. We haven't, you know, extradited, we haven't moved up the training process or put in place something where we have someone now that's going to fill those shoes, and so what we ended up doing is being short in labor and then paying everybody and anything just to fill those slots, even paying our current employees. I know we're not supposed to work you more than 72 hours in a row, but I don't have anyone else.
Speaker 2:And going back to your point that you made about administrators retiring, florida actually led the United States with the highest rate of administrators to leave the industry. So either they left the state, started practicing elsewhere, they retired, as you indicated, or they just chose a different profession. All together during the uh, during the pandemic, so yeah, and that's because florida is also the most regulated state yes, in the country yes and also the most litigious state in the country.
Speaker 2:So so I want to go back to acha. You indicated something that I want to make sure the audience out there, younger administrators, heard the mentorship for five years. Mentorship is huge For me and I'll just share this and I'll be brief. For me as a newer administrator, it's like you have your preceptor, but your preceptor is an administrator as well. I was lucky enough to have someone that was just more than a preceptor. He was like family. It's just still to this day. We still communicate, but everyone don't have that experience Right. So you need someone else to be mentoring you, to sort of guide you, because as a younger administrator, you may be 25, 26, whatever your age may be, and now you're taking as a leader in a skilled nursing facility where your director of nursing or your mds coordinator or your activities director they've been working in the industry 20 years, 25 years. Now this 25 year old coming in here and want to tell them what to do Now you know you have to follow their directives.
Speaker 2:That can be very intimidating. So having someone to consult with and just speak to and have that guidance, I think that is brilliant to have that work.
Speaker 1:That's true support and it is available. Yes.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry to take you back.
Speaker 1:As a matter of fact, though.
Speaker 2:At Comfort Measures Consulting, we're here to help you navigate the complexity of health care. If you're caring for a loved one as a caregiver, you don't have resources, you don't know what questions to ask. You need to have options right. Give Comfort Measures a call. Give us a chance. First consultation is free. Speak with me, comfort Measures Consultant 850-879-2182. You can also visit our website at wwwcomfortmeasuresconsultingcom. Talk to you soon, but now we're going to interject. Take a brief moment to have our surprise moment of the episode.
Speaker 1:Okay, hope you're ready for this.
Speaker 2:So I have this is for you. Here I have a wonderful partners that are filmmakers and they actually actually made your favorite movie, which is the shining.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh so.
Speaker 2:I told them that you love the movie so much and you wanted to audition for okay. So, uh, we're gonna go through here and uh, this is your audition now. Okay, my partners, don't make me look bad, okay, okay, don't make me look bad. They could potentially have you in the next, maybe the shining two okay, you know they have you in there. So we're gonna roll, we're gonna uh. So the scene is this is from the shiny all right.
Speaker 2:Uh, the scene is. This is from the Shining. All right, the scene is overlooking the hotel, sort of in the main lobby at night. All right, jack slowly approaches Wendy who is clutching a baseball bat for protection Okay, she is trembling, packing away up the staircase. Jack's eyes are wild, filled with madness, his voice is calm, but there's an unsettling undertone. You remember this portion for the movie yes, all right so we're gonna uh, I will be jack. How do you pronounce that last name, tolerant torrence?
Speaker 2:torrence yeah, you got all right and you're wendy torrence.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, brother Are you?
Speaker 2:ready.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I have a mocking tone. Wendy, darling light of my life, I'm not going to hurt you. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just going to bash your brains in.
Speaker 1:Okay, look, just stay away from me. Okay, just stay away, please, jack, I just, I don't wanna hurt you, I don't wanna hurt you.
Speaker 2:Wendy, stop swinging that bat. You don't know what you're doing. Just put it down and we can talk like civilized people.
Speaker 1:Okay, look, just please, please, please, please, don't do this, just stay back. I don't wanna hurt you, please.
Speaker 2:Hurt me. You're not gonna hurt me. No, you always been afraid of me, haven't you, wendy? That's okay, I'm just going to make sure you never leave.
Speaker 1:Just stay away, please, just stay away, stop Please.
Speaker 2:You've been a thorn in my side since the day I got here. But don't worry, wendy, it's all going to be fine. Just give me the bag. No, no, no no. Oh God, oh God, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1:Oh Jack, Jack, I'm so just give me the back.
Speaker 2:Thank, you, you did a great job, wow, thank you. So, um, buddy, isaac, I'm just making up some names right now. Uh, filmmakers of the shining. You saw, she is definitely worthy for the shining to have her on set, right, good job, thank you for doing that that was different.
Speaker 2:That's nice thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. You did way better than me. So, uh, we'll jump right back into the episode now. Um, and I want to go into just your experience and what you had as a skilled nursing administrator. But then they stood out to me was covenant village of florida. You led them to a zero deficiency annual survey result. Uh, you see these uh type of results like for an in between, I mean rarely. Uh, just go over some of the methods that you installed there, uh, the practices. Of course it wasn't just you, because that's my philosophy as an administrator it always takes a team. Yes, let's go over if you, briefly, would just go over that for a newer administrator.
Speaker 1:I was asked to. It's located in Plantation, florida, so it's close to Miami, and I was asked to come down there because they had gone through some major changes and ownership and when I first arrived to any building, my first thing is to be as inclusive as possible and I, my philosophy in life is not a you know, you hear this, this, this one phrase where you know if you're, you know if you're not on the on the bus and you need to get off you know, because if you're not on, for the and you need to get off.
Speaker 1:You know, because if you're not on for the ride, you need to get off. And I don't believe in that. I believe that if you're on the bus, you might just be in the wrong seat and to identify hey, here's your strengths, here's your weaknesses. Now we're going to play on each other. I'm learning from you. This is how I get over on those older adults. It's been, I've been doing this for 45 years.
Speaker 1:You little upstart, not going to say anything to me right well, yes, I'm going to learn from you wonderful, you've been doing this for 45 years. Better than this at this me. You're an expert in your field. Empower them. How can I learn from you? And by doing that, you are now creating a team sensibility of I'm as important and as valuable as the person who's sitting in that administrator's chair, and that person values my opinion and acts on it and and to include them, and because of that, we were able to build a team where it was almost nuanced. It was almost as if we didn't even have to speak. It was all you know. When the surveyors came in and we had programs already in. When the servers came in and we had programs already in place. The servers came in and we're seeing something, we're looking at something and I would just do this and right away they're like and they're gone, you know, and they're doing this and they're doing that, and we would have co-connection yeah, it's that whole.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, right, check that right. And we, we honestly did our best because we cared about the resume and the patients. It wasn't about, well, corporate wants to make this amount of money or corporate wants us to reach this benchmark, and that's very often the challenge of trying to balance the corporation benchmark and their expectations, the provision of health care to your clients, your customers, and then also meeting compliance with the regulations. That is a wobbly triangle. It is, and I think that if you approach things where it's a full cycle, it's a full cycle If your employees are satisfied, if they are contented, if they are appreciated and if they are valued. That gets passed on to the customer. The customer then passes that information on to future customers and that also means the full circle we're making money, we're making money. We're making money, we're meeting the compliance issues and we're also ensuring that we're reaching those benchmarks.
Speaker 1:Sometimes there are times where you have to stand up and pick and choose your battles. There are times and at that location it was you had a corporation who had no idea how to manage a skilled nursing facility. They had wonderful ideas for independent living and assisted living that had no clue about skilled nursing and had hope that they could run it the same way. Had hope that they could run it the same way and, um, and I was very patient and I, I did a lot of uh, I'm visual, I'm a visual person, so I did a lot of charts where I'm like okay, let me explain how this works.
Speaker 1:So you see this five star, okay, I know it just looks like five stars, yay, but it's not the same like restaurant or a hotel and it's based based on, by the way, what you did two years ago, and let me show you how this works.
Speaker 1:So this is what we can do differently, but it won't reflect until two years from now, and it was enlightening, and I think that when we achieved that, I mean were ecstatic, but we were in tune, we were working like a well-oiled machine and it was all mutual respect for each other and you referred to the CMS guidelines.
Speaker 1:Yes, the CMS guidelines for the five-star and a lot of companies think that that's the end, all um. And it's not. No, but that's because they don't understand how cms only if you have a company that you're using medicaid or you know medicaid services does that cms now take place, but cms can shut you down it could yes and, but it's from two years yep two years prior.
Speaker 2:Uh, those, those scores and ratings are registered. So, even if a patient is discharging from a hospital, or family members out there, if you're looking for a facility, you may look at a facility while you're in the hospital. Up to you with this list of yes, available yeah, rehabs, you know that you can see in the area to that you could, you know, go in there and for your physical therapy that rating is two years prior. Right, so the current team there might be a great team right but you never write it up.
Speaker 2:so I advise, and I want I want you to get your opinion too for caregivers that are not as knowledgeable in the healthcare field what would you advise a caregiver or family member that are just new? Their mother had a life episode, a life event that now they are going into the hospital and probably going to need rehab afterwards. What would be there? What would you guide them on in regards to doing the proper research on a skilled nursing facility?
Speaker 1:I would first say, yes, you can look at the list, but definitely go online to cms or florida finder floridafindergov I think it is and florida finder will actually show all of the citations, all of the surveys. It will tell you what their quality measures are, their staffing measures. It will break it down for you. It's like 16 pages long and you can flip through it. You can also see reviews and I would say look at those. That's how you're going to narrow down which ones you're actually going to physically visit. There you go and I would literally say do not go in the middle of the day because everybody's there the administrator, the social services person she's giving you jewels right now everybody's there, and they're gonna put their best foot forward, because that's what they're there for too.
Speaker 1:What I would advise is you go in on a weekend. This is when all the you know, when the cat's away, the mice will play.
Speaker 1:This is what you're going to see and smell when the powers that be are not around. And when you go there on a weekend, you are going to look First, you're going to smell. As soon as you walk in, you're smelling. But also you need to ask right away can I see your binder or your book of all your previous surveys? First, it lets that person know. You know what you're doing. Two, you also get to see what's occurred in the past six months. Each facility is required to have available for perusal all of their citations, all of their surveys, including complaint surveys. So at least you can get a chance to see. Okay, you know they've had three complaint surveys in the past six months, and all for mismedication family.
Speaker 2:I want to please keep your thought. I just want to say do you understand? She's saying you're setting president from the start? As soon as you enter the facility now with your loved one, your name is now going to be ringing throughout the facility. Oh, you know, Mr James. His daughter came in here asking for the binder. But go ahead, sorry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and because you want them to be on their toes. But you also want to see the real deal. And then I always tell anyone that comes into any of the buildings I manage, I will gladly sit down with you and talk with you. But, to be honest, you'll get the real deal honestly from a housekeeper, not the CNA, not the nurse From the housekeeper.
Speaker 2:My housekeeper loves me though.
Speaker 1:Why Housekeepers are in and out of those patients' rooms every day. They are there. They are there cleaning, they are there seeing, they are there watching. They know, you know who's always in bed. You know that. They know, know because they see it who is always having some erratic thing, or the food is on the floor, or they're screaming or there's. You know all sorts of things they know. I would say you do that even if you had to go to a hotel. I never talk to concierge or anyone else that's working at the hotel.
Speaker 1:You know who I talk to the housekeeper yes I talk to the housekeeper or the um, the maintenance guy, because I want to know okay, so you live around here, yeah, you're local. Where do you go to eat? They're going to give you the real deal about your local area, not the tourist trap stuff. And so talking to a housekeeper in in a facility, you will get more information than you would normally get from the nurse or the director of nursing or the administrator, and that's just kind piggyback on that point your housekeepers as well, just just validating what she's saying.
Speaker 2:They are in the rooms cleaning so a lot of times with the patients or the residents there, they're talking with them, communicating, and so they build that relationship and bond because typically they have an assignment right yes whichever area of the facility they're going to clean, and they probably have that assignment every single day, yes, and when they're working, and they have these same patients every single day. So they know about the place, they hear the concerns and all of those things. But sorry, go ahead yeah, I mean that's.
Speaker 1:Those are the tips that I could give.
Speaker 2:That's a wonderful tip you gave to me. I advise that.
Speaker 1:It makes you more savvy, at least that you can feel comfortable. One other tip I always say this, and I only say it because I experienced this with my own grandfather, who needed to go to a rehab unit for some rehabilitation therapy after he had suffered a stroke. And someone had asked me well, why did you send your grandfather there? And I was like, because I don't want to send them to a facility that has this gorgeous gym, all this equipment oh, isn't that lovely? And it's got state-of-the-art this and state-of-the-art that. Because he doesn't have that at home.
Speaker 1:I want to go to real world rehab. I want him to be able to get up out of bed and go to the bathroom. I want him to be able to train, to get up out of his house, to go and get his mail. So I sent him to a facility where they did bedside to hallway, to door rehab therapy, and it wasn't a fancy facility, it was a rinky, dinky facility, what I call, what I call a cozy chic. But I knew that their therapy would be more productive and have better outcome for him, because when you do all this fancy gadget in these wonderful big gyms, you go home and it's like okay, well, I want to continue my therapy, but I don't have that machine here. So I I always say you know, think about real world and families as well.
Speaker 2:Uh, caregivers out there. You can also ask the facility to have your physical therapist team to do a home eval yes right. They can go out to your home, look at some uh, advise you on some home modifications, yes, but also they can assess sort of what your home like environment is and sort of cater their goals of care and their um practices in regards to your recovery process, tailor it to your actual home setting right. That's a very good insight, but we go pause here.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay surprise mom oh no, because you gave some wonderful tips.
Speaker 2:So I think what I want to do at this point of time, I want to know one health care uh, you don't have to expand on it very long, all right, okay, but one health care aspect that just irks you, you do not like that doesn't make any sense to you, and give that to the audience here today. I want to know from not miss north under, but miss north over, okay.
Speaker 1:Well, oh, I'm going to have to think about which one, because there's a couple. I think what irks me is the cost, the cost of health care. Being from a country and a nation that provides and not just provides it, but practices preventative medicine for free and, yeah, nothing is ever free but, however, we do pay taxes. But I can see where my taxes go. If I need to see a physician, if I need to get a certain test, if I need to go and go for dental work, if I need mental health care or other programs or resources, I don't have to scrounge around or go to another state to get it. I can go straight to that and see my primary physician and that's a done deal. It doesn't matter how expensive it is, I'm getting that.
Speaker 1:So what irks me is that we are in one of the superpowers of the world and yet our underprivileged, our young people, our elderly, they can't get this service without it costing. I mean, you go to a hospital and they charge you. How much? For two aspirin? Are you out of your mind? Why? Because it is a capitalist country. So is England, but they figured out a way to provide that care without it costing an arm and a leg.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I still don't know where my taxes are going here in the state of Florida.
Speaker 2:Practicing shooting missiles and stuff.
Speaker 1:I don't see it.
Speaker 2:Right around the jet flying over and stuff I will pay willingly.
Speaker 1:if I can see the benefits of my taxes, we'll just tell you where you're going.
Speaker 2:This is going to practice in military practice.
Speaker 1:That's an irksome thing for me. That's a good one I like that, okay, all right.
Speaker 2:So getting to, I speak to caregivers and we provide knowledge and resources for people to age comfortably. My target audience here is 35, 65 years old, 70 years old, right, and I want people to become more bold about aging and actually, like you indicated, preventative measures. Be preventative, why you have the chance, why are you 35 years old? So I want my audience from you to know some resources that are available in the community. Uh, that could benefit caregivers, because a lot of times our caregivers they get so honing in on I'm gonna take care of my own mama. Yeah, you know, I'm gonna take care of this is mine and they then, next thing, you know, they lose their marriage, right, you lose your dating, life is gone, all of those aspects and things happen. So we are here to support you and provide those resources and I have miss northover, okay I'm, I would always suggest, as a caregiver, to reach out to your churches.
Speaker 1:Your churches are are very heavily involved with a lot of programs that are specific for nonprofit organizations, but if you're looking also for different resources along with different programs that might meet your needs respite care, but also support groups definitely, definitely reach out to your teaching hospitals. So you have quite a few hospitals that are affiliated with, depending on which area in florida you are you've got miami university as an excellent teaching hospital.
Speaker 1:You have a university, central florida, in orlando, that has an excellent they work with john hopkins. They also work with they work with the va. Then you also have usf university of south florida and they work with the va hospital as well as what's the name of that? Cancer Moffitt.
Speaker 2:Moffitt Cancer Center.
Speaker 1:You will be very surprised at what kind of resources and programs are absolutely free, free. Free Because it's a teaching hospital. And then, of course, you've got University of Florida, you have oh gosh, famu, yes, and then I think there's a teaching hospital. They're everywhere, they're everywhere, everywhere.
Speaker 1:Baptist Hospital. They've got one in Jacksonville as well as in Naples, so they're everywhere. Please do just you don't. If you don't know where to start, start by just picking up the phone and calling that teaching university and ask them. I would like to take part in whatever resources or programs you have as a part of your teaching hospital for this particular concern I have. That's good.
Speaker 2:That's really good. That's good.
Speaker 1:That's really good. So that's the best way to be able to, because there's a lot of niched programs and resources that are only specific for certain areas of Florida. So, it's not across the state all the time.
Speaker 2:So for you, what is something new?
Speaker 1:new initiatives, anything that you're working on right now or in the future future goal um, I am hoping to continue doing what I'm doing, but branching more out to the asian countries. Um, you might find that a lot of spanish-speaking countries and asian countries rarely utilize nursing homes because of their traditional culture, which is you helped take care of grandma and grandmother at home. But they're finding that, as a result of COVID, there is no children or grandchildren to take care of grandma or grandpa, and they're finding more and more so that they have to open up facilities for grandpa, grandma, mom, dad, great aunt, uncle.
Speaker 1:Um, there was, there's a program, and it's not a program, but there's a company called precision diagnostics and you can look that up precision diagnosis precision diagnosis is a lab company and what I like about what they do they do gene testing and that is now going to be one of my focuses.
Speaker 1:I actually just took a gene testing and I had my father complete one and what I liked about it is this is something that should be offered at every hospital, at every doctor's office, at every facility that has a dementia unit or anyone that's on psych services. Gene testing actually checks to see what you're missing nutrition, what works for you, what medications you're on, whether or not that medication you metabolize that medication, because too often right now, let's give them this, we'll try it for 30 days, then we'll titrate it down by 10 milligrams, but then we'll add this and then we'll add that and it's many months, if not years, before they determine oh well, this is the medication that works for him. Yeah, and why bother, go through two years of this medication, that medication over-medicating, under-medicating, wrong medication, reaction to this medication and blah, blah, blah when you can do some gene testing and it's free, by the way through precision diagnostics for the resident in a nursing home. It's part of that.
Speaker 1:They look to medicare and medicaid that's really good so why not get something like that that can ultimately say yeah, don't give him this. He's never going to metabolize that His body based on his genes. It doesn't work for him. However, these groups of medications work for him and if that's something you can cut through all of that that's two years worth of guessing you can go straight to it. Why not? And I'm finding that that's not the case, and I don't know why it's not something I think maybe at a different level, it might be because you're not going to make any money.
Speaker 2:I know why, but I don't want to be blackballed yet yeah, well, you can but that is amazing, yeah, Because that cuts down for a family the negative reactions from a medication. A lot of times a patient's whole jaw I've seen just from experience may swell up. Oh, that's the new medication he's tried, you know, the physician tried on him, you know. But that is wonderful, Precision dynamics, right.
Speaker 2:It's precision diagnostics diagnostics okay, precision diagnostics. That is wonderful feedback. Please look it up. If you have a loved one that are suffering any illness, right uh, for to have that actually it's covered under medicare you said it will be.
Speaker 1:yeah, in nursing home facilities it is covered under med Medicaid and I believe there are certain hospitals or for certain diagnoses under Medicare. I just think it's something that should be offered Right Period. It should be a part of the Medicare and Medicaid program. This is offered and it's free. They don't charge the patient, they don't charge what. They bill it to the state. They bill it to you know CMS, you know cms. So let them right. Everyone's earned that, so let them take advantage of it.
Speaker 2:So I just thought of this question here. Um, just hearing you, understanding that you will travel I have expertise in different areas as well just what are some challenges and hurdles that you encounter, just for whether it's Europe or whether it's here? Just what are some challenges? Because you seem like you've been in different rooms that a lot of people won't be able to you know access or have access to?
Speaker 1:I. I think one of my, my challenges, um and and, and looking back on it, was the best move that I made. You earn your license and you need to protect your license, and I know there are companies out there that are like I don't want to hear do that. It's okay to say no, it is very okay to say no, but you need to be able to state that I think this is unethical and I think that that's the wrong way to approach something. Let me give you a different opportunity. Don't just say no, right, because then that would be considered insubordination. Yes, you need to let them know that.
Speaker 2:No, this is unethical.
Speaker 1:I don't agree with this and I think that this is going to impact my license. You worked hard for it, you don't want to lose it, um, and you know a lot of these companies that don't care because why I can hire another one. So you know so that's, that was a challenge, and I, and I made that decision at one point, which I've never done in my life, which it was was no, I'm not going to do that, and I'd rather walk away.
Speaker 2:I will say I've had that stand before myself, but I went home that same day to apply. So make sure you have a plan B now. Make sure you have a plan B, you know. So thank you for sharing that, and we're just wrapping up an episode here. You showed so many different gems and resources not things that I didn't even think of just reaching out to the universities for caregivers for assistance. Think of just reaching out to the universities for caregivers for assistance.
Speaker 2:I always try to target free resources because those aren't plastered on the billboards, right, you don't see the headlines showing that Hillsborough County Aging has this free course or this free workshop related to it? Yes, there's an association by the name of falls free florida coalition. They actually will go into your home and help assist you with one doing a home assessment, safety assessment, but also help you get grant. They have grant funded programs where you can get upgrades to your home, right for your a loved one. Right to add a ramp in? Yes, right, remove the, the lip there that's under the door frame. A lot of those in the places like that, uh, what falls happen? Right through the door, right there, grab bars adding those uh type of uh system devices and equipment, uh, to bathrooms. Uh. One thing I think I recently learned too, uh, by attending a attending a home assessment certification class course, I learned that the number one place where falls happen is between the toilet and the shower. Yes, number one. So there's education and resources out there.
Speaker 2:I do advise not telling you what, what to do. It's just only a recommendation. Instead of spending hours scrolling on tiktok, hours scrolling on facebook, um, buy granny granny her favorite purse or getting her hair done, do something that could benefit her health long term. Right, I actually and I'm not just talking this, I just did this for the first time this year. I'm just sharing this story. I'm talking but I with my parents and they was looking at him like I was crazy but I get for Mother's Day and Father's Day. This year I gave them like healthy teas, like herbal teas, cuz I'm in herbs and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:I purchased it for, like that was dedicated to maybe fighting fibroids in your body, so that's something I did for them, instead of investing in a purse or something like that. I said you know what, I'll do something that can actually benefit the health overall. So, um, but, thank you for joining our episode, but before we conclude, um, I have, uh, one thing here, two surprises for you. Oh Lord Special gift to you from let's Get Comfy Podcast family. Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you. We got Trevor Trevor's on, Thank you. Thank you, Trevor man, for helping me out today. Appreciate it. Much joy and love. And then the second surprise is you said your favorite song was killing me song. Oh, I love and I and I and I just believe in my heart.
Speaker 1:You have a beautiful voice, oh lord, if you can give us I never know the words- well, give us 10 seconds of what you can think of, just 10 seconds can we just do the one, two, three, four, five?
Speaker 2:what are you gonna do that? You want to do the challenge? Well, I won't make her do that, but I do have. Well, so I do have a backup. So the backup for you is if you could go on a date with anyone okay who would it be and what would you want your date to be like?
Speaker 1:if I could uh.
Speaker 2:Idris.
Speaker 1:Elba, okay, and it would be a ski trip to Switzerland, cozy cabin.
Speaker 2:All right, now that sounds good, really Everybody want him, man.
Speaker 1:He's just a lovely guy and he's English Okay.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that one. So, uh, if you share people uh different websites where they can find you.
Speaker 1:Yes, ma'am again uh, wwwachcaorg. Org. And uh my email at uh north under at gmailcom and again, as I, as we reiterated before, precision diagnostics for those gene testing. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me, or rather email me. I'll send you my phone number and you can call me. Just don't please call me at 2am and because I'm sleeping and I sleep hard.
Speaker 1:Number you can call me she will just don't please call me at 2 am and uh, um, because I'm sleeping. I sleep hard, um. But yeah, we can do that. One, two, three, four you wanna do it?
Speaker 2:yes let's do it, okay.
Speaker 1:You don't want the beat, yeah we can do the clapping, I'll let you do the clap, then okay I'm gonna let you start too, because I never did it All right. So this is the 5-6-7-8 challenge.
Speaker 2:We're about to kick it right now here we go 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. 2-3-4-5-6-7-8.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, 3-4-5-6-7-8.
Speaker 2:4-5-6-7-8. 5-6-7-8. 6, 5, 6, 7, 8. 6, 7, 8. 7, 8. 8. 8. Oh, 8 is the same. Oh, you got it 6, 7, 8.
Speaker 1:5, 6, 7, 8. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Oh, you got it 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Speaker 2:Let's Get Comfy Podcast. All right, baby. Check us out on YouTube at the let's Get Comfy Podcast. You can also see us on Facebook and Instagram at Comfort Measures Consulting. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1:Thank you for watching.
Speaker 2:Thank you for watching.
