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
Redefining Aging in Place With Arlene Grosso
Arlene Grasso’s inspiring journey reveals the importance of creating accessible living spaces for seniors wishing to age in place. Through her work with Access and Design, she empowers individuals and their families to prepare proactive modifications that ensure safety and independence at home.
• Aging in place as a desire for over 95% of seniors
• Importance of home modifications to maintain independence
• AARP’s HomeFit program and its significance
• The Falls Free Florida Coalition and falls prevention strategies
• The role of community and resources in supporting seniors
I started my business when I was 70 years old. Okay, and getting a construction license in the state of Florida is just not easy. I had to bring two huge suitcases with me filled with books.
Speaker 2:It's an open.
Speaker 1:They wait until they fall, break their hip, yep. And then they're in rehab and they say the doctor is releasing me tomorrow. Can you help me? And you can get between $2,500 and well over $100,000 to remodel your home, and you deserve it.
Speaker 2:And it's one of the let's Get Comfy podcast. I'm your host, norman Harris. This is the home for love, peace, joy, but, most of all, comfort. Today I have a special guest for you, wonderful guest, someone that is doing amazing work for our senior citizens, our senior community, but also bringing awareness to healthcare in general. A pioneer, as I like to consider her as well, ms Arlene Grasso. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much, ma'am. Thank you so much. It's really nice to'am. Thank you, yes, it's an honor for me to have you miss grosso one.
Speaker 2:I want to say this on camera I am very grateful for your time today. This is a saturday, right, our show is aired on. We shoot them on a saturday, so this is her time out of her busy schedule to do this with me. So I'm very grateful, but also I connect with you. Months back, you took the time without hesitation to set up a call with me, right to listen to my goals, my vision and what I wanted to become and welcome me with open arms.
Speaker 2:Everybody doesn't do that and people will try. You won't think so, but I'm learning slowly as I'm on this journey of entrepreneurship and sort of trying to live out, I believe, god's vision for me. Everyone doesn't have your best interests, and so when I meet people like you, I always want to take my time and show gratitude and gracefulness to you, but also to God as well, because I know that God put you part of my journey for a purpose and a reason, and to me I'm always indebted for you giving me that opportunity. So I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Yes, ma'am, thank you, thank you, but if I want to sell, so I gave that little spill there, right, but I want to start out with you just telling the audience who you are and what you provide and your services okay again.
Speaker 1:My name is arlene grasso and, together with my daughter, denise tommy, I started m d enterprises of fl inc. Which does business as access and design. As Access and Design, I'm a licensed building contractor and we provide solutions for, and alternatives for, people with physical challenges and businesses that have to adhere to the ADA requirements set by the statutes. Do you want me to tell how I got started? Do you want me to tell how I got started?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, no, just tell the little bit of your history. You said you're an AARP ambassador. Yes, right, you promote home fit programs offering no cost, low cost solutions to help seniors age in place. That's a huge thing that people don't probably don't even know that there's ambassadors for aarp. They hear arp and just think like, oh, it is not for me, you know. But if you could just expand on that, just how you became a part of the aip program well, um, when I started my business, I took a um course uh, actually an accelerator course.
Speaker 1:Uh, thatarp put on for budding entrepreneurs to see if their business would be viable or not. Wow, so it was a great exercise and I guess it proved to be viable because we've been in business eight years now. But I met such wonderful people at AARP and I said what is this HomeFit program that I saw on your website? And they said, oh, we don't do that anymore because the person who used to do that, the occupational therapist, moved to Tennessee. And I said, oh, I'll do it. There we go. It's wonderful you can go to AARPcom slash HomeFit.
Speaker 1:No, I'm sorry, aarpcom slash home fit no, I'm sorry, aarporg slash home, fitorg, yesorg, and you can order this booklet or you can view it online. It'll take you room, room to room and it'll show you all the things you can do to age in place safely. And there's a lot of falls prevention that I put into my presentation, but I do the presentation for people in mobile home parks, 55 plus communities just at large, like the Retired Teachers Association. I just did a caregiver with Linda Burhans.
Speaker 2:I was part of her caregivers. Hey, Linda.
Speaker 1:She's wonderful.
Speaker 2:Amazing yes.
Speaker 1:And so I was the opening segment for her caregivers conference and did the HomeFit program for that conference. But it's an amazing program and it gives people an idea of what they can do to safely age in place. Yes, ma'am, and they don't know. You don't come out of the womb knowing how you're going to be living when you get to be 80.
Speaker 2:Oh no, and that's why we bring awareness with platforms like this, and I want to mention because I think you probably are a modest person, that's what I'm feeling right now, but I'm not going to let her get away with it. So she also serves as chair of the St Petersburg Mayor's Commission on Aging and has served on the Affordable Housing Advisory Council of the City of Largo in 2022. She was honored to be inducted into the St Petersburg Senior Hall of Fame for her volunteer work and helping people to safely age in place, along with accessibility solutions for people with disabilities. She founded and chairs the Falls Free Florida Falls Prevention Coalition, bringing together senior service professionals dedicated to reducing falls through education, awareness and resources. And, as you know, one mission of Comfort Managers Consulting is empowering people with knowledge and resources, and I have one of the best a Hall of Famer, a Hall of Famer for us today. So let's-.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, that was a huge honor.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am. So let's get into what we know about you. And I always find it interesting when I see abbreviations. So after Arlene Grosso there is CAPS, then there's S-R-E-S and then E-C-H-M. If you can sort of break down what those abbreviations mean. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1:I'm very proud of those. It's a range of study and then they provide you with a designation. The CAPS is the Certified Aging and Play Specialist from the National Association of Builders, gotcha. You take a series of courses and then you're awarded that designation. I wanted to take that to to uh bring some professionalism to this industry.
Speaker 2:Do you remember the year at all?
Speaker 1:It was uh actually 2016, 2016. That's when I started my business.
Speaker 2:Gotcha. So that was the time snap, and was that the catalyst and the reason why you went for that? Absolutely Okay, understood.
Speaker 1:Because there's so many contractors out there that don't study home modification, gotcha, and we actually rip out a lot of things. People do wrong, okay, and then homeowners have to pay for it twice.
Speaker 2:And that's with access and the design, correct, yes, yes, all right.
Speaker 1:Yes, so it's a great course. I recommend it for anyone any contractor you know that wants to be in this. In my class I had more uh designers, which I thought was interesting, than contractors.
Speaker 1:I wish there were more contractors there contractors uh-huh come on guys gotta get designation yeah, I gotta get professional, so which I was glad to see that designers were getting into helping people with home modification too, because it's a big thing, it's a coming thing. You know, there's more people aging right now. I always say we're reigning seniors, you know, 10,000 a day are turning 65.
Speaker 2:Wow, 10,000 a day turn 65. That's the some statistics right. So with the caps designation, you have earning that. Just how has that, you think, impact the growth of your organization, your business?
Speaker 1:well, I'm I'm not so sure, because a lot of people don't know what it is. I did it mainly for my myself, so that I would be confident and I would feel good that I am learning my trade with all the tools that I could find investing, investing in yourself right, so that I could help people the best that I could.
Speaker 2:Understood, understood. So when you deal with access and design, you have someone that has invested in their knowledge, right, invested in the dedication even further, so that when you approach, when she's approaching you and working with her clients, she's coming from a perspective where she has the knowledge base and information to successfully, you know, provide the service, so that's very important, and information to successfully provide the service, so that's very important. So, from there, that was 2016,. Right, mm-hmm, 2016,. You started Access Design. Correct, wow, access Design. And what was the catalyst and the motivation to start Access Design?
Speaker 1:My mom passed away at the age of 100. She had a beautiful, blessed life, wow, and she lived in an assisted living facility for over 25 years so you can imagine that the assessments totaled way over a half a million dollars during her lifetime, and then, when she was unable to stay in her apartment, they had the nursing facility attached so she was standing like a CCRC.
Speaker 1:Yes, so she went into the memory care unit and they really didn't help her. They really were not. She was the only sundowner. There were only 14 people on her floor and I mean I stayed there many, many nights. This was in Chicago, in the Chicagoland area, in Lombard Illinois, and I constantly was going back and forth and forth and back and forth and back. I would just leave, and by the time I got home there was a voicemail saying she won't eat.
Speaker 1:You have to come back and I thought why are you charging me $6,800 a month if you're not going to take care of her? Wow, okay, $6,800. Yeah, plus other things hundred dollars a month if you're not going to take care of them? Wow, okay, sixty eight hundred, yeah, plus other things like getting your hair done, and then, if you want to go on a trip or whatever you know, it's an extra charge and everything's.
Speaker 1:You know, oh, can you give us more money? You know we'd like, we'd like, we'd like a piano for our, our, our, our conference area. Would you like to donate?
Speaker 2:no, honestly, I really wouldn't take care of my mother, you take care of my brother and, of course, she hated leaving her apartment.
Speaker 1:And you know when, when you go into memory care units, they everyone will always say can you take me home? Is it time for me to go home? Can?
Speaker 1:you take me home because they just they. They, their surroundings and environment were severely disrupted. And when you see people that are older, okay, and I'm gonna say 60s and up, they really don't wanna leave their home. They've had their children raised through that home. It's probably too big for them. There's a lot more room than what they need, but they don't want to leave that home. That's their safe haven and that's where they feel right, right.
Speaker 2:That's something that they worked for for years to actually, you know, possess own outright own right. Yeah, save for, you know that sort of. They had that planned out from a budget standpoint to not have that bill anymore, and so, of course, they want to stay in their home, right? Especially when you're you get to that age where your income is sort of subsidized or it changes as well, right? So, yes, ma'am, I don't blame them right to wanting to age in place right night.
Speaker 1:More than 95% of people want to stay in in their homes. And when I do the AARP HomeFit presentations I'll say, does anybody want to go to a nursing home? And no one raises their hand. They want to stay in their homes.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, yep, so that's a amazing story of how Access Design actually was started.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So, and you said your part owner is Is my daughter, your daughter. Yeah, give her a big shout out Denise.
Speaker 1:Yes, she's fabulous actually. Hey, denise and all the customers love her. She does the operations for our company now and she's doing a fantastic job. She does a lot of work with the VA. We have a lot of a lot of work that comes through from the VA and helping our veterans is something we really take to heart. So we do the grants and if anyone out there, okay, is having some physical challenges and wanna stay in their home but they find it really difficult to maintain their independence because of those challenges, and if you're getting benefits through your VA, you can go to the prosthetics department through your doctor. Okay, if you have a disability, and you can get between $2,500 and well over $100,000 to remodel your home and you deserve it. So, and it's one of the best kept secrets that the VA has- Our veterans out there Access and Design.
Speaker 2:If you'd like to know more, arlene Grosso is your resource for that right. She'll be able to assist you with that. Thank you for sharing that with the audience. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we do a lot of zero entry showers for people who are contained in a wheelchair. We do a lot of door widening. We put in lifts. We do stair lifts, we do what we call hybrid elevators up to three stories tall, and then just the porch lifts to get people. You know, the mobile homes now have been getting higher and higher and higher over time, and now, after these latest storms, are going to be even higher.
Speaker 2:Might be on stilts or something like that.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, and to be able to get in the home when you're having physical challenges. If you used a ramp, it would be curling back and forth all throughout your carport and then you wouldn't be able to park on the street, and you can't park in the street on most mobile homes.
Speaker 2:Right, you're right.
Speaker 1:So you would really have to park at the clubhouse and then get in your wheelchair in the rain and come home. That's not convenient, okay. So that's why they make these sort of vertical platform lifts, which is a small footprint so you can still pull your car in the garage and then utilize that.
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. That's amazing. So I want to something you mentioned that I want to make sure we speak about, because, of course, I always want to make sure we have information and insight for our caregivers out there. You were a caregiver yourself with your mother. Now, did that impact your sort of motivation to you know, begin Access and Design and sort of help people that were sort of wanting to be at home?
Speaker 1:Yes, that's the real reason I started my business was because of my caregiving experience, and I didn't know what to do to keep my mom in her apartment, and she was always so anxious and so sad. She kept on saying I just want to go home, I just want to go home. And had I known then what I know now, it would have been very simple. So I made it my life's goal to find out how to keep people in their homes so that they would be able to stay there no matter what.
Speaker 2:That is beautiful. That is beautiful, and we know that this comes from a place of experience, right, a place of passion and also care and knowing that in a path.
Speaker 2:This is the thing that amazed me about Ms Grasso, um, and this is really personal for me is because, the same way you have the passion for your mom, you you're able to to share that, that feeling, with others as well correct right and I could just I could feel it through the phone calls that we had, a virtual call that we had like you could easily that that you mean this from the bottom of your heart and it comes from a place of experience and knowledge, so you know what those caregivers out there are going through and you know how to sort of address it, because you've been through it and you were there in that time period where you didn't know what to do, right, right, so that's amazing.
Speaker 1:So when I started my business, my daughter, denise, said you know how about if I go in business with you? I said well, she had a very large job. She was a big executive with a textbook company that then was going to virtual learning, okay. And she said it just makes me so sad, mom, that they're charging the same amount of money for textbooks that they are, for, you know, plugging something into the computer. She said and that's not right. So you know, these professors make a lot of money by writing a textbook.
Speaker 1:So she was an editor and a regional sales director, actually for the southeastern region of the United States. Wow. So she had a really big job. And I said do you really want to give all that up? She said I'm just not happy. Wow. So she has put her heart and soul into the business and the customers understand that. I mean she's had customers come to her home overnight when their loved ones are in rehab and they feel uncomfortable being alone and they're very sad. So she'll invite them over for dinner and then have them stay at her house because her kids are in college and she's got extra bedrooms. So she, you know she really we go way above the call of duty, a lot of the times.
Speaker 2:I would like for you to introduce me at some point to miss Denise. Yes, I mean, I love to hear more of her story as well. That's amazing, and a lot of the times I would like for you to introduce me at some point to miss denise. Yes, I mean, I love to hear more of her story as well. That's amazing and right, apple don't fall far from the tree, they say. You know that's right yeah, so, uh, so s-r-e-s correct.
Speaker 1:All right, what? What are your real estate specialists?
Speaker 2:senior real estate specialist.
Speaker 1:Now, I know that was a milestone for you as well what was the story behind that well, I've been in real estate since I was 21 and I'm going to be 80 in July, so it's been a long time, long, long long real estate career and when I saw the opportunity to get some education on how to deal with seniors. Sometimes, if people want to say, ok, well, this is how much it's going to cost to remodel your home so that you can stay here safely. Now, if you don't want to spend that, maybe you want to try to find a situation if you want that's smaller, you you know you can downsize and certainly get something that's easier to manage, like a zero entry home, so they they're able to weigh the difference. That's why I keep my real estate license. So. But I have to say, most of the people end up staying at their own home. They just don't want to leave.
Speaker 2:They just don't want to leave.
Speaker 1:Yeah and it makes us feel so good that they're so happy when the modifications are done, that their environment has changed so that they can independently continue doing what they love to do.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. So with your real estate license, do you have it invested in properties or anything like that?
Speaker 1:Well, I don't take on a lot of new clients, I only do referrals.
Speaker 1:So, people that I've sold to in the past. I was an international broker for a property in Costa Rica for a while when my mom was first diagnosed with dementia and she also had colon cancer, and when I was in the waiting room I was doing, I continued to do business, because I was doing business with brokers literally all around the world. So at two o'clock in the morning I was often speaking to someone in different parts of the world. Yeah, so the person I reported to said what's all that noise? I said, oh, it's just I'm right by the emergency room because my mother's having surgery and that's where the waiting room was. And he said well, you can't do that. He said you have to take a leave of absence. And I said well, I don't need a leave of absence. I said because I work probably around the clock most of the time, I don't really sleep. And he said no, you can't do that.
Speaker 1:So I got fired, what? And? And I I was on a draw as a commissioned salesperson broker. But uh, if you don't, you don't get the back end of it unless you're there when the property closes. So obviously I wasn't going to be there when the property closes, so I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars? Yeah, because I was the sole broker on that property. So, anyway, so you fired, so I got fired, yeah because you were with your mom because I was with my mom in the hospital and I was on the computer working.
Speaker 2:Your job was mostly remote.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes 100% I wasn't gonna fly to Australia, to somebody in Australia, exactly, yeah. So some people are not compassionate, and that's why employers need to learn especially that caregivers need a little wiggle room in their job. Yes, yes, and they'll probably be the best employees, because they would so appreciate an extra hour off here and there and then they would certainly make that up yeah, yeah you know, what year was that?
Speaker 2:would it happen?
Speaker 1:oh gosh, that was uh. That was before I opened my business before you right, was it right so it was like 2000, early 2015, yeah wow, wow.
Speaker 2:yeah, I look at that from a motivational piece, a stepping stone, and I know, probably at that time, like, were you thinking like, why me, like, why me, god, why, why is this happening at this point in time? No, you didn't.
Speaker 1:No it was a very difficult man to work with and you know, and I did a lot for that company and I felt that I was doing a really good job and if someone didn't have that respect for me then you know, I certainly could go elsewhere.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you. She had options.
Speaker 1:Well, when you work for yourself, you always have an option. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So then my mom died Mother's Day of 2015. And that's when, shortly thereafter, I said I really I did spend a lot of my retirement going back and forth for my mom because she refused to leave her place and come to Florida. I did bring her here and I was going to try to get her into an assisted living in Florida, but she wanted absolutely nothing to do with that, and she would. She was crying all the time, and so I had to take her back to Chicago and and and put her in her place and she said, you know, even though she wasn't that happy there, she wanted to be in her apartment, she didn't want to be in the member care unit, but she didn't want to be in Floridaida either so 2015 was pretty.
Speaker 2:It was a tough year. Yeah, that was a year for you yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So then I decided I had to go back to work. I didn't really want to go back into real estate, uh, full time, um. So I really wanted to keep people in their home. That was my goal yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2:Well, thank Well. Thank you for that. Thank you for sharing that story too.
Speaker 1:So, e well, now we're at the ECHM, the Executive Certificate of Home Modification. Okay, that's through the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, one of the oldest gerontology schools and one of the best in the world, actually the University of Southern California, berkeley, and that's an online course that you take. You take several courses for the designation and I have to say it's one of the best, best courses on home modification out there, and I met people from all around the world that were taking that course too. Wow, online, yeah.
Speaker 2:And what? What year was this? Do you remember the year?
Speaker 1:um, that was probably 2017 2017 what was so.
Speaker 2:Was there a story behind this milestone?
Speaker 1:no, just that.
Speaker 2:I wanted to further, you know, my education okay, all right, educational and growth is very important to you. I see that right, so that's, that's really good. Uh, so what would you say? Um, is your was your biggest pivot in life? I know you've mentioned things, but I still want to hear it. What was your biggest pivot in life?
Speaker 1:you would say um, probably, uh, when I had to raise my children all by myself. My husband was a drug addict and I went through some very difficult times, but we became such close, such a close family. I have a son and two daughters Son and two daughters.
Speaker 1:Right and my mother helped me tremendously because I had to go out from home. I was, we were in the construction business, okay, so I was able to run the business through the home and he would be golfing all the time. Yeah, he was quite the golfer. He was even invited by the King of Morocco to golf on his private golf course because he was such a big gambler. But it was very difficult because he left me in a huge debt because of his drug addiction. So I worked out of that and never asked for any assistance from the government. You know, I just went to work and my mom watched my kids while I started out working why?
Speaker 2:why didn't you ask for assistance, is it?
Speaker 1:because, you wasn't, you didn't know well, I just didn't feel, I thought that I was able-bodied, and if you're able-bodied and if you have help with with babysitting, so that you can go out to work, I think people, it's a matter of principle.
Speaker 2:It's a matter of principle. Okay, I just want that to be said, that's all. Wow, there's always a journey and a story that people go through and I bet that was tough. You know you having three kids. Was there large age gaps with their? With the kids?
Speaker 1:well, my, my two girls are 18 months apart. But then my son was two years later, two, two and a half years later, wow, yeah, then the next one. So he took me a little while to get pregnant. You know I was we were trying for that boy at the time. If you're having two girls where your kids now?
Speaker 2:where are they? Where they living? Are they in florida, close to you?
Speaker 1:no, my son is in san francisco, my middle daughter is in uh chicago area, river forest illinois, and then my daughter, of course, is here in saint petersburg I'm normal man, well, uh, so you have amazing mother, uh, and you can see a sacrifice here.
Speaker 2:So, but thank you for sharing that. I always have ultimate respect, definitely with me. Working in skilled nursing as an administrator. A lot of my staff probably maybe like 95% of them are women, and so you see the struggles in their stories of how they've been having to be independent and working hard and still providing at home, schoolwork, cooking, all of those duties 12-hour shift on their feet and then still come back to work the next day. And so for me, I always used to say, man, women are stronger than men. I said it all the time, like mentally maybe I don't know if you want to say muscle-wise, but mentally women are very strong, because a man can't put up with that.
Speaker 1:well, I'll just say me, I can't yeah, it never fails when you've really had the worst day of the week and you come home and they say, mom, we have to go to walgreens, I need notebook paper. Okay, okay, let's get in the car the car.
Speaker 2:wow, yeah, that's so, um, as far as uh for a caregiver, I want to highlight something, uh, but from your perspective, if you can speak to someone that maybe is 50, 55 you know, age, adult and give them an example of the best way how to prepare their home, sort of, against falls, Well, this is. And they have the money.
Speaker 1:I thought that you came up with that. After we were in business for a while, my daughter and I had a discussion saying if we could only educate and reach the people who are 50, their kids have just finished possibly college, okay, and now it's time for them to think do we want to stay here or do we want to downsize? What do we want to do? And let's try to find our forever home. If you can possibly come to that point in your life where you can make that decision, it would be so easy. Then, when it comes time, or if it comes time that you need to have a universally designed home, which is something designed that can be used by anyone of any ability, okay, so, uh, but people don't, they. They wait until they fall, break their hip. Yep, uh, you know. And then then they're in rehab and they say the doctor's releasing me tomorrow, can you help me? And we say I'm sorry, we need a little bit more lead time.
Speaker 2:Right right, right right.
Speaker 1:But if people would, the nicest thing to do would be to explain if they have any history of degenerative diseases in there, if they have been diagnosed with anything that hasn't really made them have any physical challenges yet. These are the things that you can do in increments as your disease further degenerates you. So, yeah, if we could get a whole of people when they're 50 and do a little consulting with them, that would be great. They would be able to know, and 10 years from that point in time the materials you know are going to be more expensive than they would be at that time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 1:And will you still be working 10 years from that point so that you can afford these improvements?
Speaker 2:Afford those improvements.
Speaker 1:Exactly, or be able to qualify for a loan at that point in time. You know, things happen to people when they get older and sometimes the rug gets pulled out from underneath them and it's very difficult for them to make these modifications. That's why we develop so many resources for people.
Speaker 2:That is really interesting. It's like almost can be seen as preparing for retirement. You know you have your retirement savings plan, your 401k or your savings investments. This is a part of that process, but a fall one fall because you didn't prepare in that area. Now you end up in a skilled nursing facility for the next remaining 20, 25 years of your life. You prepare financially but you didn't prepare for as the safety measures to prevent some of those Falls Falls are one of the lead leading tragedy leading causes for people. Older adults. Er visits one of the leading cause for death and injury death and injuries.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, so we're going to take a pause and we have. I have a special surprise for you. So somebody when they were younger uh, I found this out. Uh was a cheerleader, was a cheerleader. So, uh, just tell me, I'm actually still a cheerleader. It wasn't?
Speaker 1:cheerleading.
Speaker 2:So, uh, just tell me, actually you're still chilling okay, so I wanted to do something for the audience here. Um, back in high school you shared in high school, right? Uh, can you give us your favorite chant for the audience, your favorite chant?
Speaker 1:well, my favorite would be because it's my alma mater. It's uh, give me an o, give me an a, give me a k, give me a p, give me an a, give me r, give me another k, and that's what's it spell oak park louder, oak park louder. I couldn't do that now. So, yeah, because it's a, it was. It was just because it meant something to you, you know your school name.
Speaker 2:Your school name. All right Oak Park. What? Was your mascot, huskies, husky, oak Park, huskies, and did you cheer for basketball football? All the sports, yes, yes and then.
Speaker 1:I had knee problems and then I was a wrestling cheerleader, because you sit on the floor when they wrestle because otherwise you block somebody's view. Oh wow, I never knew about wrestling cheerleaders.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, so you cheered year round.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, we did. But then my sophomore, that was my sophomore year. You can't be a cheerleader when you're a freshman, so you learn the things and then you try out for your sophomore year. You can't be a cheerleader when you're a freshman. Oh, so you learn the things and then you try out for your sophomore year and then my junior year. I was a wrestling cheerleader and then my knee just got so bad that I became a synchronized swimmer. Okay, so I was on that team.
Speaker 2:Great Wow. So did your daughters pick up any cheerleading as well?
Speaker 1:No, no, they didn't, but I played the cello in the orchestra and, of course, my father was in the piano business. He was a piano tuner and a piano technician, so we always took piano lessons and I took cello lessons, besides being a cheerleader and all these other things I was involved in, but I was always busy.
Speaker 2:You were always busy.
Speaker 1:Always a busy person.
Speaker 2:Always busy.
Speaker 1:You were always busy, always a busy person, and I always say, if you want something to get done, ask a busy person, because they'll do it. Oh, okay, alright, and that's why I asked her to join the show.
Speaker 2:Well, that's good, but thank you for sharing that. That's why I sort of give you those, I guess, questionnaires to learn a little bit about you. And I said look at, look at, she was a cheerleader and a swimmer as well. So those are wonderful, uh activities to be a part of, and I'm actually getting my kids involved, and my daughter won't play tennis now, so I said hey, if she interested in it, I'll let her try it out.
Speaker 1:So yeah, my kids all played an instrument. They were in all types of sports and um, it's just something that it. It gives them, though some rounding in their life, they're so well-rounded, you know. So they might. They might find something that they really love doing and they'll pursue for the rest of their life. Or, you know, being involved on a team too it's just good experience.
Speaker 2:Good experience my dad, learn how to lose gotta learn how to lose my dad always said uh, he'd always like give advice to men like that are that are fathers. He would say you know, if you're raising a son, put him in sports. He said that's a good start. Right there, put them in sports, give them something to do, keep them busy. And because sports teach them things and, uh, different attributes that you can't just teach at home right, you know, you can't teach at home while so, and it takes a village. They always say you can't just teach at home. Right, you know, you can't teach at home and it takes a village. It does. They always say you can't teach everything, you're going to miss some things. But putting them in the right environments and the right things can actually benefit a lot. And I learned a lot from playing sports. I played sports when I was like four years old, so that was great, but that ends our segment of fun.
Speaker 1:the cheerleading, I ends our segment of fun uh, the cheerleading, um, I was like, okay, miss grasso was a cheerleader, all right. I just want to say thank you for not making me try to do a split.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, I don't think your kids watching they would appreciate me doing that, right? Uh, they'd be upset with me, uh. So, uh, I want to go into falls free, florida, uh, the coalition, um, the origins of it, if you just share with the audience there and actually, if we can entice them to join us. Absolutely yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1:We would love to further expand. We have 186 people in the original group that get the emails. Not everybody attends all the meetings because I know that they're busy and they have other commitments, but they love getting the meeting minutes from Jennifer Trevino, who was on your show. She is such a fastidious note taker and it's like just being there. You get the information.
Speaker 2:She's very smart, very smart Very smart, Very smart gal.
Speaker 1:I love working with her too. She does great consultations as an occupational therapist and she's taken it upon herself to get a lot of designations too.
Speaker 2:Functioned out of lease for life.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I really. She's a very, very wonderful person also. So we actually were just in Pinellas County. I was a member of the better living for seniors organization, which is an arm of the uh aging, I'm sorry. Uh, the triple a, the area agency on aging every county has one yep, uh and uh that's.
Speaker 1:That's like the fundraising arm for the Area Agency on Aging. So when I first joined and I started my business, somebody said why don't you join Better Living for Seniors? And I said, ok, I did and it was a great networking experience and I signed up to be on the Falls Prevention Committee where I met Carol Ware and Christine Haumacher and Carol Ware was the chair and then I think Christine was the vice chair at that time. Then she left to do Sages and Carol said do you want to be vice chair? So that's what happened then when Carol left because she was really had more duties at the Sunshine Center in St Petersburg, then I became the chair and then I expanded it. I left the Better Living for Seniors with that committee because I wanted to do a true coalition so that we could get other than just members.
Speaker 1:The fire department educators really don't wanna spend $60 a year to an organization that they can't take advantage of. They're too busy and there were a lot of people that just would have no value of the Better Living for Seniors networking. So I expanded it so that people wouldn't have to pay a membership fee. It's absolutely free. I don't know how we do it or how we stay in existence with having no money coming in. I'm not a 501c3, but am thinking about it. But through the graciousness of Pinellas County EMS and Regional 911, they were giving us a lot of money for printed materials. Each fire department gives us a lot of money, not us a lot of money. They spend a lot of money doing a lot of education and passing out of materials. So we've produced a lot of different things under the arm of that coalition. I have to say the Pinellas County is probably one of the most creative counties in prevention.
Speaker 1:We have a senior activity coloring book. My grandson told me that if I wanted people to, this is when he was about you know, 13, 14 years old grandma if you want people to learn about falls prevention because I was complaining that people run away from me when I try talking to them about it he, you have to have the grandkids tell their grandparents about it. And I said well, you know, max, that really makes a lot of good sense and that's my daughter, denise's son, max. Hey, max, he's now at Florida State University.
Speaker 2:He writes school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but so we have this flower project that we do in the schools. It originally started out for Grandparents Day, because that happens to be a hallmark holiday in September, which is Falls Prevention Month, and we help the children construct this base with petals that has the six steps of falls prevention from the National Coalition on Aging. So it's a very rewarding thing and people love it and they love getting something that their kids colored.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So that's just one of the things we did. And then one of the members of my coalition that I was dealing with retired from the Department of Elder Affairs and she said why don't you take over the coalition for the state? She said because there's people in tallahassee that could benefit from all the wonderful things that you're doing in pinellas county. So I did so. Now our coalition is statewide. We have the florida department of health. We have the florida department of elder affairs. We have a lot of different physical therapy people, occupational therapists. We have a lot of different physical therapy people, occupational therapists. We have a lot of different senior service businesses that would benefit from all of the education and resources that we have.
Speaker 1:We have most of the AAAs in the state of Florida are very, very in tune with our coalition and we had. Now we can. We can say that we do so many things and we reach so many people and we really are a great support to one another. But my big thing is to have some form of education every month, okay, via a speaker. Just this past, this month, we had, from a recommendation from American Bone Health. I've been wanting to get somebody to speak on osteoporosis and she was excellent Dr Kathleen Camp from University of North Texas Health Science Center.
Speaker 2:I made that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and she had. She graciously shared her slides so that people who couldn't attend the meeting could also get that important information, because osteoporosis is becoming very critical. It's almost. It's not near crisis yet, but it's. It's very, very. It happens too often that people break bones before they fall. You know, which is an unusual thing. We think that when you fall, you break a bone, but people are walking down the stairs and they break their hip because it's so brittle, and then they fall, which is a bone. But people are walking down the stairs and they break their hip because it's so brittle, and then they fall, which is a maybe a hairline fracture or a modest
Speaker 2:yep, it's a much harder fall then, and it takes a much longer recuperation and, of course, has a much greater chance of death, because after a broken hip, people develop pneumonia and then they pass right, I didn't do more research on that myself because I've read it before about the impact of a hip surgery and a hip fracture, but I don't know why it's so impactful to the body, right?
Speaker 2:but that's something interesting to learn about you know, because there's a lot of fatality that happens after a hip fracture, like really, it really is like people not aware of that you wouldn't really associate the hip with the lung Right, you know. I know that's. That's what is so intriguing for me, like how the how that has anything to do with what maybe have resulted after the fact. Right, I don't, I really don't know. Um know, so I need to investigate that myself as well. So, but Falls Free Florida Coalition do you remember the year? What you took over?
Speaker 1:just it'll be. It will be two years two years in January yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2:So I mean there are so many people that are involved, from state agencies to county level, individuals, people of nonprofit organizations, people that are business owners that are part of Falls Free Florida, and I just think that it would be very impactful to see, I would say, falls Free Florida join more of, I guess, a lot of the Chamber of Commerce as well, throughout the state of Florida as well you know, throughout the state of Florida as well to become members of that, so that way we can sort of integrate into the communities and I think that'll be a great step for you know, members of the Chamber of Commerce for each city to become a part of Falls Free Florida as well.
Speaker 1:And I'm looking for universities, different universities to come in too, that's really good. Because when I I was actually invited by the National Coalition on Aging recently to in early September to go to Arlington for their 10-year conference. It happens every year and they only invite specific people from the United States to do the planning for their false prevention campaigns for the next 10 years. Wow, so it was really an eye opening.
Speaker 1:It was just a fantastic. I met people from all around the United States and it was just really an eye opener on what we need to do. We're still light and people couldn't believe that we have monthly meetings. They say, oh, we meet quarterly, we meet every six months and I thought, well, that's great. I think you need to meet monthly because there's so many things that happen every day in our particular, in at least my physical realm of business. Somebody is inventing something new that's going to help somebody. There are young people coming in with terrific minds wanting to be prosthetic engineers and they're developing prosthetics now for people that are so much like your own hand, your own foot, your own leg, and it's just really so amazing to me that it is changing every single day.
Speaker 2:That's good, always advancement, and what advancements and future growth that you have that you're excited about when it pertains to access and design.
Speaker 1:Well, I think our growth. You know we consistently do more volume. I love now putting in the hybrid elevators. It's a vertical platform lift that goes up three stories high. It's especially so wonderful for coastal communities Elevators. To maintain an elevator is very expensive on an elevator contract. It's $5 to $750 a month. Elevator companies don't make money putting in the elevator.
Speaker 2:They make the money on the maintenance okay um, and typically right, if I'm not mistaken, you can only use, like the company that actually installed it, or maybe built the, the elevator as well, right?
Speaker 1:well, that's another thing. If you install something, you should service that. And I have to tell you we are servicing everybody else's installations because there's not as much money in service as there is in sales and installation. So a lot of the companies out there want to sell you something but they won't service you. And then they call us. Oh well, you can call Access and Design of St Petersburg, you know they'll come out to, they'll come down to Fort Myers to help you.
Speaker 1:Well, when we have to go to the VA in Fort Myers or Sanibel, okay, to redo a lot of the things that happened with the hurricane, nobody else wanted to go down there and we said, do we really?
Speaker 1:You can't find anybody else. But we do only because we love our servicemen, we love our veterans, okay, and we want to do something to help them because they deserve that. But it really angers me, okay, that these companies will not spend the time and trouble to service what they install and so many times it's not installed correctly, which makes me even more angry, because people have to get more rails or something, or, or sometimes on an outside unit they put in an inside unit. They're especially made and specially sealed against salt water, corrosion and the elements. So if you have an outside situation of a vertical platform lift, you need to have the outside package on your equipment and that's just very. You know they'll do that in order to get the contract, but because they don't care, and that just makes me angry. Shortcut If you're helping people with disabilities, you should never take advantage of them. Right? You should want to help them and that's what we primarily do, and I have to tell you, the people that work for us feel good at the end of every day.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 1:They feel good when they come home. They really accomplish something. And I talked to my grandson. Um, he said, you know, grandma, I think I'm going to take over access and design when I graduate college. I said, okay, that would be great, max, yeah and he says because there's just nothing like it, because he works for us when he doesn't have school and uh says it's just it's just so amazing to feel so good that you help people.
Speaker 2:Right, and it has to feel good too that the work that you're doing your lineage, you know, your kids' kids recognize it, honors it and actually wants to follow sort of in your footsteps and sort of help people as well. Like that has to be very fulfilling for you, you know, and more rewarding as well. Like that, that has to be very fulfilling for you, you know, and more rewarding as well, you know so. But I think it attributes to um, how impactful you are as a person. Not only you're impactful in your household, as a mother, a person that really just took, uh, her family by you know herself and you know, along with your mother, and raise your kids, instilled in them commitment to others, right and just. Your journey is amazing and I'm glad that we're able to share it here on the let's Get Comfortable podcast. And as we wrap up, do you have any final messages out there, whether it's to say to family of caregivers, whether it's say to your own family, anything you'd like to share?
Speaker 1:I started my business when I was 70 years old. Okay, and getting a construction license in the state of Florida is just not easy. I had to bring two huge suitcases with me filled with books. It's an open book exam for several hours, but it's very grueling and most people have to take it three, four, five times. Okay, I did fail the operation portion because it was a lot of math and I asked for help with my instructor so I could go take it again. And he said oh, I'm just too busy. My wife has me doing stuff on Saturday and that'd be the only time I would have. So I went on YouTube and this 12 year old boy taught me pi r square, how to figure the trapezoid volume to dig and then haul away in trucks of a certain volume, so that I would be able to pass that exam. And I did, and thank you to that little kid out there who made a lot of sense because he talked my language and I totally could understand him. So if you ever get stuck, there's always someone who's going to help you find your way.
Speaker 1:And people said, oh, oh, why would you want to go into business? So, my friends, oh, that's just silly, why don't you just take it easy. You're 70 years old. Why would you want to start a business at 70. And I went well, why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't? Because right now, at that time, nobody was really doing aging in place.
Speaker 1:Okay, and since then there's been a lot of more companies that have popped up that are doing that. But I wanted to do it correctly and I wanted to do it so that it would be good for people, and I wanted to be able to build an arsenal of resources so that people that couldn't afford the modifications would be able to get them in some way. Sometimes we get only $500, like from the Diabetes Association, towards a ramp, but then we have to go to another source to get a little bit here, a little bit there, but we're going to make sure that that person gets the ramp by hook or by crook. So there's always a way to overcome something. Just don't give up and don't listen to all the noise that people give you. Do what you think is right from your heart.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes yes, right, and that's why, honestly, it's so impactful to have a network of associates, people that can empower you and motivate you, because if you keep your circle small sometimes and not branch out, and those type of people can deter you and keep you complacent as well and not not knocking your friends, by the way, but um, it's just, uh, the truth. Yeah, yeah, but um, but I thank you for being, uh, the pioneer that you are. Uh, so we're sitting here today with the pioneer and legendary person, could I say. You started Aging in Place in Florida.
Speaker 1:Is that?
Speaker 2:too cocky to say that.
Speaker 1:It's always been there.
Speaker 2:It's always been okay, always been there, aarp.
Speaker 1:AARP all right Is really trying to bring it to the forefront with the Aging in Place booklet. And again, aarporg slash home fit. That'll give you a ton of information because this is a big deal it's a big deal To be able to remodel your home to be able to stay in it.
Speaker 1:But you have to understand. And what do you want to continue doing? That's what I always tell people. Number one what do you want to continue doing? You want to continue gardening? Well, you can do raised gardening beds so that if you're in a wheelchair, you can continue to garden and do something that you love there's always a way to do something got it.
Speaker 2:What do you want to continue doing?
Speaker 1:right and how can you do?
Speaker 2:that long term right, when you are no longer able to have allability, how can you put yourself in place in positioning your home in position to be able to have those functions that do the things you enjoy continuously? That's an amazing way to put it and on that note, I'm going to say in my mind I have the legendary pioneer of aging in place. He is right here on the let's Get Comfy podcast, ms Arlene Grosso. To you and your family, your kids, I commend you all for your mission and how they were able to honor their mother. That's in the Bible as well. Honor their mother and provide back to caregivers and help people each and every day. So thank you for joining the show.
Speaker 2:My pleasure it's my honor again and I look forward to having many more years with you as an associate, a friend of someone that I can learn from, mentor and I know, and I hope people out there uh, take an an opportunity and visit a website and, if you don't mind, before we wrap up, if you can share where people can find your information, your website, whether it's on social media, any of those things, where can they find you?
Speaker 1:It's wwwaccessanddesignflcom.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:And is spelled out because you can't have the ampersand in there. So it's access and design, fl or floridacom, and it's 727-233-4900 all right, um, knowledge and resources, access and design.
Speaker 2:Uh, please go on to youtube at the let's Get Comfort podcast. Please subscribe to the channel. Comment If you have any questions. Use the comment section there below to make sure you share your thoughts in regards to this episode. If you have any questions, ms Arlene Grosso gave you her contact information. Also, you can visit wwwcomfortmeasuresconsultingcom. I'd love to have a conversation with you if you need any assistance with healthcare navigation or to reach out. If you don't feel so comfortable reaching out Either one, I'm going to connect you with Ms Grosso for sure, and as well, check out my Facebook. If some people don't access YouTube, we're also available on Facebook at Comfort Measures Consulting there, as well as Instagram, comfort Measures Consulting. So we thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Less Than Comfy Podcast. See you next show. Alright.
