February 12, 2026 • 12 mins
On this episode of CEOs You Should Know, we spotlight Kim Hudson, Chief Operating Officer of Seniors Helping Seniors Pittsburgh Northeast. A nurse with more than 30 years of experience in long-term care and senior services, Kim has built her career around compassionate, high-quality support for older adults. Today, she and her husband lead a non-medical home care agency dedicated to helping seniors age in place with dignity, safety, and independence. Kim shares how her clinical background shapes her leadership, why peer-to-peer senior care makes such a difference, and how their mission is creating meaningful connections throughout the Pittsburgh community.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
And welcome in. This is the CEO's You Should Know Podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's say hello to Kim
Hudson of Seniors Helping Seniors. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi, Johnny, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
So tell us everything we need to know about your company.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So, Seniors Helping Seniors is a non medical home care
agency and we really work to support adults older adults,
especially helping them remain in their home in the community,
providing support with activities of daily living, companionship, lighthouse keeping,
et cetera. Anything that really an individual may need that
(00:40):
will enable them to stay in their home for as
long as possible and away from having to transfer to
that next level of care.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
All right, so how did the company start?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, the brand Seniors Helping Seniors has been around for
over twenty years. My husband and I have been part
of this franchise for the last two years. I am
a nurse by trade for the past thirty years with
a focus in long term care. I've wanted to be
able to support individuals and work with helping people for
as long as I can remember, which is why I
(01:10):
became a nurse in the first place.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So what makes your company different from maybe other in
home care companies.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
One thing that makes us different is you'll notice seniors
helping seniors. We focus on a mature caregiver. We like
to have caregivers that can share life experiences with the
clients that we support as well, so we're also building
a relationship, not just supporting that patient or client with
the services that they need, but again building a relationship
in a way that they can share those life experiences
(01:39):
and have a friend and not just a caregiver.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I understand some of the advantages, but what are some
of the advantages that you may have experienced that you
may not have expected.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, one thing I can say for sure is I've
been very surprised by how far these relationships really go.
When we are meeting with clients who are a little
reluctant to get some support in the first place because
they want to remain independent, so they start off on
the slow side, But then they meet their caregiver, they
(02:14):
make a friend, and before you know it, it's a
win win situation really on both fronts. The caregiver is
getting something out of that relationship, just like the client
that we're servicing.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Obviously, you're focused on care, but you're also providing companionship.
That's got to be really really important.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Absolutely, you know, Johnny. One of the things that you
look at our society today and a lot of our
older individuals are suffering from depression. They're losing skills that
maybe they were able to have that they had at
one point, or basically need a little bit more help with,
and so that lends itself to not feeling so good
(02:55):
about life or where they are in life. So that
companionship really does go a long way.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
What are some of the biggest challenges families face when
trying to help aging parents?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Again, I think you want to maintain your relationship as
a daughter, as a son first and foremost, and when
you're the primary caregiver, that takes away a little bit
from that. And people are stretched so thin now most
families have two working parts to it. You know, a
husband and a wife are both working, whereas you know,
once upon a time that wasn't the case. Now you
(03:29):
are seeing again people spread so thin. So it's a
challenge to number one, be able to have the time
to provide the care and number two, to maintain that
relationship of daughter or son over caregiver.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Now, take me back when you first started to enter
the nursing field. What made you interested in that area.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I've always had this desire to really be able to
help people at the end of the day. Really the
medical side of things intrigued me, so scientifically clinical aspect
of helping people, but then the social aspect and really
just part of for me becoming a nurse and being
a nurse was building a bond with my patient. I
(04:10):
did home care myself for quite a few years.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Now you own this company, do you find it difficult
to find that balance of running a company and also
providing that care that these individuals need.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I don't find it difficult to find the balance between
the two. Where I find it more challenging is to
I always myself want to be the caregiver for these
clients that I meet. Why I go out and do
assessments myself, even we have staff that will do a
team of people that will do assessments as well. When
I meet a client, I identify oftentimes with that client,
(04:46):
and I find that I want to be the one
providing the care, and that's always not always feasible.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So what made you go from providing the care to
actually providing the company that is providing the care. What
made you go with into the field in an ownership.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So I saw that the need is just great and
it's growing.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Especially especially in the pits of this area.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
In Western PA. We have a demographic larger than many
states in the United States. We have about twenty one
percent of people over sixty five, whereas the average age
or the average percentage is about eighteen percent in the
rest of the country of people over sixty five. So
there is definitely even more of a need in the
(05:30):
western Pennsylvania geography. So what made me want to get
into it a little bit more is because I thought
I could serve it even better than what I was
doing previously.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
And tell us about Travis.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Travis is my husband. He started out in finance and
really just as supporting my vision from being able to
support folks out remain in their home, help them age
with grace and dignity in their home.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And so he's so this is a perfect because you've
always had that passion. You've been in the nursing field
for a long long time. You saw the need of
in home care and helping. Like you said that it's
a little different than maybe other in home care because
maybe nurses are a little bit more. But you're providing
(06:21):
older individuals as companionship and helping them out. So it
sounds like a nice balance. Does he handle the finances
and then you handle the care? That's exactly what he does.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So I work as the chief operating officer and he's
the owner basically part owner and CEO so as well.
So he does a lot of the finance. I do
a lot of the clinical, a lot of the operations.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
What are some of the things that as owner? What
do you find challenging?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
We are very We're always looking for qualified caregivers. One
of the challenges that we face is making that match
because for us, it's more than just putting a body
to a client. It is really about finding that perfect match.
So we identify hobbies and similar interests and we try
(07:13):
to make that match with that client so that that
relationship can build.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So how do you find people if somebody's interested in
maybe helping out? Is it you? Is it a paid
position as it volunteers? How does that? How does that
dynamic work?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
It is a paid position. Absolutely, We're always looking again
for good qualified caregivers. You can go to our website,
which is Pitts Seniors Helping Seniors Pittsburgh Northeast dot com.
And then what we do really again is we know
our caregivers. We're always looking at identifying what caregiver might
fit with what client, and so far, really I can
(07:47):
say that we make a really good match. Sometimes things
sometimes we have to pivot and we may change out
a caregiver if it didn't go as planned. Maybe they
don't have all of the same shared interests as we thought,
but that's few and far between. Typically we see that
that relationship is a good fit.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Do they do you require a medical background.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
You do not have to have a medical background. We
appreciate caregiving experience and we do welcome anybody as a
certified nursing assistant. We also have some nurses that work
with us as well. But if you have caregiving experience
in general, we are interested in talking with you.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Tell me about the dynamic between the caregiver and the
person receiving the care. What do you hope to accomplish Well.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
What we really look for is that relationship to be
able to be built, so again they're receiving the support
that they need more like from a friend rather than
a caregiver, so that relationship really is paramount.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Give me an example. Obviously I'm not asking you to
name names, but what's the ideal relationship?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Like I can think of many examples. One that comes
really to the forefront. We had a have a client
currently who has some memory issues and her husband wanted
somebody to assist in some daily support but also companionship. Initially,
the wife was reluctant. She again was having some memory
(09:17):
issues so was not really was a little concerned that
she wouldn't be able to make a connection. We introduced a.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Careater because of her memory.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Because of her memory issues and in fact was even
having trouble remembering names, so we introduced a caregiver to her.
Within three sessions, they had taken a picture together to
help with the memory issues. And now that client that
we have looks forward to her visits with her caregiver
and they go out to lunch. Sometimes the caregiver will
(09:52):
take the client to doctor's appointments while also supporting her
in other ways. You know in the community that that
she may need and also that gives her husband a chance,
as we spoke about earlier, to take a little bit
of a step back and be her husband rather than
the caregiver all the time.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Right, And you know caregivers, there's a lot of stress
on caregivers, and so if you're building a relationship, you're
building a you know, I guess at a relationship that
you're depending on each other and you can if you
have Are you looking for commonalities with the caregiver and
the person receiving the care.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Oftentimes yes, so shared shared interests and oftentimes it is
just shared life experiences. So that will be helpful in
engaging a client with a caregiver too. You may have
a caregiver who grew up in a farm and you
have a client who loves animals things of that nature,
So there are commonalities that way.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So what do you look for when you're looking to
bring somebody in as.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
A recruit as a caregiver. We're looking for somebody who
has a genuine desire to really make a connection with
a senior, with a person who needs some extra support. Primarily,
that's what our focus is on.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So what's your vision for the future with the company?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I would love to see us continue to grow in
the way that we have been over the last two years.
And being able to reach more people who need the
support and who are able to remain in their home
for as long as they choose to do so, rather
than needing that next level of care in a facility.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
All right, somebody wants more information on Seniors Helping Seniors.
Where do they go?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
They would go to Seniors Helping Seniors Pittsburgh Northeast dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Is there anything you know? We covered quite a few topics.
Is there anything that maybe we missed or something that
you want people to know about your company?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I really would like people to take away from this
conversation the fact that we are in it for the
right reason. We recognize it's a privilege to be able
to assist your loved one in their home. We want
to be a part of that in any way that
we can be.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Kim Hudson of Seniors Helping Seniors and a CEO you
Should Know, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
This has been the CEOs you Should Know podcast showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy, part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Heartwell, thank
you so much for listening.
And welcome in. This is the CEO's You Should Know Podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's say hello to Kim
Hudson of Seniors Helping Seniors. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi, Johnny, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
So tell us everything we need to know about your company.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So, Seniors Helping Seniors is a non medical home care
agency and we really work to support adults older adults,
especially helping them remain in their home in the community,
providing support with activities of daily living, companionship, lighthouse keeping,
et cetera. Anything that really an individual may need that
(00:40):
will enable them to stay in their home for as
long as possible and away from having to transfer to
that next level of care.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
All right, so how did the company start?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, the brand Seniors Helping Seniors has been around for
over twenty years. My husband and I have been part
of this franchise for the last two years. I am
a nurse by trade for the past thirty years with
a focus in long term care. I've wanted to be
able to support individuals and work with helping people for
as long as I can remember, which is why I
(01:10):
became a nurse in the first place.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So what makes your company different from maybe other in
home care companies.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
One thing that makes us different is you'll notice seniors
helping seniors. We focus on a mature caregiver. We like
to have caregivers that can share life experiences with the
clients that we support as well, so we're also building
a relationship, not just supporting that patient or client with
the services that they need, but again building a relationship
in a way that they can share those life experiences
(01:39):
and have a friend and not just a caregiver.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I understand some of the advantages, but what are some
of the advantages that you may have experienced that you
may not have expected.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, one thing I can say for sure is I've
been very surprised by how far these relationships really go.
When we are meeting with clients who are a little
reluctant to get some support in the first place because
they want to remain independent, so they start off on
the slow side, But then they meet their caregiver, they
(02:14):
make a friend, and before you know it, it's a
win win situation really on both fronts. The caregiver is
getting something out of that relationship, just like the client
that we're servicing.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Obviously, you're focused on care, but you're also providing companionship.
That's got to be really really important.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Absolutely, you know, Johnny. One of the things that you
look at our society today and a lot of our
older individuals are suffering from depression. They're losing skills that
maybe they were able to have that they had at
one point, or basically need a little bit more help with,
and so that lends itself to not feeling so good
(02:55):
about life or where they are in life. So that
companionship really does go a long way.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
What are some of the biggest challenges families face when
trying to help aging parents?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Again, I think you want to maintain your relationship as
a daughter, as a son first and foremost, and when
you're the primary caregiver, that takes away a little bit
from that. And people are stretched so thin now most
families have two working parts to it. You know, a
husband and a wife are both working, whereas you know,
once upon a time that wasn't the case. Now you
(03:29):
are seeing again people spread so thin. So it's a
challenge to number one, be able to have the time
to provide the care and number two, to maintain that
relationship of daughter or son over caregiver.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Now, take me back when you first started to enter
the nursing field. What made you interested in that area.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I've always had this desire to really be able to
help people at the end of the day. Really the
medical side of things intrigued me, so scientifically clinical aspect
of helping people, but then the social aspect and really
just part of for me becoming a nurse and being
a nurse was building a bond with my patient. I
(04:10):
did home care myself for quite a few years.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Now you own this company, do you find it difficult
to find that balance of running a company and also
providing that care that these individuals need.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I don't find it difficult to find the balance between
the two. Where I find it more challenging is to
I always myself want to be the caregiver for these
clients that I meet. Why I go out and do
assessments myself, even we have staff that will do a
team of people that will do assessments as well. When
I meet a client, I identify oftentimes with that client,
(04:46):
and I find that I want to be the one
providing the care, and that's always not always feasible.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So what made you go from providing the care to
actually providing the company that is providing the care. What
made you go with into the field in an ownership.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So I saw that the need is just great and
it's growing.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Especially especially in the pits of this area.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
In Western PA. We have a demographic larger than many
states in the United States. We have about twenty one
percent of people over sixty five, whereas the average age
or the average percentage is about eighteen percent in the
rest of the country of people over sixty five. So
there is definitely even more of a need in the
(05:30):
western Pennsylvania geography. So what made me want to get
into it a little bit more is because I thought
I could serve it even better than what I was
doing previously.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
And tell us about Travis.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Travis is my husband. He started out in finance and
really just as supporting my vision from being able to
support folks out remain in their home, help them age
with grace and dignity in their home.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And so he's so this is a perfect because you've
always had that passion. You've been in the nursing field
for a long long time. You saw the need of
in home care and helping. Like you said that it's
a little different than maybe other in home care because
maybe nurses are a little bit more. But you're providing
(06:21):
older individuals as companionship and helping them out. So it
sounds like a nice balance. Does he handle the finances
and then you handle the care? That's exactly what he does.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So I work as the chief operating officer and he's
the owner basically part owner and CEO so as well.
So he does a lot of the finance. I do
a lot of the clinical, a lot of the operations.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
What are some of the things that as owner? What
do you find challenging?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
We are very We're always looking for qualified caregivers. One
of the challenges that we face is making that match
because for us, it's more than just putting a body
to a client. It is really about finding that perfect match.
So we identify hobbies and similar interests and we try
(07:13):
to make that match with that client so that that
relationship can build.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
So how do you find people if somebody's interested in
maybe helping out? Is it you? Is it a paid
position as it volunteers? How does that? How does that
dynamic work?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
It is a paid position. Absolutely, We're always looking again
for good qualified caregivers. You can go to our website,
which is Pitts Seniors Helping Seniors Pittsburgh Northeast dot com.
And then what we do really again is we know
our caregivers. We're always looking at identifying what caregiver might
fit with what client, and so far, really I can
(07:47):
say that we make a really good match. Sometimes things
sometimes we have to pivot and we may change out
a caregiver if it didn't go as planned. Maybe they
don't have all of the same shared interests as we thought,
but that's few and far between. Typically we see that
that relationship is a good fit.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Do they do you require a medical background.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
You do not have to have a medical background. We
appreciate caregiving experience and we do welcome anybody as a
certified nursing assistant. We also have some nurses that work
with us as well. But if you have caregiving experience
in general, we are interested in talking with you.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Tell me about the dynamic between the caregiver and the
person receiving the care. What do you hope to accomplish Well.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
What we really look for is that relationship to be
able to be built, so again they're receiving the support
that they need more like from a friend rather than
a caregiver, so that relationship really is paramount.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Give me an example. Obviously I'm not asking you to
name names, but what's the ideal relationship?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Like I can think of many examples. One that comes
really to the forefront. We had a have a client
currently who has some memory issues and her husband wanted
somebody to assist in some daily support but also companionship. Initially,
the wife was reluctant. She again was having some memory
(09:17):
issues so was not really was a little concerned that
she wouldn't be able to make a connection. We introduced a.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Careater because of her memory.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Because of her memory issues and in fact was even
having trouble remembering names, so we introduced a caregiver to her.
Within three sessions, they had taken a picture together to
help with the memory issues. And now that client that
we have looks forward to her visits with her caregiver
and they go out to lunch. Sometimes the caregiver will
(09:52):
take the client to doctor's appointments while also supporting her
in other ways. You know in the community that that
she may need and also that gives her husband a chance,
as we spoke about earlier, to take a little bit
of a step back and be her husband rather than
the caregiver all the time.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Right, And you know caregivers, there's a lot of stress
on caregivers, and so if you're building a relationship, you're
building a you know, I guess at a relationship that
you're depending on each other and you can if you
have Are you looking for commonalities with the caregiver and
the person receiving the care.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Oftentimes yes, so shared shared interests and oftentimes it is
just shared life experiences. So that will be helpful in
engaging a client with a caregiver too. You may have
a caregiver who grew up in a farm and you
have a client who loves animals things of that nature,
So there are commonalities that way.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So what do you look for when you're looking to
bring somebody in as.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
A recruit as a caregiver. We're looking for somebody who
has a genuine desire to really make a connection with
a senior, with a person who needs some extra support. Primarily,
that's what our focus is on.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So what's your vision for the future with the company?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I would love to see us continue to grow in
the way that we have been over the last two years.
And being able to reach more people who need the
support and who are able to remain in their home
for as long as they choose to do so, rather
than needing that next level of care in a facility.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
All right, somebody wants more information on Seniors Helping Seniors.
Where do they go?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
They would go to Seniors Helping Seniors Pittsburgh Northeast dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Is there anything you know? We covered quite a few topics.
Is there anything that maybe we missed or something that
you want people to know about your company?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I really would like people to take away from this
conversation the fact that we are in it for the
right reason. We recognize it's a privilege to be able
to assist your loved one in their home. We want
to be a part of that in any way that
we can be.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Kim Hudson of Seniors Helping Seniors and a CEO you
Should Know, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
This has been the CEOs you Should Know podcast showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy, part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Heartwell, thank
you so much for listening.
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