Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today we are so lucky
to have a special guest with us
, and so I'm going to go throughthe housekeeping stuff, sort of
you know, give her a fewminutes to get on here and then
we'll go from there.
It's very exciting.
So, housekeeping, everybody,keep your lines muted.
Share stories, experiences,tips.
Be sure to ask our guestsquestions if you'd like she's
(00:23):
very sweet.
Make recommendations if youguys, if there are things that
you want us to talk about, youwant Annette to research or
bring up or tell you herexperience, or Dawn or anybody,
let us know what those thingsare so we can help and tell us
what you want to know.
But we definitely want you tointeract and talk to our guests.
Today I'll be talking to her,but we want you to talk to know.
But we definitely want you tointeract and talk to our guests.
(00:44):
Today I'll be talking to her,but we want you to talk to her.
So, introductions, dawn Fiala,you can go first.
Hi, I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Dawn Fiala.
I've been with the Proof SeniorNetwork for over two years now.
I have a background in homecare, sales operations,
recruiting, retention.
I've kind of done it all and Ithink that's pretty typical in
(01:12):
home care.
We wear lots of hats.
I'm probably best, my best.
I guess skill would be growingthe private pay side of the
business.
I was able to not by myself butwith a great team get to 3.5
million in just under four yearsin private pay billing.
We're really happy you're heretoday.
I know Christina is going toshare a wealth of information.
I'm really excited that she'shere today and we get to listen
to her and her expertise.
And Lisa is out today, so we'llmove on to Annette.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Okay, hi everybody.
My name is Annette Ziegler andI am one of the sales training
experts here at ASN.
I have had over 20 yearsexperience in marketing and
senior care.
My most recent was almost eightyears in a non-medical
companion care agency and I wasa community liaison, and I, too,
(01:56):
helped grow our business fromone million to four million with
all the proven sales tacticsthat we have in our sales
training course.
So I'm really happy to be here.
I'm glad you guys are heretoday.
We have a great topic.
I can't wait to listen toChristine.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, I'm Valerie Van
Boeven.
I'm the co-owner of ApprovedSenior Network.
I'm a registered nurse by trade.
I do not actively use that.
I don't touch people anymore iswhat I usually say, and I also
tell people usually I'm 200years old and nurse years is
sort of like dog years for everyyear that you're a nurse.
(02:34):
Oh wait, it ages you like 10years at a time, I don't know.
So today I was kind of, I guess,tasked with figuring out you
know what are some of the thingsthat we haven't talked about
yet, or maybe we've talked aboutthem, but we could use a new
(02:54):
perspective.
So that's why I'm kind of doingthis one today, and I think I
did the one last week onLinkedIn, but I knew we needed a
good guest speaker who couldshow you guys how it's done.
So that's what we're going todo today.
All right, oh, it's me.
I'm flipping the slides, allright.
So let's talk about how towatch the meetings that you
(03:16):
missed.
So I don't have this on thescreen, but I want you guys to
know that any podcast platformthat you might listen to, so if
you are out in your car or youhave a long drive back and forth
to work, if you listen to musicor podcasts or whatever.
Every single one of these thatwe do is posted on every podcast
(03:39):
platform.
You can think of Apple, spotify, google, um, anyway.
So if you have a special onethat you like, the search you
should do is home care marketing.
If you, if you do home care orhome care marketing and sales
and you'll find this sort ofpurpley thing and you'll find
(04:01):
either dawn's face or my face orsome combo, maybe look for that
and you'll find our podcast'sface or my face or some combo.
Maybe Look for that and you'llfind our podcast and you can see
all the episodes are posted.
We do that because we know thatyou guys oftentimes are wanting
to listen to or watch thingsthat you didn't get to attend
live.
So that's why we do that.
(04:22):
If you want to see, want towatch the videos or interact
with all of us, we have a veryactive sales forum Home Care
Sales Support Forum.
So if you go tohomecaresalesupportforumcom, put
in your username, which is youremail address, that we've been
sending all of these notes toreminders and that, and then, if
you don't know your password,if you haven't logged in, and
(04:43):
then, if you don't know yourpassword, if you haven't logged
in there before, you don't knowyour password, just use forgot
password feature and it'll helpyou reset your own password.
And if that fails and you justcan't figure it out, send us a
note through support support atasnsupportcom and we will help
you.
No problem, all right, this iswhat it looks like when you go
(05:04):
to the form.
Now this is a desktop view, butthere's also an app that you can
download.
I don't know if we put that onhere.
We should.
It's called the Colab app,k-o-l-l-a-b.
K-o-l-l-a-b is the app.
You can get it on Android oriPhone, and then you want to
(05:26):
search for us.
We need to put the directionsin the slide deck so people can
find it.
Anyway, this is the desktop.
So once you're in the forum andyou're, you can see this.
You go to learning that littletab at the top If you're on your
iPhone or your cell phone, thenit's at the bottom, I believe
and once you click on learning,you're going to see any courses
that you're enrolled in.
(05:46):
But really the only one youneed is 2024, continuum Sales
Mastery Circle and you click onthat and boom, you can see.
You can see all of the episodesor all of the meetings we've
had since January 2024.
We try to name them somethingthat you can since January 2024.
(06:09):
We try to name them somethingthat you can you know, see or
you can like kind of make adecision as to whether you want
to watch that, so you knowwhat's in it.
And also, when you click on oneof these wait, oh no, I didn't
do that when you click on one ofthese and open it up, the
video's there and also the PDFof the slides that we created to
give out to all of you.
Now, those are emailed to youpretty quickly, but if you want
(06:33):
to download the slides frominside of there because all the
links are live and I thinkthat's part of what you're
looking for is the links to allthe handouts and things like
that.
So that definitely is all inthere for you, all right.
So today do we have Christineyet?
Is she here yet?
No, no, christine, okay.
(06:54):
So Christine said she was goingto be a couple minutes late, so
what time is it?
Oh, it's 1208.
She should be here anytime, allright.
So what we're going to do isinterview Christina Ramos and
I'll just do some introductionsand then, if we need to, we can
talk about lead behinds untilshe gets here.
That's a good idea, but I'll doa little introduction of her
(07:18):
Touching Hearts at Home,gainesville.
This is who she.
This is her home care agencyand she's part of that with her
whole family.
Her mom and dad started thisRuben and Rose and the reason
they started it is because ofNana, who's right here in the
(07:39):
middle.
I'm not going to talk too muchmore about that, but that's
Christina on the right hand sidethere.
So Christina is the daughter ofRuben and Rose and she is a
fabulous marketer.
So since she's not quite hereyet, let's talk about handouts.
I'm going to scroll forwardhere.
Let's talk about leave behinds.
(07:59):
So we usually take that waittill the end to do this, but
this works out just fine.
So who wants to talk aboutleave behinds?
I think Annette or Dawn.
Do you want to do it?
Yeah, ok.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I'm happy to do it.
Ok, so for August, august isNational Wellness Month and, as
you guys know, if you've beenwatching us for any time at all
or if you are in our salestraining program, you really
need to have a good two to threeleave-behinds a month or maybe
in order to go see your referralsources every eight to 10 days.
(08:33):
One face-to-face a month perreferral source and the others
are leave-behinds.
So you have to have thingsoutside of brochures, right?
You have to have things outsideof your business cards.
So we try to supply you withsome great creative things to go
out there and leave behind,because you're not going to get
a face-to-face and you shouldn'texpect a face-to-face every
(08:54):
single every eight to 10 days.
So August is National WellnessMonth.
Remember to take care ofyourself.
Research shows self-care helpsmanage stress and promotes
happiness.
So you've got your Canva linkand you've got your Google Docs
link here you can go in and swapout the logo, contact
information in Google, and ifyou want to swap out colors and
(09:14):
maybe the font and what it says,you can do that in Canva.
Next slide Valerie, I'm notrunning the slides, it's weird.
Okay, and with that, so you canalways take those little
leave-behinds, poke a hole inthe top corner and put it a
ribbon through it and tie it toa bag, and then inside the bag
you can put things.
And so, because it's wellnessmonth, we've got some shower
(09:36):
steamers, we've got some eyemasks.
The string is like just cutebecause you're tying it around
the finger.
I would probably use thatstring to tie the leaf behind,
because it kind of goes with thepicture on the leaf behind.
So we're just reminding them totake care of themselves.
Again, you want to go frombeing a resource to your social
(09:57):
worker, to your independentliving, assisted living, to a
partner, and so there's lots ofways to do that.
We get into that in thetraining program.
But a good way to do it too,and a piece of getting to do
that, is just letting them knowyou care about them as a person.
Right, they're in a hard job.
I've actually had a socialworker say I wish I could have a
catheter because like shecouldn't even get up and go to
the bathroom.
Like it's just crazy.
(10:18):
It's busy all day long, and sowe're letting them know we want
you to take care of yourself.
Okay, next slide To go alongwith that National Wellness
Month prescription for self-careyou must take a 10-minute break
, perfectly outside, take a deepbreath, pop open one capsule
for maximum relief.
You're probably thinking capsule, what are you talking about?
(10:39):
So, again, you've got the Canvaand Google Doc.
So, valerie, we go to the nextone.
And these, this capsules, thislittle bottle of capsules, the
capsules when you open them,they have these sayings in them.
They're kind of like a fortunecookie and you get a little tag
inside the fortune cookie.
And so putting a couple ofthose in one of these like
(11:01):
gingham drawstring bags forwellness month is a great, a
great thing to do as well.
And so I thought these were socute.
Lisa found this and I justthink they're really, really
cute and we're telling them totake a capsule.
Really, they're opening it andgetting a positive statement
with the capsule, all right.
Next slide the importance ofexercise, promoting health and
(11:24):
wellness.
Still, we're still in thehealth and wellness.
We like to tie ourleave-behinds to what we do as a
business also, and so theimportance of exercise.
We're trained in guidingpatients through their
prescribed home exercise regimen.
Call Valerie today.
Again, you've got the Googledoc and you've got the Canva
link here so that you can comein and make this document your
(11:44):
own and to go with that.
With Amazon, we have somestress balls, there's some
bracelets that come with thestress balls, and so this could
be a really good lead behind.
Again, we're just trying tomake that connection with them
and make sure they're takingcare of themselves and
remembering to do that duringwellness month in August.
All right, next slide New YorkValley.
(12:07):
Okay, august is also.
Oh.
National Safe at Home Week isthe last week of August.
Let's light the way.
Call now for a free home safetyassessment.
Sometimes, if we can't get inand you know, you've got a
social worker saying this guyreally needs home care and I
just can't get him to agree toit.
Sometimes offering to do a freehome safety assessment is a
(12:29):
great way to get you in the doorand look at the home, and I
know you guys have all been tolots of homes.
There's extension cords runningacross the living room with
throw rugs over the top.
It can be really unsafe, and sosometimes people just need a
little assistance in letting youcome in so you can talk to them
about that, and it may endthere.
It may be that you go in there.
(12:49):
You do the safety check and allis good Down the road.
They'll remember that you didthat.
To go with this, we have keychains that light up because
we're lighting the way.
So this is a great lead behindfor August.
August, another lead behind.
You could do this anytime.
Annette used this in her pastlife as a home care rep, a
community liaison, coffee timeon me, redeemed by text, only to
(13:11):
set a date Coffee or tea, it'son me, we can add, you can add
on here, I will bring it to you.
If you think they're not gonnahave time to go do coffee, a lot
of them don't.
The idea here is that they'retexting you.
If you can get on a textingbasis with your referral sources
, especially those socialworkers in SNIPS, if they can
text you when they have a quickdischarge versus having to call
(13:33):
other people, it just puts youon another level with your
referral sources.
This was a very good greathandout for Annette.
It brought her a lot ofreferral, got that connection
going.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
All right, next slide
, Valerie.
Hey, August is really tough, sotake these, because there's not
a lot to celebrate in August.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
It's like that is
true.
That is true.
And remember, we create theseleave-behinds for you in one
face-to-face a month with yourreferral sources, and the rest
are usually leave-behinds.
We usually will create aleave-behind that is going to
cause a face-to-face every monthfor you to help you get them to
come out and talk to you.
That coffee is a great one forAugust.
September is fall.
(14:16):
Right, it's the beginning ofthe fall.
It is also fall preventionmonth.
Just like these socks, ourservices can help prevent falls.
So the next slide we have thegrip socks and I've used this
leap behind for years and theylove it.
They love how clever it is andit's fall and we're preventing
falls.
Um, they usually will givethese to their patients, you can
.
We ordered socks from China andhad our logo across the toe.
(14:39):
Um ordered thousands of them,Um, and they went over really
well.
The social was like can I havelike five pair?
I've got patients in here andthey don't like the, the, the
socks in the hospital, or theydon't like the socks.
Can we have more?
Absolutely, you can have more.
So we even put the phone numberunder the logo.
So that's an option too.
I mean, we gave you a link forAmazon.
But you know, next September youdon't have time to order from
(15:01):
China now, Probably it'sprobably.
Well, maybe you do, I'm notsure, but it's a great, they
love the socks.
Okay, Next one September, leavebehind this is they'll get you
that face-to-face.
It is rehab week, September16th through the 22nd.
Call now to schedule your icecream social.
You could do this in PT offices.
You can do this in skillednursing facilities because
(15:21):
they're doing rehab.
You can do this in the back intheir break room, just for the
staff.
You can opt to do it for theSNF if you feel that you want to
do that for everybody there.
Be careful because they may allsay, yes, let's do it.
And you don't have time to do100.
So think about it carefully.
Reward those that are givingyou referrals.
(15:41):
It can help you break in to getin front of somebody face to
face.
And we thought ice cream cupsthat you could order.
I would probably tie that leafbehind around an ice cream
scooper just to make it reallystand out.
I'm hoping they're going tocome out and see me when I leave
that, but if not, I'm going tosee them at the ice cream social
.
So that's another way to get infront of everybody.
Inspiring Generations NationalAssisted Living Week is
(16:04):
September 8th through the 14th.
This is their theme theAssisted Living National
Association.
This is their theme.
The Assisted Living NationalAssociation this is their theme.
So we are using their theme.
Inspiring Generations celebratethe individuals who live and
work in assisted living.
It's just a blank statementabout like, let's just celebrate
you and you've got your link soyou can make this your own.
We have these really cute jarswith the solar light up strings
(16:29):
that go inside of it.
Inspire means to fill someonewith the urge or ability to do
or feel something, especially todo something creative.
So we thought this was creativeand fun and really feels, you
know, fits the theme here.
Next one we also have you couldorder from the National Assisted
Living Association.
(16:50):
They have their own pins andput those in little drawstring
bags and then they will have apin that they're wearing during
that week out.
This ties to the fact that youcan get them discharged quickly.
It sets that tone of now, now,now, and they get to a place the
(17:18):
social workers where they thinksomeone's discharging Friday
and now it's going to be Tuesdayand they're scrambling for help
.
If they've seen this and theyknow that you can do it quickly,
you're going to come to mindand you're always giving them an
option to text you on everyleave behind.
This is really cute to go withit.
Snap it, cheese it and snappeas.
There's a snappy discharge.
All right, I think that's allof my secrets, christina.
Hi, christina, how are you Goodto see you?
(17:39):
Is that all of them?
I think that was it that got us.
That's it, that's it All.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Right Now you get to
hear from the queen of doing all
this.
Okay, wait, don't look at allthese slides.
Okay, here we go.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
I didn't even have to
make that PowerPoint.
This is the best one I've everseen, oh man.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I just went through
your Facebook and stole every
picture, okay, so I'd like tointroduce to you all You've been
waiting for this TouchingHearts at Home, gainesville,
florida.
This is Christina Ramos, andput the website down there.
If you want to see theirwebsite and I thought I would
just give a brief on you canfill in, because I'm sure that
(18:26):
I'm not getting this all right,but Ruben and Rose started the
agency and Christina is theirdaughter, correct?
Yep, and it all started becauseof Nana.
Yep, she's our muse, so, andthat's you can see Christina and
her mom and Nana there.
And so I know that most of youdo have a story, a reason why
(18:49):
your why is usually an olderadult in your life, your mom and
dad, a grandparent, somebodywho needed home care at one
point, and that's what Nana istheir why.
So here's a picture of everybodyall together, including Teddy.
He's my boy.
That's our boy right there.
He's so cute boy.
(19:12):
That's our boy, right there,he's so cute.
And so, by the way, you need togo online and vote for them,
for the best to be the best.
All right, christina does.
Now I went back throughFacebook.
Christina does something easilyevery month, right, I have to
Yep.
Yeah, so it looks to me and,christina, you can correct me if
I'm wrong, but it looks to melike you pick one kind of big
(19:35):
thing every month, or almostevery month, and this was one of
them that you did.
You want to tell us a littlebit about this?
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Sure.
So just tying in my familyduring COVID it's when I first
joined the family business.
During COVID, it's when I firstjoined the family business,
Didn't really know what toexpect and then boom, COVID hit.
So my Nana is in a rehab intheir memory care because she
has a wander risk and she needsthat medical 24 seven.
(20:04):
So she has her touching arts athome caregiver with her.
You know we can't get in and outto see her, but Miss Shirley,
her caregiver, who we've hadsince we opened our doors.
She's been with her everysingle day and throughout COVID.
So this was just being scaredat home, trying to figure out
what quarantining meant and whatthis COVID-19 was all about,
(20:27):
and I was trying to think ofwhat could I do for Nana to
support her from afar.
And if you know my Nana, youwould know that there is no
donut in the world like a KrispyKreme donut.
So one thing led to the otherfound out Krispy Kreme does a
fundraising program and, Valerie, our first year was during
COVID.
We started a GoFundMe page.
We had businesses.
(20:47):
Our first year was during COVID.
We started a GoFundMe page.
We had businesses.
We had individuals, we hadfamilies, we had our own clients
donating money and we donated5,000 donuts just in our small
town of Gainesville, Florida.
So we went to every nursinghome, rehab, the hospitals, we
went to specialty doctor'soffices and we got all of these
(21:08):
donuts donated.
A portion of every donationwent to the Alzheimer's
Association.
And then my little touchinghearts at home mobile was the
delivery van and ever since thenwe've kept the program in
motion.
There's nothing like seeing ahealthcare hero or one of our
seniors, the look they get whenthat hot, fresh donut is coming
(21:32):
at them.
So this is our way of spreadingjoy, and again, it initially
started during COVID, duringsome of those dark times, but we
love it.
We do it for our caregivers too.
They're on shift.
Their parents will make surethey come by to pick up their
donuts.
So we send it to our referralsources now as well and it's
(21:53):
just, it's an annual programthat everybody I mean businesses
will call us and say when's thedonuts?
So we do it surroundingNational Donut Day and it's just
a blast.
And we do donut parties at alot of our partner rehabs and
ALFs.
But yeah, we love it.
Couldn't say enough about it.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So and so this kind
of ties into.
Just so you guys who've beenwith us for a long time, you
know that Dawn Fiala talks aboutthings that she did annually
and people asked you know thepumpkin decorating and the
Christmas stuff and whateverthey ask about, when is that
starting?
And this is another one ofthose things that you can pick
(22:39):
up and do annually so you don'thave to come up with something
brand new for that month.
Every year you do this and youknow how to do it.
By the second year You'repretty darn good at it.
It's a lot of work, but doingsomething like this annually, I
think, is a great job and it'llgrow over time.
It'll get bigger and bigger.
I'm sure it has for you.
I'm sure you're four years inor three years in with this.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
And then the first
year we did it, we were on the
front page of our communitynewspaper.
I mean, the whole page was meand my mom with our masks on and
the little hats doing donuts.
So people still remember me atthese nurses You're the donut
girl.
So now hey, I'll take it, Ionly ate two donuts throughout
(23:24):
my whole delivery routes inabout three weeks.
So that was an improvement.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Oh my goodness, I
would eat a lot more than that
probably.
Oh yeah, are you?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
kidding, oh my gosh.
Okay, so this is another thingthat I picked up, and this just
I think you just posted aboutthis recently, but you also do
and this might be newer, I thinkan indoor pickleball showcase
right.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
So this was another
COVID brainchild.
You know, coming into thisbusiness I knew our target
audience was slightly older andyou know Alzheimer's just
thinking of my Nana it doesn'thit someone healthy or unhealthy
, it could happen to anybody.
So just trying to think aboutwhere we could actually engage
(24:14):
and speak to our target audienceor our potential target
audience, and at the time thisis about five years ago, four
years ago I Googled pickleballbecause I heard early on that
this was a sensation sweep inthe nation and it was an older
audience.
And we learned that our localsports commission hosts this
(24:38):
indoor pickleball showcase everyyear.
So I created a deck, foundsomeone who played pickleball
and said, look, teach me alittle bit about this game so I
can speak intelligently to it.
And said, look, teach me alittle bit about this game so I
can speak intelligently to it.
And we approached GainesvilleSports Commission to add a
charity component to theirtournament.
So they very happily andquickly obliged.
(25:04):
They loved the idea that wewould take care of all the
marketing, the PR, thepromotions and secure sponsors
surrounding the event, becausethat's something they'd never
done before, and they also justloved this idea that we would be
able to do some good.
So Pickleball with a Purpose iswhat we called it.
I'm pretty proud of this oneand I'm very thankful for the
opportunity they gave us topartner, because the first few
(25:24):
years people were kind of like,well, it's Pickleball, this
sounds insane, Christina's doingsomething crazy again.
And now everybody and theirbrother has a pickleball
tournament and there's one everyweekend, if not every weeknight
.
So this was one of theoriginals here in town.
(25:45):
Last year we switched it to thisbrand new indoor facility.
We were the first tournament inthe building.
We actually had over 400players register A to play in
our tournament.
I'm shocked because I stillcan't believe it.
It was a huge blessing.
So the first year we partneredwith the Alzheimer's Association
(26:06):
and that was great.
But Eldercare here in ourhometown they run our senior
centers, our Meals on Wheelsprograms, our Seniors with Low
Vision, our Rideshare programfor seniors.
So they're definitely a veryworthy organization and my
grandma benefited from theiradult daycare for seniors with
dementia.
So she went to Al's place assoon as she had her diagnosis.
(26:29):
So she went to Al's place assoon as she had her diagnosis
and unfortunately can no longergo, but it was really the
happiest part of her life onceshe got that diagnosis.
So we just can't thank themenough.
This year we've got moresponsors signed up than ever and
now it's such a blessingbecause companies are literally
knocking on our doors andbanging on them, wanting to
(26:50):
sponsor.
We've had to increasesponsorship rights.
We're in a beautiful venue.
We couldn't thank the team atthe Gainesville Sports
Commission enough, and the CEOfrom Eldercare comes dressed as
a pickle all three days and shewalks around getting donations.
So it's just, it's one of ourother favorite events, and all
(27:13):
to support such a great cause.
So we love, we love this.
People have heard about us.
People will call How'd you hearabout us?
Pickleball.
It's like, okay, great, We'lltake it.
So as the sport becomes younger, it's been really cool to see
you know who we've taken care of.
It used to be the playerthemselves, now maybe it's the
player's child is taking orplaying lessons, and then they
(27:35):
hear about us through this.
So we take care of theirparents, um, and now even
grandchildren, because a lotyounger demo is playing now too
I mean they sell pickleballstuff at target now, so I'm on
cute stuff too, yeah, um.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
okay, we do have a
question for you, and this might
kind of rewind back to donutstoo.
And, by the way, last year Imean I remember seeing all your
pictures, at least from lastyear's pickleball tournament.
It was amazing.
So I can't wait to see how itworks out this year.
So the question is, when yousay small town, how big is
Gainesville, and has the donutthing generated revenue for your
(28:12):
team?
Speaker 4 (28:15):
You know we do track
our referral inquiries.
I think it's built a lot ofgoodwill and it's been a lot of
great brand awareness.
And for us it's all aboutsupporting the seniors and
showing those health careworkers how much we appreciate
them, especially during COVIDsupporting the seniors and
showing those healthcare workershow much we appreciate them,
especially during COVID.
So our intent with all theseprograms is not, you know, did
(28:40):
we make a sale?
We won't do it next year if wedidn't, for us it just it's the
right thing to do and it feelsgood.
Gainesville is a really fun town.
We obviously have theuniversity here.
So right now all the collegestudents have left town and it
feels great because there's lesstraffic.
But we're at about 145,000people in town I bet a lot less
without the students.
We're fortunate, to thank theLord above, we have UF Health
(29:03):
here in our community along withHCA North Florida.
So two really big hospitalsalong with HCA North Florida.
So two really big hospitals anda lot of people.
We realize and recognize thatpeople are flown in out of town
for our specialty hospitals andsome of the amazing humans and
brains that we have working hereto do specialty surgeries and
(29:23):
amazing things in the healthcarefield.
So you know, small to me comingfrom Miami, florida, but
definitely nothing to joke about.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Yeah, absolutely, and
you know what I mean.
Just looking at all thesesponsors, every single sponsor
that you have up here FloridaBlue UF Health Rehab Hospital,
oh my gosh, Not only do theyknow your name, but you have a
connection at every single oneof these places.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Now we couldn't do it
without them, so yeah, and you
know it's a huge compliment toknow that we get their support.
You know, what do we know aboutpickleball or running events?
But they trust us and theyrespect what we're doing and
they know if it's a charity withsupport, it's got to be a
really great cause.
And they know our events aregoing to be first class, so
(30:15):
that's that's very important tous, that they trust us.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
We love that.
And, oh boy, are her eventsfirst class.
So let's just check this out.
Okay.
Next up Now these are.
This is a variety of thingsthat you've done, but I wanted,
I liked skilled nursing week andI don't know, let's see.
Oh, you did a complimentarylunch.
You also did cookie happy hour.
That's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
That was a hit, you
know.
You got to have the whole milk,the half and a half milk and
then the skim milk, becausepeople are very picky.
And when I, when we do thisagain, we'll have, like the nut
milk and milk alternativesbecause people are very big into
that, apparently.
Now that's great, Um, but wejust went and got the ooey,
gooey, crazy flavored cookiesand we set up.
(30:59):
You know, a lot of people gotlunches from us.
This community is a rehab and aCCRC, so they are very
meaningful partners.
So we did bring them lunch oneday and then we wanted to
surprise them with a cookie bar,so it was happy hour, just with
no alcohol.
If they let us do it withalcohol, that would be really
(31:19):
fun, like a bourbon milk orsalted caramel shot or something
like that.
You know, I love what someonesaid earlier, don, it may have
been you, valerie, it may havebeen you, but we are very
strategic with with whatpartners we treat, to our events
and our goodies and our gifts,and you know those that we give
(31:42):
all of our time and attention to.
Um, we get asked so many timesto participate, to sponsor, to
be involved, to donate, todonate, to donate, to give, to
give, to give, to provide, toprovide, to provide, and we are
very clear on the causes that wewill support.
So it has to impact seniorsdirectly in our community which,
if you look at the charities wedo refer and raise monies for,
(32:05):
the money stays in our localcommunity and then we do.
We have to actually have a realmeaningful relationship with an
organization before we juststart showering them with gifts,
because you know, I talk to alot of reps out there and
they'll buy lunch after lunch,after lunch after lunch for the
entire office of a doctor orwhatnot, and in two years they
(32:29):
haven't gotten a single referral.
And I look at them and I'm likethat's crazy, like what are you
doing?
That is the definition ofspinning your wheels.
So we want to make sure thatour stuff is fun and out of the
box, but also that it's toreally thank the people that
really trust us and let ussupport them and their clients.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
And these two humans
in this picture with you.
I believe that you do a lot ofmarketing with these two people
and they must be really goodmarketing partners because
they're in a lot of pictures.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Yeah, you know that's
important too.
So Kyle back there you can seehis little shirt Haven Hospice,
julie's with a transport company.
So I know a lot of traditionalcompanies that sell coaching to
home care reps they don't eventalk about, like the transport
business I know sometimes theymentioned DME Health Insurance
(33:20):
is another one, Florida Bluewe're partners with them.
They're incredible referralsources, as well as our
transport partner that's Juliewith Life Care.
With the hospice I mean there'sa million hospices in town.
Um, with the hospice, I meanthere's a million hospices in
town and we just feel like if weput our name on another
organization, that's not onlyour family name but our business
name and the name of our entireteam and all of our amazing
(33:43):
caregivers and our leadershipteam.
So we don't always partner withcompanies either.
You know we we try to be verykind and gracious when someone
asks us if we want to partner,but we take our partnerships
very seriously.
So with that hospice companyit's the preferred hospice that
our own family uses and it's theonly one in town that we can
(34:04):
recommend to our clientswholeheartedly.
We know that if there's aproblem anytime morning, noon or
night, on nights or weekendsthey're going to react and
respond.
We know with Julie she's notgoing to drop a patient, god
forbid.
That happens all the time withsome transport companies that
don't care about what they do.
Um, we know their vans arealways going to be clean,
(34:26):
inspected.
You know the tires won't beflat or old, um, and we know the
blankets they're using aren'tgoing to be disgusting with
someone else's body guts.
Yeah, we hear these horrorstories.
Our caregivers report them.
You know when clients go home,and so we just want to make sure
that we can handle any part ofour clients continuum of care.
(34:47):
You know even these outsidecompanies, like a transport
company.
So the other important thingyou know when we do commit, I
think other agencies realize,like how seriously we take that.
That's a relationship.
You're part of our family now.
So we know with any of them wecould come up with a wild idea,
and we do lots of wild ideas.
(35:08):
So we know they're fully onboard and they'll support it and
they just we have a blast andthey know they can come up with
crazy ideas and we'll be rightthere.
So, easter festivals, we didshamrock shakes at different
rehabs during rehab week.
We love to do things that theydon't receive every day.
So you know we're always tryingto think.
(35:30):
I love Dawn's ideas earlier too, like they've probably never
seen or heard some of thosecutie slogans and sayings Cause
we want, we want to stand outDefinitely.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yeah, doing something
different is definitely the
right, the right idea.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Of course, here's a
big one.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
My favorite event.
So this was inspired by my Nanaagain.
Um, I mentioned earlier sheused to go to the senior daycare
of Al's Place for seniors withAlzheimer's and they used to
always just make life so specialfor those seniors.
One of the things they did waslike a fall frolic, but it was
kind of like a.
(36:07):
I don't know, I guess maybe wejust treated Nana like she was
going to the prom that day, butwe got her all dolled up and she
took a picture with her Owl'sPlace boyfriend and they took a
picture in front of the barrelsof hay and I've never seen Nana
smiles so bright, knowing youknow that she had no idea what
(36:28):
she was going through.
So, thinking of Nana, duringCOVID we wanted to figure out a
way to create a fun moment, likeNana had at that fall frolic.
So what better way and day todo it than on Valentine's Day?
So we rent out our seniorcenter and we buy a ton of roses
(36:51):
so every woman you can see theladies with their roses.
I mean it is such a huge hit,these seniors.
We didn't have a dress code butthey dressed to the nines.
We have gentlemen coming andwearing their army bests or
their Navy suits and you know,the ladies pull out prom dresses
(37:11):
.
I told one lady, being as youngas I am, you know, oh my gosh,
you didn't buy that dress offAmazon, it's real vintage, like
this is not a costume.
She was wearing her flappersdress and she said she got
married in it.
So if you see here these arewomen from the bridge club, the
little group there in the middle, our prom queen.
(37:34):
She is part of a ballroomdancing group for seniors and we
called them to have them comeperform.
And she had no idea she wasgoing to win, but the phone was
ringing off the hook.
Do I wear my red dress?
Do I wear my sparkly dress?
Should I wear a long gown?
And I mean we just love it.
I can't tell you how much welove it.
The King this year and I justshowed this or shared this story
(37:57):
yesterday, but he showed up thefirst year of the senior prom,
let's just say it was from 12 to3 PM.
He showed up at 3 PM and I meanthe man was looking dapper as
ever, with the cool shoes andthe suit and you could tell like
he really was ready for this.
And he had no idea that hearrived when we were ending.
So the look of defeat on hisface was just heartbreaking.
(38:21):
So this year we called him tomake sure he knew what time and
we just surprised him silly,when he was named prom king.
So I know he's loving it.
We get couples that show up.
We get news reporters that showup.
We've got a group of collegekids that always come and they
tell us like, can we please comenext year?
(38:41):
I'm like, oh my gosh, pleaseAre you kidding me, I should be
begging you.
But they just love it.
So it's meaningful events likethis.
I wish I had a picture up, butone of our rehabs actually
rented a limo for their sevenlucky residents who were able to
come so they could fit theirwheelchairs, their rollators,
(39:01):
and they got them corsages andboutonnieres and when that thing
rolled up, I mean I was weeping.
It was so beautiful.
I get chills.
So we just we love this event.
But again, talk about eventsthat people count down and
cannot wait.
We've already had to book thedate and the musician and people
call all the time Is it goingto be February 14th?
Okay, what time?
(39:22):
What time?
What time?
So we just love to share thelove.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
So well, I wanted I
always use as an example when I
talk to people about you want tosee what it looks like, you
want to see what this looks like, what this life is really like.
Here are all the pictures ofsomeone who does an amazing job.
So we'll be sure to share yourFacebook page with, because I
(39:49):
know everything's posted there,obviously, so we'll be sure to
share that so people can see allthe cool stuff you do all year
long.
And I this kind of wentbackwards, so I just started in
February and went forward, um,or just you know, came back up
and just got all the differentevents and if you look through
all these slides, you can seethat Christina does something,
(40:12):
and so you know a couple ofthese events are big, maybe more
than a couple, but throughoutthe year and some of them are
not as big but still meaningfuland fun and different from what
everybody else is doing.
And I would imagine that you'vegotten to this place where
people constantly are wantinginformation from you or partner
(40:32):
with you, and that's probablycome over a long period of time.
You've built that reputation intown and now everybody wants to
partner.
So I imagine that when you lookat this entire year of all
these events, that your businesshas grown tremendously from the
PR.
(40:53):
All you know, the all of thepeople that know, all the
sponsors.
I mean leads can come fromanywhere.
It could be a sponsor's grandmawho needs home care in the area
or something like that.
So I would imagine that you'veseen a revenue just grow and
grow as you've taken over all ofthis marketing and, yeah, it's
(41:13):
amazing and you know, truly, wedo it to give back.
Speaker 4 (41:17):
We don't spend money
with local advertisers.
I don't pay for tv commercialsor radio spots or digital ads,
like we get that stuff for free.
So right now, for pickleballwe're on tv, we're on nine radio
stations.
We get newspaper publicity forfree.
Youball we're on TV, we're onnine radio stations.
We get newspaper publicity forfree.
You know, if you're doing theright thing for the right
(41:37):
reasons, I feel like all thegood stuff comes, thank the Lord
above.
But you know, definitely forbrand awareness.
Again, you know, looking atKPIs, if we had given up on our
first year pickleball becausemaybe the phone didn't ring
within a week, then that wouldhave been a big mistake.
But the impact and the touchpoints, I mean it's memorable.
(42:04):
These are meaningful,meaningful touch points when we
interact with these audiences.
And they might not be for threeyears, valerie, but they sure
remember us and they vote for usand you know they just love to
see what we're doing.
So we're really thankful andappreciative that we can do this
.
But really the primaryobjective is just to serve and
(42:24):
give back and to take care ofour seniors, so we really love
(42:51):
it.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Well, thank you so
much.
I will say there's Well, thankyou so much, wearing your logo
on their shirts, or it's the VFWHall, or you're really involved
with the local senior center.
It doesn't have to be thepickleball tournament-sized
event.
It can be smaller ones.
You start small and work yourway up, and so doing stuff like
(43:13):
this, even on a smaller level,it's just such an amazing gift
to your community and definitelywill give back to you in karma
points.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Does anybody have any
questions for us or for
Christina about how they gotstarted in anything?
Or you know, I don't knowanything.
You want Anybody.
We had the one question, but Idon't know if we have any others
.
Annette or Dawn, do you haveany questions or comments about
Christina's?
Speaker 2 (43:43):
I just have a
question.
Operationally so it looks likeyou're really, really busy, like
you're out there, you're,you're meeting everybody and
you're, you're the face of thecompany.
Really, do you also cause whereI've worked to the marketing
community?
Liaison also does the signingof clients and I'm just
wondering if you have time forthat.
It would seem when I would beout marketing I'd have a great
(44:06):
week and I'd be effective andout in the field and the next
week I would be so busy signingfrom what happened the week
before that I didn't have timeto market and then the next week
would be slow.
But the social workers do liketo see that you're the one with
the family because they trustyou.
So could you speak to that?
I'm just curious all that.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
So I do this in my
free time all the events and all
the marketing, and I don'tsleep much.
I want iced coffee and donuts.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
She's a vampire.
No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
But we do have a
really fun Dracula's vampire
blood drive in October, andpeople love that too.
Oh goodness, okay, no, I knowthat my nine to five, my
responsibilities are being withour families, responding to
those case managers.
So this stuff happens beforework and after work and on
(44:57):
weekends.
And you know, I think the otherbeautiful part about annual
events is you're not reinventingthe wheel every time, so you
just update your quick script,you update your posts, your
graphics and you plug and playevery year.
Update your posts, yourgraphics, and you plug and play
(45:17):
every year.
Yeah, donuts for seniors.
We just decided, hey, next weeklet's do the donuts for seniors
, cause it was donut day and itcaught up on us.
So you know, luckily, when youget in the rhythm and the role,
it's a lot easier.
But definitely, you know peopledon't see the hard work and the
hours and the sleepless nights.
You know I may skip a trip or Itry to travel a lot.
(45:39):
I do have a lot of balance.
So thank God for that.
But it is.
It's a lot of commitment, butit's so important and it's such
a calling for us and our familyand our organization and you
know everybody here in ourleadership team.
They love it just as much as Ido.
So it's it's all hands on deckon event days and on event
(46:00):
weekends.
But if you look at our times,we're very strategic about when
we plan events.
So, like this will be Friday,saturday and Sunday.
That Friday, everybody alreadyknows I'll be on call, but at
our pickle ball tournament andif they need me to come to the
hospital or with a family, I'mthere because the team's got me
covered at the tournament.
You know we do a lot oflunchtime events because that's
(46:23):
a meaningful way to get a reallygood marketing break during a
busy day and, yeah, it's a greatquestion, but I do a lot of
this before and after work,thankfully.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah, cause you're,
you're very, very active and
that creates more of theassessments.
So one is always feeding theother and it would.
It was hard to to balancesometimes.
So I was just curious how youwere, how you were met, and it's
good that you have the teamsupport because, you know, it
doesn't always I mean, I'veworked at different companies it
(46:56):
doesn't always work out likethat's a marketing event.
Why do I have to go, you know,and it's, it's it's like because
this is for the company and forthe, the whole.
You know everybody.
So, yeah, it's great that youhave that support.
That's.
That's really, really important.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Yeah, I have a
question that kind of surrounds
that, but it's more about thecaregiver side.
Do you find that and I could betotally in space about this but
do you find that caregiverswant to work for you guys
because they see you everywhere,or it's easier to recruit
because they see you everywhere?
Is that still a challenge, nomatter what?
Speaker 4 (47:30):
You know, I think
that as much as we've tried to
build our reputation in thecommunity as an exceptional home
care provider and a realsteward of our community, we
have a separate I mean it's likean official or unofficial
marketing campaign towardscaregivers and potential
(47:50):
caregivers or recruits.
So our current caregivers, ourexisting caregivers, they love
to see this and I think duringCOVID everything was just so
crazy and hectic and scary thatwe didn't really do a good job
messaging this to our currentteam.
So maybe they heard about ourDonuts for Seniors when they
opened up the newspaper that dayand that's where we were like,
(48:14):
hey, let's give our care heredonuts.
So then they got those, butthey had no idea what donuts for
seniors meant.
So year two it was hey careteam, best care team ever, we're
doing this.
I love it that they feel soproud that they love that we do
this stuff.
You know they're out and aboutin the communities talking about
, oh yeah, our pickleball.
I love that they have that wedo this stuff.
(48:34):
You know they're out and aboutin the communities talking about
, oh yeah, our pickleball.
I love that.
They have that sense ofownership in the community in
terms of what other caregiversthink about us.
What other buildings thinkabout us.
You know our reputation in townis we're the hardest agency to
get a job with, and I couldn'tbe more thrilled, you know.
I want our clients to know thatand I want any potential
(48:57):
recruit or potential candidateto know that too.
You know, when they comewalking through the door of our
office, our office is superdecorated from things hanging
down to.
You know, whatever.
People always want to stop byand our caregivers love to stop
by, bring their family, theirkids, just to see what the decor
will be like.
But you know, candidates willwalk through the door and
(49:18):
they'll be beaming and I promiseyou it's not the decor, it's
just when they get to the door.
And I'll even ask him like hey,are you having a great day?
Like you look super happy.
And we hear all the time thisis the hardest interview to get.
I'm so proud I just got theinterview.
I'm like well, well well, youknow it's a we're just beginning
(49:38):
that process but we'll see whathappens.
You know kind of thing.
So we know we're picky, we knowour standards are high, but
it's really important.
You know that's someone else'sNana out there that we're taking
care of and people know, like,if you are going to come work
here, we have very highexpectations in you.
Don't just have to meet them,you have to exceed them and what
(50:00):
we look for.
You know someone I say this allthe time you're going to have
an 18-page resume working at theMayo Clinic, graduated from
Harvard, that's fine and dandy.
But if we ask you why you'rehere, why you want to work with
us, how you heard about us, andit's just that you want to get a
paycheck, that you're lookingfor a job, that the holidays are
coming, you want extra hours,we literally hand them a list
(50:23):
with eight other agencies intown and tell them we don't have
any openings right now, buthere's a list of eight other
agencies that would love to haveyou.
So you know, for us it's allabout the care, the compassion,
the experience is very important.
So they have to have minimum ofone to two years, and they know
that I can't tell you how manytimes people will call.
(50:45):
They may or may not have anyexperience, they may be young,
they may be older, but they'llcall back in a year to two years
time.
I went and I got the experience.
Like you told me, can I applynow?
And we're like, yeah, but itdoesn't mean you're getting the
job.
So we like that.
That's our reputation, that youknow.
We want the best of the bestand that's that's the brand we
(51:06):
put out there in any job ad andour posts.
We are not just good caregiversor good home care company
company.
We have an exceptional careteam and we provide exceptional
home care and if anybody youknow mentions that they've not
experienced that, you know youcan read our Google reviews.
We will handle it very promptly, swiftly, quickly, like there's
(51:29):
no waiting or delaying overhere.
So it's important you knowpeople.
I think people expect that whenthey see your name out there in
the community.
So then when they actuallyexperience it for themselves,
it's we walk the walk and wetalk the talk.
Speaker 1 (51:45):
So that is a great
place to be.
Everybody listening to this islike oh, that is such a great
place to be with caregivers thatyou are tough and that they
want to work for you, and so itoccurs to me that this, all this
stuff that you do, is just it'sa big part of what you do, but
(52:06):
it's just one part, it's justone piece of that mission.
It's, it's, it's all the waythrough is excellence, not in
not only in your marketing andyour community involvement, but
also in your caregivers andhiring, training and your office
staff.
It's excellence 100 across theboard.
Yeah for sure, I knew you werethe person I needed to interview
(52:29):
the queen of home carecommunity involvement.
Speaker 4 (52:34):
Thank you, but that's
too kind.
Speaker 1 (52:37):
Well, do you guys
have any more of the questions?
Annette, anybody.
I think we're good.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
I was very impressed,
christina, you're doing awesome
.
Speaker 4 (52:47):
Thank you, but I'm
totally taking your coffee or
tea on me.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
Oh, go ahead.
But the pickleball, pickleballs.
It's like um valerie saidtarget, you see it everywhere
now, but you picked up on it.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
It's popular, very
popular yeah, thinking this
coffee time thing.
And then, after she left hercurrent, yes, well, you were for
touching hearts as well, didn'tyou?
Speaker 3 (53:13):
yes, were you
Rochester?
Oh my gosh, we talked aboutfour.
Okay, that's great.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
Yes, I know, I was
like oh yeah, so Annette,
annette, we, we stole her away,yeah, but you know everybody was
was all happy.
But um, anyway, she is this.
And after she came to work forus, you were here a month or so
and somebody from your areatexted you for coffee or tea.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
They sent me a
picture of the ticket in her
drawer and she said is thisstill valid?
Speaker 1 (53:47):
If I were you, I
would have taken her coffee or
tea.
I said sure that's cute.
Yeah, it works.
And the secret there is.
That's how you get theirtexting phone number yeah, right
, so you are on a texting basiswith that person after.
Yes, you know to that.
Speaker 4 (54:06):
to that end, I always
learned you know you want their
cell phone, definitely, but toreally make that meaningful
relationship or to take thatprofessional referral
relationship to the next step,the ultimate is when you get to
meet their family.
So you know, people look at melike we're crazy because we'll
do special events just for ourreferral sources and their
(54:28):
families, or kid centric eventsfor our referral sources, and
I'm like, please keep thinkingwe're crazy.
Keep thinking we're crazybecause we will do this more and
more and more.
You know how often do theirchildren or their spouses get to
enjoy some of the perks?
So one of my other favorites werented out a blueberry farm,
(54:51):
catered in you know, littlelunches and told people our
referral sources bring yourfamily, bring your kids, bring
your friends, whatever you want,but just come pick blueberries
with us.
And that was a massive hit.
So they could have their familytime, they could have their
photo taken with us, they couldcome eat with us.
We had an open bar drink withus and people still talk about
(55:14):
it.
So I got to figure out you knowwhen blueberry season is.
But the truth is we were likethe last weekend of blueberry
season and the blueberry farm.
Their farmers went out andclipped all the remaining
blueberries, so there wereliterally no blueberries left,
except for some that they hadpre-batched in a refrigerator.
So that was kind of a bummer,but nobody cared because it was
(55:39):
such a fun time and we always,when we open up to families or
do things for the kids, we seeway better results.
Speaker 1 (55:45):
That's great, yeah,
do something.
Get them out of the office on aSaturday or Sunday or sometime
or an evening.
Get them out of there and dosomething fun.
Speaker 4 (55:56):
We'll do like our
cocktail, happy hours, parties.
We'll have it set up for kids.
You know the kids foods thekids, candy bars the kids, you
know activities just to that way.
Again, we know a lot of people,like our caregivers.
They have to pick up their kidsby five o'clock or that daycare
is closing.
So go ahead, pick up your kidand let's, let's meet your kiddo
(56:18):
and let's all have fun together.
So very sweet.
Speaker 1 (56:22):
That's great.
That's great that they'rebringing their kids, so they
feel like you know it's more it.
It becomes more of a friendshipwhen, yeah, you've met their
whole family, so that's they'vemet my family, so, so that's
pretty awesome.
Speaker 4 (56:34):
They've met my family
, so I want to meet theirs.
Speaker 1 (56:36):
Awesome.
Well, thank you very much fordoing this today.
We appreciate it, and, ofcourse, the dogs.
You definitely have given usall some amazing ideas and
insight into what life is like,and your amazing community
involvement.
So thank you.
Speaker 4 (56:53):
Thank you all for
having me.
It was an honor and we're hereanytime anybody needs anything.
Speaker 3 (56:59):
All right, Thanks
Irina, Thanks again Christina.
Bye guys, Bye-bye.