February 20, 2025 • 34 mins
How can you navigate the complexities of aging with confidence? In this episode of Advice From Your Advocates, Elder Law Attorney Bob Mannor sits down with Laura Lynn Morrissey, founder of Silver Savvy, to discuss proactive aging, healthcare navigation, long-term care insurance, and choosing the right home care agency.
Laura shares her journey from Wall Street to aging advocacy, highlighting the importance of personalized support, nutrition, fitness, and the right resources to help seniors and their families make informed decisions. Whether you're planning for your own future or supporting a loved one, this conversation is packed with insights to help you age well with the right tools and knowledge.
Topics Covered on this episode:
✔ How to navigate the healthcare system without getting overwhelmed
✔ The truth about long-term care insurance and what to look for in a policy
✔ Key factors in selecting the right home care agency
✔ Why nutrition and fitness play a crucial role in aging well
✔ The importance of advocacy and tailored resources for seniors
Listen to Advice From Your Advocates wherever you get your podcasts. Full video available on YouTube.
Host: Elder Law Attorney Bob Mannor
Guest: Laura Lynn Morrissey, Founder of Silver Savvy
Executive Producer: Savannah Meksto
Assistant Producers: Miranda Donaldson & Samantha Noah
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ABOUT US:
Mannor Law Group helps clients in all matters of estate planning and elder law including special needs planning, veterans’ benefits, Medicaid planning, estate administration, and more. We offer guidance through all stages of life.
We also help families dealing with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other illnesses that cause memory loss. We take a comprehensive, holistic approach, called Life Care Planning. LEARN MORE...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Advice from your Advocates, a
show where we provide elder lawadvice to professionals who work
with the elderly and theirfamilies.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome back to Advice from your Advocates.
I'm Bob Manor.
I'm a board-certified elder lawattorney in Michigan and I'm
really excited about the showtoday.
I think you'll find this veryinteresting.
We've got Laura Lynn Morrisseyfrom Silver Savvy.
Welcome, laura Lynn.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thank you, nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
So I wanted to hear more about you as a person and
how you got to be where you areand the services that you offer.
But first tell us a little bitabout Silver Savvy and how it
came about and what you do.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well Silver Savvy is actually it's kind of an
outgrowth of the work that I'vedone throughout my career.
What I saw a need for isadvocacy and more comprehensive
holistic resources in one placeand a personalized approach for
those of us who are navigatingand want to age well and
(01:08):
informed.
I think that there's a lot ofmisinformation out there around
aging and what it means to be anolder, mature adult and the
experience that I've had inhealthcare and then prior to
that in financial services, I'mreally a bit of a unicorn
because I've seen how we'reperceived as we get older and I
see how we're treated in thehealthcare industry and
(01:29):
navigating, all of thecomplexities that are coming at
us, oftentimes in crisis.
So I saw when I got out ofhealthcare, I saw myself as an
advocate I call myself BFF forAging Well, but an advocate for
those who are looking to age aswell as possible or maybe
they're in a situation wherethey need guidance for certain
(01:50):
you know certain services that Iprovide but also for the
daughters and daughters-in-lawand loved ones that are also in
the middle of all of this.
So I really service twodemographics, two types of
clients, and you know where it'sbeen well received, both on the
B2B level as well as folks onthe retail side.
The services that we do provideinclude it's kind of a threefold
(02:13):
offering.
So we have curated products.
So I have experiencedhealthcare and understand the
different types of products thatI think work well.
I also use a lot of products.
I'm a very active person.
So if you have, if you want topursue active living, we have
lots of products that I thinkwork well.
I also use a lot of products.
I'm a very active person.
So if you have, if you want topursue active living, we have
lots of products to help withthat.
So we have curated productsthat I know and love very well
or recommend, but also servicesaround long-term care insurance.
(02:36):
So many of us who havelong-term care insurance don't
necessarily know exactly how tofile a claim, or maybe they
filed a claim and have hadissues.
So I'm here to help or pursuefinding a suitable home care
company, given that home care isnow part of the healthcare
ecosystem, unlike several yearsago before COVID.
And then, finally, I became afunctional aging specialist,
(02:56):
including a fitness trainer,believe it or not and
nutritionist, so I kind ofunderstand how the body ages and
what we can do to offset that,along with good health and good
eating.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You know, laura Lynn, as we were talking and for the
audience that knows me a littlebit better, I feel like we have
a similar philosophy in the waythat we approach this.
It is that there is a lot ofinformation but it's disjointed
information out there and it'sreally hard to process all that
information and to have anadvocate, and the things that
(03:30):
you specialize in are a littledifferent than the things I
specialize in.
But to have an advocate thatcan kind of walk you through
that and look at the big picture, sort of the holistic looking
at everything, I think that'sreally important and it is kind
of rare to find folks that cananalyze and help people narrow
down their options, get throughthe maze of long-term care
(03:51):
insurance or you know, for meit's going to be.
You know, government assistanceand just the process of getting
through the health care systemcan be very difficult without a
guide and they're really it'svery hard to find a guide that
will see you through the wholeprocess.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I agree.
What I found when I leftfinancial services and I
recommitted myself to healthcare, it was through a personal
situation with my dad, who was adiagnosically ill with a stoma
and subsequently passed, and Isaw the silos that we were all
working in and I thoughtwouldn't it be nice if somebody
kind of worked across the silos,like we did to some extent in
(04:33):
financial services, that wholeconsultative approach, and I've
asked healthcare people whyaren't we doing a better job in
healthcare, reaching across theaisles, if you will, making sure
that that person completelyunderstands what is happening
and perhaps making that extraphone call?
And I don't think that theyreally thought about it that way
.
And so, at the end of the day,I want to be that unique service
(04:55):
provider that actually asksthat one more question, that
actually says you know whatyou're thinking about this, but
you also need to think aboutthese three other things.
And let me get you where youneed to go.
And it's been received well,and I feel as though companies
that do this and I talk aboutthis in some of my articles
companies that do this, aregoing to win, since there's
going to be so many of us whoare aging, who are a lot more
(05:16):
aware of the complexities thatwe're facing, but just don't
quite know how to solve for them.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It's very interesting trying to maneuver through any
of these things, whether it bethe healthcare system itself and
just getting information, and Ifeel like the.
I'll give you a quick anecdoteof my own personal experience.
I was going in for a test,simple test, and I was concerned
.
I'd never been there before.
(05:41):
I said, talked to the person onthe phone, can you tell me
where do I go in the hospital?
And they said oh, it's thegreen elevators.
And so I get to the hospital.
There's no green elevatorsanywhere.
Well, when I finally got towhere I was supposed to go, on
the floor that they were on, theelevators were green on that
floor and so, from theirperspective, it was the green
elevators.
(06:02):
That's a great exampleperspective, it was the green
elevators and that's a greatexample, but there's nobody that
is there to help sort of guideyou through that process.
I know that's a silly, sillyexample, but that's just one of
those things.
There's really not a whole lotof communication, especially
from you know one setting to thenext setting.
So if you're in the hospitaland you go into rehab or you go
from rehab to home or anythinglike that, the communication
(06:24):
across the different you knowexpectations is very little and
you're starting over each timepractically and it can be very
difficult without a guide, likeyou said.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I think so and I think it's very stressful.
I mean, I do a lot of talks andwebinars and the first question
I ask is you know how many ofyou have a loved one that has
been discharged from thehospital and you're thinking to
yourself they're not ready, andI mean the whole entire room
raises their hand and guess what?
That's the way of the world now.
I mean, the hospitals havetheir marching orders based on
(06:55):
what's going on with CMS and therest of us have to fall in line
.
You know I could go on for daysabout you know the impact of
how, of what that means, but itgoes back to it's interesting.
You know, did CMS think abouthow much money they're going to
save by managing healthcare thisway?
But the impact that it's goingto have on you know, those of us
who have to care for our lovedones and have businesses the
(07:18):
role that businesses need toplay in advocating for us,
because they're the ones thatare going to lose out on
productivity when we're nolonger, you know, when we no
longer can stay at work, we haveto leave early, or maybe we
forego that promotion or whathave you.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
This is not a complaint, it's just a reality
that the people, the agents thatsell long-term care,
traditional long-term careinsurance, which has gone
through a major change over thelast 20 years from, I think I
heard it was like a hundred andsome companies, down to maybe
(07:52):
three or four companies.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, it's around six .
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, yeah, okay, thank you and so, but the issue
on this is that the agents thatsell it don't have, at least in
my experience, much of anability to help with the claims
process.
It's one of the things thatwhen I had someone come to visit
me that said, hey, I think youshould send me some of your
(08:15):
clients that need long-term careinsurance, one of my questions
was how often have you been onthe other end of it where you
were trying to help someone filethe claim, and the vast
majority of the time it was well, I haven't had that experience
yet, and so you are on that side.
From what I understand, you'renot selling long-term care
insurance, you're helping withthat claims process.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
That's right and so you know, coming from financial
services.
So I worked on the clearingside.
So our relationships werebroker to broker, b2b with all
of the large brokerage companiesin the United States so Bank of
America, jp Morgan so Iunderstood how these brokerage
firms worked.
They wanted and insurancecompanies like New York Life and
(08:57):
whatnot.
They wanted their reps on thephone reaching out to new
clients and growing the business.
So the last thing they wanttheir reps doing is potentially
servicing their clients over andover and over, and I know this.
So there's that influence onany advisor.
The second thing is a lot ofthese advisors have younger
books, so they haven't reallyreached a point where somebody
(09:18):
needs to leverage their Third.
They don't know where to begin,so it's a hot potato and they
want to just bounce it tosomeone else.
So I want all of those and sooftentimes an advisor or
whatever I call them advisors,but they could be any number of
licensed or CFA or whatever.
They are happy to have someonelike me because at the end of
the day, it's arelationship-based transaction
(09:39):
and if they can trust me andtrust the process, then I'm
going to be able to take care ofthe client, make their client
happy and then help them reachtheir benefits.
But at the end of the day, whenI see any kind of an advisor
who is managing the claims toofar along, I'm like I wonder
what your boss thinks of that,because you're not doing what
you're supposed to be doing, andI know that because I've been
(10:00):
on that side.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Well, and so in my experience over the years that
with long-term care, insuranceclaims that it is not an
intuitive process for mostfamilies.
So when they purchased it, whenthey paid the premiums every
year, they had one thing intheir imagination.
But, as with any insuranceprocess, you got to go through
the process, and so, for example, obviously many long-term care
(10:28):
insurance policies can be usedfor home care and things like
that.
But when we're looking at somecare like assisted living or
other variations of that,sometimes there are expectations
within the policy that thecaregiving providers meet a
certain level and it's verydifficult for the family to even
(10:49):
understand that sort of fineprint in there, which isn't
necessarily a bad thing that theinsurance companies are saying,
well, they have to be licensedor they have to be supervised by
medical or they have to.
You know, whatever the issue is, but it's not clear.
That's not in the marketplace,no, but they're not putting on
their sign.
You know, we're licensed, as inMichigan it'd be something
(11:11):
called an adult foster care or ahome for the aged, which are
very archaic terms, but that'swhat they have for licensing,
and so it's.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
The families struggle with that and sometimes
insurance companies areinsurance companies and they
make you go through some, somehoops that the family wasn't
expecting, I would agree.
And if, if a policy has beenacquired by another company,
they may interpret that languagedifferently than the original
intent, and so it is a littlebit of an art and and I have
(11:41):
several examples of that which Iwon't bore you with, but the
the one thing that I, one thingthat I see is the good news is,
a lot of times, the policiesthat have.
Well, first of all, everypolicy is different, and I say
this to every client, even ifyou could have five policies
from you know, john Hancock, andevery single one of them has
got to be evaluated on its own.
(12:01):
I've had clients that have twopolicies but they're serviced
now by two different agenciesthat do the backend.
One will, you know, one willhave an issue and the other one
will fly through.
But the thing that I find isyou know the levers that drive
the premium.
The biggest one is theelimination period, and that is
(12:21):
the one.
I was even talking to anadvisor who's been in the
business.
He's a CFA for 25 years.
His parents bought a policy andhe actually, because I
understand the eliminationperiod, even though a lot of
people don't understand thatthey have to pay out of pocket
until that claim is approved.
But there was even a nuancearound calendar versus business
(12:43):
days around care, and he's likeI didn't realize that once the
claim was submitted, that I hadto wait, you know, 90 service
days, not 90 calendar days.
He goes that's a long time.
So I think even the mosteducated, intelligent,
detail-oriented person can getcaught by the language and the
(13:03):
intent of these policies andthat's why it's so important to
have an advocate who's beenthrough it and can ask that you
know.
Two more questions to get downto the bottom level of what that
you know, of what that benefitcould mean, and then different
scenarios, and I think it'simportant to show people
scenarios so they understand howto play that policy out
properly.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I generally recommend most people that are getting
ready to file a claim for longterm care insurance consider
working with you or somebodylike you, because it is a lot of
times they're two or threemonths into it before they start
to get frustrated with theprocess and they may have not
made as much progress as I thinkthey did during that time
(13:43):
period, but they could have had.
They had sort of that advocacyand that sort of explanation of
the policy to how we're going toproperly trigger it or get
through that elimination.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I would agree.
You know a lot of folks think Imean I can't tell you how many
clients have said I don't reallyneed it right now.
I only broke my hip.
You know I want to use it when,when I have some sort of a.
Honestly, I think they'rewaiting for that terminal
diagnosis and my advice is atany point, before you even have
any issue, you should sit downand do and walk through some
scenarios on how to get throughthat elimination period with
(14:17):
paying as little out of pocketas possible, and even if it
means, you know, a little bit ofcare that you might normally
have been able to work throughon your own, it means getting
through that elimination periodversus having to pay somebody
when you're extremely ill, sevendays a week, 24 hours a day.
So I think that's the biggestaha around and I think people
thought well, I've got aninsurance, I'll just file a
(14:38):
claim.
It's just like my car, it'slike it's not.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It is, and I can't tell you how many people I've
seen like that and I asked thequestion what are you saving it
for?
They have serious concerns andI understand especially when
we're dealing with home carethat that's a big adjustment to
have caregivers come into yourhome and sometimes families are
just nervous about that.
(15:03):
But the idea is so many timesI've seen people where they have
severe physical restrictions orthey have some form of dementia
and they have this long-termcare policy and they're saying,
well, we're going to hold on tothat till later.
What are we saving it for?
Wasn't this what you bought itfor?
Wasn't this what you paid for?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
It's amazing, I found it doesn't matter if you're a
blue collar worker, it doesn'tmatter if you're a high net
worth client.
I've dealt with high net worthclients family office Well,
family office a lot of timesthey self-insure, but some I
dealt with a number of largeattorney's offices where they
offered long-term care insuranceas a benefit.
So they took it, of course, andthey would hold onto that
(15:44):
policy like it was a binky.
So part of my goal in startingthis company is to get
information out there that, youknow, I kind of want to say I
wish they told me sooner, youknow, because, if you, I think
we're better at making decisionswhen we're informed, when we're
not in crisis, and I think thatmy goal is to be the loudest
(16:05):
voice in the room for those ofus who really don't know what's
coming down the pike.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Well, let's talk about one of your other areas of
expertise, and that's selectinga home care agency.
Yes, that's really interesting,and I think people they just
aren't aware of the dynamicsthat are involved in the home
care industry, so it's kind oflike the first one that shows up
on their list Well, we calledthem, and so that must be what
(16:33):
they're all like.
And so walk us through whatthat looks like when someone's
working with you on helping tofigure out their home care
situation.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Well, I think you know, again, there's a lot of
assumptions.
Well, I just want someone thatmy mom gets along with, and we
know that it's so much more thanthat and they're an extension
of the healthcare ecosystem andand they're probably the most
intimate versus, you know,dealing with other healthcare
providers.
So, you know, when I built myhome care company, I came in
(17:02):
without any healthcarebackground.
I was, I was basically anadministrator, so I applied a
lot of the risk management thatI had when I was a registered
principal, and so I came intothe industry with.
You know how would I run thisbusiness and make sure that when
someone goes into someone'shome they're as safe as possible
, and then I limit as muchpotential you know, fraud or any
(17:24):
of the bad stuff that goes onwhen you hire, when a potential
home care company that'snefarious goes into the house.
So the first thing that I do isI, as I sit down with the
client or whomever theconstituent is, and I ask them
what is it, what are the needs?
And so I typically will get youknow the history of the
person's health.
Then I begin to discuss, youknow, what role do you want to
(17:47):
play versus what role I can play, and a lot of times it's.
You know, can you do it?
Can you just take it on,because I'm overwhelmed with mom
and I really need to behandling this?
You take this on.
So then what we do is we sitdown and we discuss what the
requirements are for the careplan, and that has to do with
the diagnosis and various otherparticulars.
I want the bed made a certainway, I want to eat you know if
she needs to have her tea made acertain way, and what have you.
(18:08):
So we create kind of a strawman of a care plan and then I'll
talk about what I wouldconsider requirements for a home
care company, and that'sbasically my experience behind
the scenes.
I'm going to want to understandwhat are the hiring practices.
I'm going to want to understandif they're licensed or not,
because not every single agencyis required to be licensed.
So if they're not licensed,they should be accredited so
(18:29):
they at least have a third partycoming in evaluating their
business, the longevity of themanagement.
There's a lot of turnover inthis industry, as you know.
There's a lot of turnover withcaregivers these days, so
there's a lot of vetting when Ievaluate these agencies as to
the health of theirinfrastructure.
Families aren't necessarilygoing to ask.
I'm going to look at what arethe reviews.
A lot of agencies don't pursuereviews.
(18:50):
It was something that I pursuedbecause I know that a lot of
folks go online right away.
They want to see how thereputation is.
So I create a profile based onmy own behind the scenes
experience of what a great homecare company should be doing,
how they should be responding,and you know what makes you
different.
Well, it shouldn't just be well, we have great caregivers.
It's got to be a number ofother things around how you run
(19:11):
your company, how you managerisk, how you hire, because,
guess what, every one of thosecaregivers is probably working
three or other, three or fourother agencies.
So you know you, you you've gotto really get underneath all of
those particulars.
Then you create a profile andyou create a recommendation that
is positioned in a way that thefamily can understand and can
resonate.
And, yes, it is aboutpersonality and fit for mom, but
(19:34):
at the same time it is so muchmore Do they have the experience
necessary to care forwhatever's wrong with mom,
especially if there's memoryissues, because there is a
specific type of skill necessaryto deal with somebody who has
memory issues and you know it'snot a one size fits all.
So, and you know, at the end ofthe day that has worked really
well and we've seen agenciesthat appreciate the fact that
(19:56):
they were so well vetted becauseit made for a better fit versus
the, you know, friday afternoonphone call, I need a caregiver
on Monday, and then wham, you'vegot a caregiver that doesn't
fit.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, so you know, it's interesting how you
describe that, because I thinkthat's true with almost all
long-term care, whether it befacility-based or home care, and
that's how we, I always tellpeople, that's how we evaluate
and we, you know, encourage ourclients, our families, to
evaluate it that way, too, isit's not just about the physical
location, how pretty it is.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Or the chandelier.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, it is about how it's run, and so the things
that you mentioned are veryimportant.
How is it run?
There always are going to beissues, right, there's always
going to be concerns that peoplehave when it involves
caregiving.
And how does management respondto those concerns?
Do they ignore your phone calls?
Do they just move on to thenext person?
(20:54):
And the way that you wentthrough and said how you
evaluate the home care.
I think that's true, for ifyou're concerned, you know
considering assisted living ormemory care or independent
living or nursing home or any ofthe levels of care, because
it's the same.
It kind of comes around thesame thing we have.
Frequently we look at placesthat are very fancy and our
(21:16):
evaluation is they're notproviding as consistent quality
care as some of the older placesthat aren't as fancy but have
better systems and management inplace.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I would agree.
You know what makes a good care, what makes a great agency, and
a home care agency is an agencythat's willing to be honest and
say you know what.
I think we've gone as far as wecan with mom and I think it's
time to look at.
You know alternatives and sowe've.
I would often get involved inevaluating alternative living
arrangements and at the sametime, my mom had dementia and my
(21:49):
brother is an attorney and thetwo of us had to find a place
for my mother and, honestly, ifyou pulled up in the place that
we found and selected, you'dthink it was a yard sale, but it
was an award-winning facility,long-term care facility, and my
mom couldn't have been happierand she had the very best
experience.
And this is somebody that wasadamant about living at home
(22:10):
until the end, but at the endshe just couldn't.
So I would agree with you thatthis place was paneling and big,
fluffy chairs, but the food wasamazing and the care was
incredible and I couldn't havebeen more proud and they had all
sorts of accolades and wererecognized nationwide as one of
the best, and I think that and,by the way, my brother and I
stared at each other when wewere going through this, saying
(22:31):
are you overwhelmed?
Because I'm overwhelmed and Iwas in the business, so you know
it happens to the best of us.
When you're in it personally,it becomes bigger than you.
And, by the way, we did have anadvocate that helped us through
because I didn't think I coulddo it myself and, sure enough,
this woman did a fantastic job.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
So that's great.
So then the other area whereyou're often helping folks age
wisely is nutrition and fitness.
So talk to us about that typeof consultation.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
So, you know, a lot of us think that as we age, that
we may not, that if we'rehealthy, that we can continue to
move and to be active, and ifwe're starting to live with
chronic issues we should beginto slow down.
And the answer is absolutelynot.
This is the time to evaluatewhere are you in your health?
(23:24):
So I am an aging specialist, asI mentioned, with a
certification in fitness,focusing on older adults too,
because aging and a lot of folksin fitness don't want to focus
on older adults because youcannot.
It is not a one size fits all.
It isn't about just buildingmuscle and building, you know,
lifting heavier weights.
It is truly understanding andprofiling who that person is,
(23:45):
where they are in theirhealthcare journey and then
crafting a workout schedule thathelps them not only live as
well as they can but manageswhatever chronic issue they may
be experiencing.
So, at the end of the day, it'snot all about chair yoga and
although that is a very goodexercise program, it's not
necessarily something thateverybody should look forward to
(24:05):
, Right?
So we talk about, we educateour clients on resistance
training and actual dumbbelltraining, and then, you know, we
don't talk about it in terms of, you know, going to the gym.
We talk about it in terms offunctional goals.
So I want to be able to go toItaly and walk around with my
daughter for the next you know,two weeks vacation.
(24:26):
I don't want to have to worryabout that and I've got three
months to get there.
Or I want to be able to go tothe grocery store and lift up
those bundles without having toworry about my dropping them or
being able to carry them intothe house.
I want to be able to walk upthe stairs.
I want to be able to come downthe stairs, and there are areas
of your body that you need tofocus on as you age in order to
(24:47):
stay functionally fit.
How about getting on and offthe toilet in the morning?
You know, sometimes that can bea struggle.
So let's talk about how to keeptheir.
Whatever parts of your body youneed to keep strong in order to
stay healthy.
So profile our clients so thatwe understand where they are in
their journey, what's theirappetite for exercise, and then
we build a program and wemonitor that programming and
(25:07):
it's all done.
I do have a studio here, but itcan be done remotely, which is
cool.
So we do it via zoom and wecommunicate in writing so that
they can see their writtenfitness plan and nutrition as
well.
So, um, you know, I'm anutrition coach, so I'm not a
nutritionist.
So the coaching around mealplanning, similar to when
someone has, you know, uh, anykind of a health issue.
(25:29):
You know, we will put togethermeal plans that will assist in
whatever the doctor recommends,but it's in concert with, it's,
not instead of.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
And you know we see so much research it's just
coming out every day aboutnutrition and dementia nutrition
, and you know, and joint issuesand arthritis.
Inflammation and joint issuesand arthritis, inflammation and
nutrition can make a bigdifference in minimizing that in
the future.
There's lots of evidence nowthat good nutrition can minimize
(26:03):
the likelihood of dementia.
But even once you're showingsigns of dementia, there's
evidence that nutrition canassist or help with slowing that
down or making it less intense,and so I think nutrition is a
huge part of this process andI'm happy that you're including
that in your conversations.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Thank you, and I think the good news is I am my
own client, yeah, so all thatI'm learning I'm doing because,
you know, I came from wallstreet.
So the life that I lived livedin wall street was a lot of you
know, steak dinners and lots ofwine, and I learned over time
that, you know, I wasn't agingas well as I wanted.
And with all that I've learnedand all that I've seen in
(26:45):
healthcare, you know I've beenable to personally make
decisions that have impacted youknow how I'm living my life in
my in my sixties better than Iwould have if I maintained you
know what, how I was living inmy you know my twenties and
thirties and forties.
So, and then the experiencethat I had in watching people
with memory issues when theyhave, you know, nutritious diets
(27:08):
and they watching their saltand they're very cognizant that.
You know their family membersare very cognizant of what
they're feeding their loved oneswho have memory issues.
You see a difference, and yousee a difference longer than if
you just had them eat whateverthey wanted.
And so I'm again, I'm a bigproponent.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
So tell us a little bit more.
I wanted to get into all ofthose issues and then I wanted
to kind of circle back about howdid you get this to be your
passion?
I know you've kind of hintedaround a little bit about it,
but I'd like you to tell yourstory a little bit.
How'd you get from Wall Streetto the Silver Sadney?
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Well, it's interesting, I did very well in
financial services and I thinkwhat made me different was I've
always been first of all, I'vebeen a caregiver since I was
seven years old, so I've alwayshad an incredible ability to
understand what someone'sthinking, feeling and going
through.
That put me in a verysuccessful position when I was
(28:08):
in Wall Street, because clientsno matter if you're a person or
a company they want to be heard.
And if you can listen to yourclients, assimilate what they're
saying, even if they're yellingat you, assimilate what they're
saying, bring it back andsolution something that will
mean their business will grow orit solves a major problem or
whatever then you will do well,and I did very well and I built
(28:30):
really successful teams.
I migrated to FinTech and Iworked in a bond trading company
that developed softwaretechnology that had never been
used before and it actually wasa game changer in the market.
So I learned technology, howtechnology can facilitate
business, and I've always lovedbeing on the cutting edge of
technology.
I was always the first you know, first person to have a
(28:50):
BlackBerry literally in myoffice, so I've always been
somebody that was very adept attechnology.
I was always somebody that sawthat as a solution.
So when I started havingexperiences with healthcare and
my parents, I thought you knowwhat I can do this better?
And I said I'm going to do thisbetter.
So I went and bought two homecare companies and I did it
better.
(29:10):
And I said I'm going to do thisbetter.
So I went and bought two homecare companies and I did it
better, but I didn't do it bytreating the clients better than
anybody else.
I did it by treating thecaregivers and hiring the
absolute best caregivers andrewarding them, just like we
were rewarded in financialservices.
And suddenly, guess whathappened?
All the caregivers are at mydoor, so then I can service more
clients, and these caregiversstayed with me.
So I found the secret sauce tohow to build a home care company
(29:33):
and build it well, and I endedup selling that and decided you
know what I?
I've learned so much aboutwellness.
I feel like I'm a bridgebetween financial services and
healthcare.
My home care company was veryhigh tech.
In fact, the person that thethe two gentlemen that bought my
company walked in and saidwhere are all your files?
And I'm like they're online.
Guys, like we are, we are veryyou know, we're very tech savvy
(29:56):
organization and my staff lovedit because they were on the
latest technology.
So Silver Savvy is really bornout of all of that client facing
, technology orientedsolutioning.
That I've learned over theyears and, at the end of the day
, when you're really good atcustomer service, I think you
can do it, no matter where youare, and I think that I want to
be at the cutting edge of doingsomething different for those of
(30:20):
us that are aging and do itwell.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
That's great.
You know there's a parallel towhat we were talking about
earlier and how we evaluate thehome care companies and the
assisted livings and things likethat.
It is kind of a parallel overto any business, because it is.
You know, if you have filesstrewn about everywhere, if you
have everything in paper files,you're not going to be able to
(30:44):
serve your customer, yourclients, your patients all that
well if you can't easily accesstheir information, because
otherwise it's just your clients, your patients all that well if
you can't easily access theirinformation, because otherwise
it's just you know there's toomuch mess to be going through to
be able to properly servicethose clients.
So I think your embrace oftechnology is something that we
(31:07):
all can learn from to the extentof and it's one of the things I
always say is my goal as I ageis to try to stay up on
technology.
I know that's something thatmany seniors do struggle with
and I encourage seniors to.
You know, if they need to goout and take a class or just
expose themselves to it, don'tbe afraid of it, because it's
(31:28):
one of those things that canreally help you stay connected
to your family stay connected tobusinesses, stay connected to
services all these things.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
You're absolutely right and you go back to the
whole.
Cognitive health and stayingconnected to people is a huge
element of healthy aging and Iagree technology is a really
good way to do it, but it'sscary for some folks.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah, yeah, and I think for most people it's just
exposure, it's just don't beafraid of it.
You're not going to blow upanything if you push the wrong
button.
Just play around with it, andthat's how most people are going
to be more comfortable withtechnology.
So well, this has been a greatconversation.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I loved it.
I wish we had more time.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
I want to encourage everybody to check out
silversavvycom.
You can connect with Laura Lynnat linkedincom.
Slash Laura Lynn Morrissey andLaura Lynn.
What other final tips that youwant to leave our listeners or
other ways they might reach outto you?
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Silversavvycom.
Hello, at Silversavvycom isanother way to reach out, but
I'm very active on LinkedIn, I'mvery active in email and I am
here to help.
I think, at the end of the day,aging is unique to all of us.
It's a personal journey and Ithink that you know looking for
(32:59):
resources to help us age thevery best we can.
We don't have to take agingsitting down and we need to make
sure that we're doing it ourway, and I think there's a lot
of resources out there now tohelp us, and Silver Savvy is one
.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
And I want to point this out I think we may have
mentioned it earlier, but Ireally want to stress this that
Laura Lynn can work with anybodyin the United States.
It does not the use oftechnology, but just everything
that she does can be doneregardless of your location.
And so if you have a long-termcare insurance claim or you're
considering filing a long-termcare insurance claim, if you
(33:37):
need an evaluation of home careagencies or sort of just looking
towards aging well, I stronglyrecommend that you consider
checking out Silver Savvy andLauren Morrissey.
Thank you so much for Thank youso much, Bob.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
This has been wonderful.
I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
If you like the podcast today and you want to be
aware of our next one, don'tforget to subscribe.
At any place that you downloadpodcasts.
You can also go to our website,manorlawgroupcom, or we're also
on YouTube if you like watchingthe podcast, but we really
appreciate our listeners.
You can go to any podcast placethat you listen to podcasts and
(34:16):
search for advice from youradvocates, and don't forget to
subscribe.
Thanks and we'll see you nexttime.
Thanks for listening.
To learn more, visitmanorlawgroupcom.
You're listening to Advice from your Advocates, a
show where we provide elder lawadvice to professionals who work
with the elderly and theirfamilies.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome back to Advice from your Advocates.
I'm Bob Manor.
I'm a board-certified elder lawattorney in Michigan and I'm
really excited about the showtoday.
I think you'll find this veryinteresting.
We've got Laura Lynn Morrisseyfrom Silver Savvy.
Welcome, laura Lynn.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thank you, nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
So I wanted to hear more about you as a person and
how you got to be where you areand the services that you offer.
But first tell us a little bitabout Silver Savvy and how it
came about and what you do.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well Silver Savvy is actually it's kind of an
outgrowth of the work that I'vedone throughout my career.
What I saw a need for isadvocacy and more comprehensive
holistic resources in one placeand a personalized approach for
those of us who are navigatingand want to age well and
(01:08):
informed.
I think that there's a lot ofmisinformation out there around
aging and what it means to be anolder, mature adult and the
experience that I've had inhealthcare and then prior to
that in financial services, I'mreally a bit of a unicorn
because I've seen how we'reperceived as we get older and I
see how we're treated in thehealthcare industry and
(01:29):
navigating, all of thecomplexities that are coming at
us, oftentimes in crisis.
So I saw when I got out ofhealthcare, I saw myself as an
advocate I call myself BFF forAging Well, but an advocate for
those who are looking to age aswell as possible or maybe
they're in a situation wherethey need guidance for certain
(01:50):
you know certain services that Iprovide but also for the
daughters and daughters-in-lawand loved ones that are also in
the middle of all of this.
So I really service twodemographics, two types of
clients, and you know where it'sbeen well received, both on the
B2B level as well as folks onthe retail side.
The services that we do provideinclude it's kind of a threefold
(02:13):
offering.
So we have curated products.
So I have experiencedhealthcare and understand the
different types of products thatI think work well.
I also use a lot of products.
I'm a very active person.
So if you have, if you want topursue active living, we have
lots of products that I thinkwork well.
I also use a lot of products.
I'm a very active person.
So if you have, if you want topursue active living, we have
lots of products to help withthat.
So we have curated productsthat I know and love very well
or recommend, but also servicesaround long-term care insurance.
(02:36):
So many of us who havelong-term care insurance don't
necessarily know exactly how tofile a claim, or maybe they
filed a claim and have hadissues.
So I'm here to help or pursuefinding a suitable home care
company, given that home care isnow part of the healthcare
ecosystem, unlike several yearsago before COVID.
And then, finally, I became afunctional aging specialist,
(02:56):
including a fitness trainer,believe it or not and
nutritionist, so I kind ofunderstand how the body ages and
what we can do to offset that,along with good health and good
eating.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You know, laura Lynn, as we were talking and for the
audience that knows me a littlebit better, I feel like we have
a similar philosophy in the waythat we approach this.
It is that there is a lot ofinformation but it's disjointed
information out there and it'sreally hard to process all that
information and to have anadvocate, and the things that
(03:30):
you specialize in are a littledifferent than the things I
specialize in.
But to have an advocate thatcan kind of walk you through
that and look at the big picture, sort of the holistic looking
at everything, I think that'sreally important and it is kind
of rare to find folks that cananalyze and help people narrow
down their options, get throughthe maze of long-term care
(03:51):
insurance or you know, for meit's going to be.
You know, government assistanceand just the process of getting
through the health care systemcan be very difficult without a
guide and they're really it'svery hard to find a guide that
will see you through the wholeprocess.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I agree.
What I found when I leftfinancial services and I
recommitted myself to healthcare, it was through a personal
situation with my dad, who was adiagnosically ill with a stoma
and subsequently passed, and Isaw the silos that we were all
working in and I thoughtwouldn't it be nice if somebody
kind of worked across the silos,like we did to some extent in
(04:33):
financial services, that wholeconsultative approach, and I've
asked healthcare people whyaren't we doing a better job in
healthcare, reaching across theaisles, if you will, making sure
that that person completelyunderstands what is happening
and perhaps making that extraphone call?
And I don't think that theyreally thought about it that way
.
And so, at the end of the day,I want to be that unique service
(04:55):
provider that actually asksthat one more question, that
actually says you know whatyou're thinking about this, but
you also need to think aboutthese three other things.
And let me get you where youneed to go.
And it's been received well,and I feel as though companies
that do this and I talk aboutthis in some of my articles
companies that do this, aregoing to win, since there's
going to be so many of us whoare aging, who are a lot more
(05:16):
aware of the complexities thatwe're facing, but just don't
quite know how to solve for them.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It's very interesting trying to maneuver through any
of these things, whether it bethe healthcare system itself and
just getting information, and Ifeel like the.
I'll give you a quick anecdoteof my own personal experience.
I was going in for a test,simple test, and I was concerned
.
I'd never been there before.
(05:41):
I said, talked to the person onthe phone, can you tell me
where do I go in the hospital?
And they said oh, it's thegreen elevators.
And so I get to the hospital.
There's no green elevatorsanywhere.
Well, when I finally got towhere I was supposed to go, on
the floor that they were on, theelevators were green on that
floor and so, from theirperspective, it was the green
elevators.
(06:02):
That's a great exampleperspective, it was the green
elevators and that's a greatexample, but there's nobody that
is there to help sort of guideyou through that process.
I know that's a silly, sillyexample, but that's just one of
those things.
There's really not a whole lotof communication, especially
from you know one setting to thenext setting.
So if you're in the hospitaland you go into rehab or you go
from rehab to home or anythinglike that, the communication
(06:24):
across the different you knowexpectations is very little and
you're starting over each timepractically and it can be very
difficult without a guide, likeyou said.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I think so and I think it's very stressful.
I mean, I do a lot of talks andwebinars and the first question
I ask is you know how many ofyou have a loved one that has
been discharged from thehospital and you're thinking to
yourself they're not ready, andI mean the whole entire room
raises their hand and guess what?
That's the way of the world now.
I mean, the hospitals havetheir marching orders based on
(06:55):
what's going on with CMS and therest of us have to fall in line
.
You know I could go on for daysabout you know the impact of
how, of what that means, but itgoes back to it's interesting.
You know, did CMS think abouthow much money they're going to
save by managing healthcare thisway?
But the impact that it's goingto have on you know, those of us
who have to care for our lovedones and have businesses the
(07:18):
role that businesses need toplay in advocating for us,
because they're the ones thatare going to lose out on
productivity when we're nolonger, you know, when we no
longer can stay at work, we haveto leave early, or maybe we
forego that promotion or whathave you.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
This is not a complaint, it's just a reality
that the people, the agents thatsell long-term care,
traditional long-term careinsurance, which has gone
through a major change over thelast 20 years from, I think I
heard it was like a hundred andsome companies, down to maybe
(07:52):
three or four companies.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, it's around six .
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, yeah, okay, thank you and so, but the issue
on this is that the agents thatsell it don't have, at least in
my experience, much of anability to help with the claims
process.
It's one of the things thatwhen I had someone come to visit
me that said, hey, I think youshould send me some of your
(08:15):
clients that need long-term careinsurance, one of my questions
was how often have you been onthe other end of it where you
were trying to help someone filethe claim, and the vast
majority of the time it was well, I haven't had that experience
yet, and so you are on that side.
From what I understand, you'renot selling long-term care
insurance, you're helping withthat claims process.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
That's right and so you know, coming from financial
services.
So I worked on the clearingside.
So our relationships werebroker to broker, b2b with all
of the large brokerage companiesin the United States so Bank of
America, jp Morgan so Iunderstood how these brokerage
firms worked.
They wanted and insurancecompanies like New York Life and
(08:57):
whatnot.
They wanted their reps on thephone reaching out to new
clients and growing the business.
So the last thing they wanttheir reps doing is potentially
servicing their clients over andover and over, and I know this.
So there's that influence onany advisor.
The second thing is a lot ofthese advisors have younger
books, so they haven't reallyreached a point where somebody
(09:18):
needs to leverage their Third.
They don't know where to begin,so it's a hot potato and they
want to just bounce it tosomeone else.
So I want all of those and sooftentimes an advisor or
whatever I call them advisors,but they could be any number of
licensed or CFA or whatever.
They are happy to have someonelike me because at the end of
the day, it's arelationship-based transaction
(09:39):
and if they can trust me andtrust the process, then I'm
going to be able to take care ofthe client, make their client
happy and then help them reachtheir benefits.
But at the end of the day, whenI see any kind of an advisor
who is managing the claims toofar along, I'm like I wonder
what your boss thinks of that,because you're not doing what
you're supposed to be doing, andI know that because I've been
(10:00):
on that side.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Well, and so in my experience over the years that
with long-term care, insuranceclaims that it is not an
intuitive process for mostfamilies.
So when they purchased it, whenthey paid the premiums every
year, they had one thing intheir imagination.
But, as with any insuranceprocess, you got to go through
the process, and so, for example, obviously many long-term care
(10:28):
insurance policies can be usedfor home care and things like
that.
But when we're looking at somecare like assisted living or
other variations of that,sometimes there are expectations
within the policy that thecaregiving providers meet a
certain level and it's verydifficult for the family to even
(10:49):
understand that sort of fineprint in there, which isn't
necessarily a bad thing that theinsurance companies are saying,
well, they have to be licensedor they have to be supervised by
medical or they have to.
You know, whatever the issue is, but it's not clear.
That's not in the marketplace,no, but they're not putting on
their sign.
You know, we're licensed, as inMichigan it'd be something
(11:11):
called an adult foster care or ahome for the aged, which are
very archaic terms, but that'swhat they have for licensing,
and so it's.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
The families struggle with that and sometimes
insurance companies areinsurance companies and they
make you go through some, somehoops that the family wasn't
expecting, I would agree.
And if, if a policy has beenacquired by another company,
they may interpret that languagedifferently than the original
intent, and so it is a littlebit of an art and and I have
(11:41):
several examples of that which Iwon't bore you with, but the
the one thing that I, one thingthat I see is the good news is,
a lot of times, the policiesthat have.
Well, first of all, everypolicy is different, and I say
this to every client, even ifyou could have five policies
from you know, john Hancock, andevery single one of them has
got to be evaluated on its own.
(12:01):
I've had clients that have twopolicies but they're serviced
now by two different agenciesthat do the backend.
One will, you know, one willhave an issue and the other one
will fly through.
But the thing that I find isyou know the levers that drive
the premium.
The biggest one is theelimination period, and that is
(12:21):
the one.
I was even talking to anadvisor who's been in the
business.
He's a CFA for 25 years.
His parents bought a policy andhe actually, because I
understand the eliminationperiod, even though a lot of
people don't understand thatthey have to pay out of pocket
until that claim is approved.
But there was even a nuancearound calendar versus business
(12:43):
days around care, and he's likeI didn't realize that once the
claim was submitted, that I hadto wait, you know, 90 service
days, not 90 calendar days.
He goes that's a long time.
So I think even the mosteducated, intelligent,
detail-oriented person can getcaught by the language and the
(13:03):
intent of these policies andthat's why it's so important to
have an advocate who's beenthrough it and can ask that you
know.
Two more questions to get downto the bottom level of what that
you know, of what that benefitcould mean, and then different
scenarios, and I think it'simportant to show people
scenarios so they understand howto play that policy out
properly.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I generally recommend most people that are getting
ready to file a claim for longterm care insurance consider
working with you or somebodylike you, because it is a lot of
times they're two or threemonths into it before they start
to get frustrated with theprocess and they may have not
made as much progress as I thinkthey did during that time
(13:43):
period, but they could have had.
They had sort of that advocacyand that sort of explanation of
the policy to how we're going toproperly trigger it or get
through that elimination.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I would agree.
You know a lot of folks think Imean I can't tell you how many
clients have said I don't reallyneed it right now.
I only broke my hip.
You know I want to use it when,when I have some sort of a.
Honestly, I think they'rewaiting for that terminal
diagnosis and my advice is atany point, before you even have
any issue, you should sit downand do and walk through some
scenarios on how to get throughthat elimination period with
(14:17):
paying as little out of pocketas possible, and even if it
means, you know, a little bit ofcare that you might normally
have been able to work throughon your own, it means getting
through that elimination periodversus having to pay somebody
when you're extremely ill, sevendays a week, 24 hours a day.
So I think that's the biggestaha around and I think people
thought well, I've got aninsurance, I'll just file a
(14:38):
claim.
It's just like my car, it'slike it's not.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It is, and I can't tell you how many people I've
seen like that and I asked thequestion what are you saving it
for?
They have serious concerns andI understand especially when
we're dealing with home carethat that's a big adjustment to
have caregivers come into yourhome and sometimes families are
just nervous about that.
(15:03):
But the idea is so many timesI've seen people where they have
severe physical restrictions orthey have some form of dementia
and they have this long-termcare policy and they're saying,
well, we're going to hold on tothat till later.
What are we saving it for?
Wasn't this what you bought itfor?
Wasn't this what you paid for?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
It's amazing, I found it doesn't matter if you're a
blue collar worker, it doesn'tmatter if you're a high net
worth client.
I've dealt with high net worthclients family office Well,
family office a lot of timesthey self-insure, but some I
dealt with a number of largeattorney's offices where they
offered long-term care insuranceas a benefit.
So they took it, of course, andthey would hold onto that
(15:44):
policy like it was a binky.
So part of my goal in startingthis company is to get
information out there that, youknow, I kind of want to say I
wish they told me sooner, youknow, because, if you, I think
we're better at making decisionswhen we're informed, when we're
not in crisis, and I think thatmy goal is to be the loudest
(16:05):
voice in the room for those ofus who really don't know what's
coming down the pike.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Well, let's talk about one of your other areas of
expertise, and that's selectinga home care agency.
Yes, that's really interesting,and I think people they just
aren't aware of the dynamicsthat are involved in the home
care industry, so it's kind oflike the first one that shows up
on their list Well, we calledthem, and so that must be what
(16:33):
they're all like.
And so walk us through whatthat looks like when someone's
working with you on helping tofigure out their home care
situation.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Well, I think you know, again, there's a lot of
assumptions.
Well, I just want someone thatmy mom gets along with, and we
know that it's so much more thanthat and they're an extension
of the healthcare ecosystem andand they're probably the most
intimate versus, you know,dealing with other healthcare
providers.
So, you know, when I built myhome care company, I came in
(17:02):
without any healthcarebackground.
I was, I was basically anadministrator, so I applied a
lot of the risk management thatI had when I was a registered
principal, and so I came intothe industry with.
You know how would I run thisbusiness and make sure that when
someone goes into someone'shome they're as safe as possible
, and then I limit as muchpotential you know, fraud or any
(17:24):
of the bad stuff that goes onwhen you hire, when a potential
home care company that'snefarious goes into the house.
So the first thing that I do isI, as I sit down with the
client or whomever theconstituent is, and I ask them
what is it, what are the needs?
And so I typically will get youknow the history of the
person's health.
Then I begin to discuss, youknow, what role do you want to
(17:47):
play versus what role I can play, and a lot of times it's.
You know, can you do it?
Can you just take it on,because I'm overwhelmed with mom
and I really need to behandling this?
You take this on.
So then what we do is we sitdown and we discuss what the
requirements are for the careplan, and that has to do with
the diagnosis and various otherparticulars.
I want the bed made a certainway, I want to eat you know if
she needs to have her tea made acertain way, and what have you.
(18:08):
So we create kind of a strawman of a care plan and then I'll
talk about what I wouldconsider requirements for a home
care company, and that'sbasically my experience behind
the scenes.
I'm going to want to understandwhat are the hiring practices.
I'm going to want to understandif they're licensed or not,
because not every single agencyis required to be licensed.
So if they're not licensed,they should be accredited so
(18:29):
they at least have a third partycoming in evaluating their
business, the longevity of themanagement.
There's a lot of turnover inthis industry, as you know.
There's a lot of turnover withcaregivers these days, so
there's a lot of vetting when Ievaluate these agencies as to
the health of theirinfrastructure.
Families aren't necessarilygoing to ask.
I'm going to look at what arethe reviews.
A lot of agencies don't pursuereviews.
(18:50):
It was something that I pursuedbecause I know that a lot of
folks go online right away.
They want to see how thereputation is.
So I create a profile based onmy own behind the scenes
experience of what a great homecare company should be doing,
how they should be responding,and you know what makes you
different.
Well, it shouldn't just be well, we have great caregivers.
It's got to be a number ofother things around how you run
(19:11):
your company, how you managerisk, how you hire, because,
guess what, every one of thosecaregivers is probably working
three or other, three or fourother agencies.
So you know you, you you've gotto really get underneath all of
those particulars.
Then you create a profile andyou create a recommendation that
is positioned in a way that thefamily can understand and can
resonate.
And, yes, it is aboutpersonality and fit for mom, but
(19:34):
at the same time it is so muchmore Do they have the experience
necessary to care forwhatever's wrong with mom,
especially if there's memoryissues, because there is a
specific type of skill necessaryto deal with somebody who has
memory issues and you know it'snot a one size fits all.
So, and you know, at the end ofthe day that has worked really
well and we've seen agenciesthat appreciate the fact that
(19:56):
they were so well vetted becauseit made for a better fit versus
the, you know, friday afternoonphone call, I need a caregiver
on Monday, and then wham, you'vegot a caregiver that doesn't
fit.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, so you know, it's interesting how you
describe that, because I thinkthat's true with almost all
long-term care, whether it befacility-based or home care, and
that's how we, I always tellpeople, that's how we evaluate
and we, you know, encourage ourclients, our families, to
evaluate it that way, too, isit's not just about the physical
location, how pretty it is.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Or the chandelier.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, it is about how it's run, and so the things
that you mentioned are veryimportant.
How is it run?
There always are going to beissues, right, there's always
going to be concerns that peoplehave when it involves
caregiving.
And how does management respondto those concerns?
Do they ignore your phone calls?
Do they just move on to thenext person?
(20:54):
And the way that you wentthrough and said how you
evaluate the home care.
I think that's true, for ifyou're concerned, you know
considering assisted living ormemory care or independent
living or nursing home or any ofthe levels of care, because
it's the same.
It kind of comes around thesame thing we have.
Frequently we look at placesthat are very fancy and our
(21:16):
evaluation is they're notproviding as consistent quality
care as some of the older placesthat aren't as fancy but have
better systems and management inplace.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I would agree.
You know what makes a good care, what makes a great agency, and
a home care agency is an agencythat's willing to be honest and
say you know what.
I think we've gone as far as wecan with mom and I think it's
time to look at.
You know alternatives and sowe've.
I would often get involved inevaluating alternative living
arrangements and at the sametime, my mom had dementia and my
(21:49):
brother is an attorney and thetwo of us had to find a place
for my mother and, honestly, ifyou pulled up in the place that
we found and selected, you'dthink it was a yard sale, but it
was an award-winning facility,long-term care facility, and my
mom couldn't have been happierand she had the very best
experience.
And this is somebody that wasadamant about living at home
(22:10):
until the end, but at the endshe just couldn't.
So I would agree with you thatthis place was paneling and big,
fluffy chairs, but the food wasamazing and the care was
incredible and I couldn't havebeen more proud and they had all
sorts of accolades and wererecognized nationwide as one of
the best, and I think that and,by the way, my brother and I
stared at each other when wewere going through this, saying
(22:31):
are you overwhelmed?
Because I'm overwhelmed and Iwas in the business, so you know
it happens to the best of us.
When you're in it personally,it becomes bigger than you.
And, by the way, we did have anadvocate that helped us through
because I didn't think I coulddo it myself and, sure enough,
this woman did a fantastic job.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
So that's great.
So then the other area whereyou're often helping folks age
wisely is nutrition and fitness.
So talk to us about that typeof consultation.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
So, you know, a lot of us think that as we age, that
we may not, that if we'rehealthy, that we can continue to
move and to be active, and ifwe're starting to live with
chronic issues we should beginto slow down.
And the answer is absolutelynot.
This is the time to evaluatewhere are you in your health?
(23:24):
So I am an aging specialist, asI mentioned, with a
certification in fitness,focusing on older adults too,
because aging and a lot of folksin fitness don't want to focus
on older adults because youcannot.
It is not a one size fits all.
It isn't about just buildingmuscle and building, you know,
lifting heavier weights.
It is truly understanding andprofiling who that person is,
(23:45):
where they are in theirhealthcare journey and then
crafting a workout schedule thathelps them not only live as
well as they can but manageswhatever chronic issue they may
be experiencing.
So, at the end of the day, it'snot all about chair yoga and
although that is a very goodexercise program, it's not
necessarily something thateverybody should look forward to
(24:05):
, Right?
So we talk about, we educateour clients on resistance
training and actual dumbbelltraining, and then, you know, we
don't talk about it in terms of, you know, going to the gym.
We talk about it in terms offunctional goals.
So I want to be able to go toItaly and walk around with my
daughter for the next you know,two weeks vacation.
(24:26):
I don't want to have to worryabout that and I've got three
months to get there.
Or I want to be able to go tothe grocery store and lift up
those bundles without having toworry about my dropping them or
being able to carry them intothe house.
I want to be able to walk upthe stairs.
I want to be able to come downthe stairs, and there are areas
of your body that you need tofocus on as you age in order to
(24:47):
stay functionally fit.
How about getting on and offthe toilet in the morning?
You know, sometimes that can bea struggle.
So let's talk about how to keeptheir.
Whatever parts of your body youneed to keep strong in order to
stay healthy.
So profile our clients so thatwe understand where they are in
their journey, what's theirappetite for exercise, and then
we build a program and wemonitor that programming and
(25:07):
it's all done.
I do have a studio here, but itcan be done remotely, which is
cool.
So we do it via zoom and wecommunicate in writing so that
they can see their writtenfitness plan and nutrition as
well.
So, um, you know, I'm anutrition coach, so I'm not a
nutritionist.
So the coaching around mealplanning, similar to when
someone has, you know, uh, anykind of a health issue.
(25:29):
You know, we will put togethermeal plans that will assist in
whatever the doctor recommends,but it's in concert with, it's,
not instead of.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
And you know we see so much research it's just
coming out every day aboutnutrition and dementia nutrition
, and you know, and joint issuesand arthritis.
Inflammation and joint issuesand arthritis, inflammation and
nutrition can make a bigdifference in minimizing that in
the future.
There's lots of evidence nowthat good nutrition can minimize
(26:03):
the likelihood of dementia.
But even once you're showingsigns of dementia, there's
evidence that nutrition canassist or help with slowing that
down or making it less intense,and so I think nutrition is a
huge part of this process andI'm happy that you're including
that in your conversations.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Thank you, and I think the good news is I am my
own client, yeah, so all thatI'm learning I'm doing because,
you know, I came from wallstreet.
So the life that I lived livedin wall street was a lot of you
know, steak dinners and lots ofwine, and I learned over time
that, you know, I wasn't agingas well as I wanted.
And with all that I've learnedand all that I've seen in
(26:45):
healthcare, you know I've beenable to personally make
decisions that have impacted youknow how I'm living my life in
my in my sixties better than Iwould have if I maintained you
know what, how I was living inmy you know my twenties and
thirties and forties.
So, and then the experiencethat I had in watching people
with memory issues when theyhave, you know, nutritious diets
(27:08):
and they watching their saltand they're very cognizant that.
You know their family membersare very cognizant of what
they're feeding their loved oneswho have memory issues.
You see a difference, and yousee a difference longer than if
you just had them eat whateverthey wanted.
And so I'm again, I'm a bigproponent.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
So tell us a little bit more.
I wanted to get into all ofthose issues and then I wanted
to kind of circle back about howdid you get this to be your
passion?
I know you've kind of hintedaround a little bit about it,
but I'd like you to tell yourstory a little bit.
How'd you get from Wall Streetto the Silver Sadney?
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Well, it's interesting, I did very well in
financial services and I thinkwhat made me different was I've
always been first of all, I'vebeen a caregiver since I was
seven years old, so I've alwayshad an incredible ability to
understand what someone'sthinking, feeling and going
through.
That put me in a verysuccessful position when I was
(28:08):
in Wall Street, because clientsno matter if you're a person or
a company they want to be heard.
And if you can listen to yourclients, assimilate what they're
saying, even if they're yellingat you, assimilate what they're
saying, bring it back andsolution something that will
mean their business will grow orit solves a major problem or
whatever then you will do well,and I did very well and I built
(28:30):
really successful teams.
I migrated to FinTech and Iworked in a bond trading company
that developed softwaretechnology that had never been
used before and it actually wasa game changer in the market.
So I learned technology, howtechnology can facilitate
business, and I've always lovedbeing on the cutting edge of
technology.
I was always the first you know, first person to have a
(28:50):
BlackBerry literally in myoffice, so I've always been
somebody that was very adept attechnology.
I was always somebody that sawthat as a solution.
So when I started havingexperiences with healthcare and
my parents, I thought you knowwhat I can do this better?
And I said I'm going to do thisbetter.
So I went and bought two homecare companies and I did it
better.
(29:10):
And I said I'm going to do thisbetter.
So I went and bought two homecare companies and I did it
better, but I didn't do it bytreating the clients better than
anybody else.
I did it by treating thecaregivers and hiring the
absolute best caregivers andrewarding them, just like we
were rewarded in financialservices.
And suddenly, guess whathappened?
All the caregivers are at mydoor, so then I can service more
clients, and these caregiversstayed with me.
So I found the secret sauce tohow to build a home care company
(29:33):
and build it well, and I endedup selling that and decided you
know what I?
I've learned so much aboutwellness.
I feel like I'm a bridgebetween financial services and
healthcare.
My home care company was veryhigh tech.
In fact, the person that thethe two gentlemen that bought my
company walked in and saidwhere are all your files?
And I'm like they're online.
Guys, like we are, we are veryyou know, we're very tech savvy
(29:56):
organization and my staff lovedit because they were on the
latest technology.
So Silver Savvy is really bornout of all of that client facing
, technology orientedsolutioning.
That I've learned over theyears and, at the end of the day
, when you're really good atcustomer service, I think you
can do it, no matter where youare, and I think that I want to
be at the cutting edge of doingsomething different for those of
(30:20):
us that are aging and do itwell.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
That's great.
You know there's a parallel towhat we were talking about
earlier and how we evaluate thehome care companies and the
assisted livings and things likethat.
It is kind of a parallel overto any business, because it is.
You know, if you have filesstrewn about everywhere, if you
have everything in paper files,you're not going to be able to
(30:44):
serve your customer, yourclients, your patients all that
well if you can't easily accesstheir information, because
otherwise it's just your clients, your patients all that well if
you can't easily access theirinformation, because otherwise
it's just you know there's toomuch mess to be going through to
be able to properly servicethose clients.
So I think your embrace oftechnology is something that we
(31:07):
all can learn from to the extentof and it's one of the things I
always say is my goal as I ageis to try to stay up on
technology.
I know that's something thatmany seniors do struggle with
and I encourage seniors to.
You know, if they need to goout and take a class or just
expose themselves to it, don'tbe afraid of it, because it's
(31:28):
one of those things that canreally help you stay connected
to your family stay connected tobusinesses, stay connected to
services all these things.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
You're absolutely right and you go back to the
whole.
Cognitive health and stayingconnected to people is a huge
element of healthy aging and Iagree technology is a really
good way to do it, but it'sscary for some folks.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah, yeah, and I think for most people it's just
exposure, it's just don't beafraid of it.
You're not going to blow upanything if you push the wrong
button.
Just play around with it, andthat's how most people are going
to be more comfortable withtechnology.
So well, this has been a greatconversation.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I loved it.
I wish we had more time.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
I want to encourage everybody to check out
silversavvycom.
You can connect with Laura Lynnat linkedincom.
Slash Laura Lynn Morrissey andLaura Lynn.
What other final tips that youwant to leave our listeners or
other ways they might reach outto you?
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Silversavvycom.
Hello, at Silversavvycom isanother way to reach out, but
I'm very active on LinkedIn, I'mvery active in email and I am
here to help.
I think, at the end of the day,aging is unique to all of us.
It's a personal journey and Ithink that you know looking for
(32:59):
resources to help us age thevery best we can.
We don't have to take agingsitting down and we need to make
sure that we're doing it ourway, and I think there's a lot
of resources out there now tohelp us, and Silver Savvy is one
.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
And I want to point this out I think we may have
mentioned it earlier, but Ireally want to stress this that
Laura Lynn can work with anybodyin the United States.
It does not the use oftechnology, but just everything
that she does can be doneregardless of your location.
And so if you have a long-termcare insurance claim or you're
considering filing a long-termcare insurance claim, if you
(33:37):
need an evaluation of home careagencies or sort of just looking
towards aging well, I stronglyrecommend that you consider
checking out Silver Savvy andLauren Morrissey.
Thank you so much for Thank youso much, Bob.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
This has been wonderful.
I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
If you like the podcast today and you want to be
aware of our next one, don'tforget to subscribe.
At any place that you downloadpodcasts.
You can also go to our website,manorlawgroupcom, or we're also
on YouTube if you like watchingthe podcast, but we really
appreciate our listeners.
You can go to any podcast placethat you listen to podcasts and
(34:16):
search for advice from youradvocates, and don't forget to
subscribe.
Thanks and we'll see you nexttime.
Thanks for listening.
To learn more, visitmanorlawgroupcom.
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