August 14, 2025 • 37 mins
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Perception can make or break senior living. Filmmaker and storyteller Peter Murphy Lewis is here to flip the script — and put caregivers at the heart of the story.
In this episode, we unpack the making of People Worth Caring About, the groundbreaking documentary shining a light on the passion, grit, and humanity of long-term care teams. You’ll hear why authentic, imperfect storytelling connects deeper than polished marketing, and how leaders can use it to recruit, retain, and inspire.
Whether you’re a senior living leader, marketer, or simply someone who believes in the power of human connection, this episode will leave you inspired — and ready to tell your community’s story.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Why caregivers should be the face of your brand
- How “Human, not Hollywood” storytelling transforms perception and trust
- The key questions to ask staff to capture meaningful stories
- Why documentaries — and long-form storytelling — are the most powerful opinion changers
- Why this matters: How authentic storytelling can boost occupancy, staff pride, and your community’s reputation
Links & Resources:
- Watch People Worth Caring About on YouTube and major smart TV platforms
- Follow Peter Murphy Lewis on LinkedIn
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin (00:00):
In a world where turnover threatens trust and perception
shapes the future of care, onefilmmaker set out to shift the
narrative.
Not with data, but with thepower of a caregiver's story.
Here's what Peter Murphy Lewissaid.
You can't fake 25 years ofloving someone else's
grandfather, but people feelthat and that they trust.
(00:24):
This is more than a documentary.
This is a movement, and todaywe're gonna talk about how it
just may change the way that youlead, recruit, and tell your
community's story forever.
Welcome to the Aspire for Morewith Aaron Podcast, where I have
the incomparable Peter Murphy,Lewis here, the master
(00:45):
storyteller.
I hope to learn a few thingsfrom him today.
So we are gonna talk aboutpeople worth caring about, which
is a documentary that I've beenable to spend some time watching
and it almost, I almost startedfilling out applications after I
watched it.
Peter Murphy.
Lewis.
Can I call you by all threenames?
Peter Murphy Lewis (01:06):
Yeah.
Yeah, you can.
That's what I think.
My mom calls me when I'm introuble.
Erin (01:12):
So tell us, welcome and tell us how did this happen.
how did your life's journey getyou to make a documentary about
people worth, about
Peter Murphy Lewis (01:25):
the origin story?
Probably could be interpreted.
Based around if you believe indestiny and the stars are
aligned, or if you believe inluck and chance and taking
advantage of opportunity.
I'm somewhere in between.
it, about two years ago I was atNebraska Healthcare Association.
(01:48):
Uh, I was doing, I think akeynote, and then I took my
podcast there to interview abunch of the caregivers.
And at one of the socials I metthe president of the Nebraska
Healthcare Foundation and toldJeff, I said, Jeff, I've been
doing television in SouthAmerica for about 10 years.
I do a version of the TV showDirty Jobs by Mike Rowe.
(02:12):
I always, I, that's why I alwayssay the joke.
My wife says, I'm the chubbierversion who doesn't dress as
well.
and, and I said.
WI would love to take the secretrecipe of focusing on people's
passion through their work anddo a version of this in
long-term care.
And I told him, I said, I thinkthis will help out with staffing
(02:32):
shortage.
It'll help out with thenarrative.
and I think he moved it up theline to Jaylene Carpenter, the
CEO of the association.
And maybe two calls afterwards,over maybe two to four weeks.
Uh, and she said, price it andlet's do it.
And she always makes the jokethat she thought I was gonna be
walking around with GoPros.
She said, I said that if I did,I'll own it.
(02:54):
But that's embarrassing to me.
I, I already have somewhat of abig head and that wouldn't make
for great television, but may,maybe I had two IPAs and that
would've came outta my mouth.
and that started.
So we, we made the decision in.
November, 2023.
We filmed in April, 2024 and itaired on October, 2024.
(03:16):
And it, in person, they did abig event in Nebraska, and then
we put it on YouTube, and thenit just got accepted in the last
month onto every smarttelevision in the United States.
Yeah,
Erin (03:30):
so exciting, like small steps.
I firmly believe in this world,in the journey that I'm in now.
And I, and I did believe it whenI was working inside of a
community as well, that everylittle seed that you plant will
eventually grow.
You will reap what you sow,however you wanna view that, the
energy.
(03:51):
the ideas, the passion, thepurpose, all of that.
And so you're always going to bein the right place at the right
time if you use that timeappropriately.
Hmm.
And here you go.
and now you have thisdocumentary, I, one of the in,
in the past few years since I'veseen you on LinkedIn, I hear you
always reference, I became a CNAand I was always like curious,
(04:12):
like.
He became a CNA.
Is he working as a CNA?
And he's doing marketing too,because that is intense, But I
see the perspective, like it's,when you watch these
documentaries, the perspectivethat you have that you're able
to give is really, reallyimportant.
did you find that that was aunique perspective that you had
(04:33):
when you were filming it?
Peter Murphy Lewis (04:35):
I think that it gave me a little bit of
street cred.
and, and street cred.
That gives me a little bit ofconfidence, right?
Like I am, I was, born, probablymiddle class in 1980.
didn't really have to doanything that I didn't want to.
Like, I mean, I mowed lawns andclean bathrooms in college, to
(04:56):
pay my bills.
My parents made me pay for mycar and things, but I've never
had to do construction oranything.
So when you come in with.
Cameras, people might be alittle standoffish.
Having that, that thatcredential three or four years
before I even filmed thedocumentary, it's not like I
said, I'm gonna go be become aCNA so I can film a documentary.
(05:19):
I didn't even think of that.
I hadn't even met Jeff orJaylene at that point.
helped, I would say even more soit helped me understand them,
right?
Like.
My understanding of A CNAwould've been cleaning,
changing, changing diapers andmaking beds.
I don't think I could haveunderstand the relationship that
exists between the caregiver,and the resident.
(05:41):
The amount of compliance andregulatory, the 24 hour shifts
right on working on holidays,all of that.
I went through that, thattraining when I became a CNA.
Uh, so I think it also made me abetter list, a better listener.
Erin (05:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
What did you notice was missing?
like what draw drew you to WhyCNAs?
why make a documentary aboutthis particular group of
workers, right?
Mm-hmm.
Inside of a community.
What did you think was missingand what are you hoping that
this documentary brings to them?
Peter Murphy Lewis (06:19):
Before I, I answer the exact CNAI think it
would be.
Helpful to go back just a littlebit and explain the catalyst of
why I became a CNA before I, whyfocused on caregivers in the
documentary.
I don't really know which personwas first.
I think that it was either theCEO of the electronic healthcare
records company that I workedwith who encouraged me to come
(06:41):
be become a CNA when I startedworking in marketing.
And I also think that it wasfrom a dear friend of mine who I
interviewed on my podcast aboutthree and a half years ago,
named Bob Spielman.
He's one of my favorite.
Thought leaders in, in long-termcare in the US from Ohio.
And on my, one of the times onthe podcast, we weren't, we
weren't recording.
He said, Peter, you shouldreally become a CNA.
(07:03):
he works the shift.
He works the floor a day or twoa week, even though he is vice
president.
He told me, how important it wasto him.
The way that he introduced me tohis CNAs.
He said, Peter, I don't thinkyou should interview executives
only you should startinterviewing the frontline
caregivers.
So I think it was between myCEO, my boss and Bob, and then I
went and became a CNA and theywere right.
(07:24):
They were good to push me inthat direction.
The reason that I, I put tututogether that the documentary
focused on the caregiver wouldbe helpful.
Came a little bit from myexperience in television where I
always focused on workers,right?
Like Dirty Jobs.
Mike Rowe works with people whodo hard jobs and he tells their
(07:47):
story through their grit andtheir passion and what time they
get up.
so I knew that that would work.
Why I thought it would translateinto long-term care is because
when I walked into long-termcare, it was right during COVID
and.
I heard all of the negativepress, and as a person who had
run my own company in SouthAmerica for almost 20 years and
(08:11):
interviewed a bunch ofexecutives, I knew that
executives and politicians andCEOs are really, really easy to
critique.
Because we think, oh, they makethe salary, they make one 50,
they make two 50, they make 500,whatever it is, they don't
actually work.
They just pass papers and theytell people what to do.
and it's really easy to blamelong-term care when you see
(08:31):
those people talking.
When you have a caregiver be theface of it, you don't feel
comfortable criticizing them.
So let the employee or teammate,or the person who takes care of
our grandparents be the face ofthe industry.
That's a much more authenticand, and very, very real, right?
Because maybe you and I, Aarondon't work the floor.
(08:54):
but the CNAs who might work inour organization do, and we
would think twice before wecriticized, uh, before we
criticized them.
You said, the quote at theintroduction, and I'd forgotten
that I shared that with you, wassomething along the lines of,
how.
who, who's not going toappreciate someone who's taken
care of my grandparents for 25years.
You can see it in their eyes.
(09:15):
If you're gonna stick in thisindustry, those people make for
an amazing story.
So it was that, it was thatfrontline caregiver that I
realized was gonna be great.
And also the time also,protected from those just
critiques of people who don'teven walk in a nursing home.
Erin (09:29):
Yeah, it's true.
my grandmother lived in mycommunity.
I knew where all the dirt wasinside of my community and I
still moved one of the mostimportant people in my life in
there.
And it, you really get to see,it's a very powerful moment when
you realize, oh, my family'sgonna turn into one of them too.
Like, I didn't think she wouldever play the rhythm sticks.
(09:51):
And then one day I walked out,walked down the hall and saw her
in the activity room playing therhythm sticks, and I'm like.
Are these snow flurries in themiddle of August in Alabama?
like this was something and yourealize like, oh, this works for
everybody.
Even mine, 1920, stubborngrandmother.
(10:12):
and those caregivers, offer somuch more than I could because I
was a granddaughter and I wasthe one that was having to tell
her what to do.
In a very loving way, but shedidn't wanna hear it from me.
And so there is something veryspecial about the bond between a
resident and a caregiver.
(10:34):
And the only thing, and I workedat a community that had a really
negative news story, and it wasaround COVID, it was around the
time they were coming aftercommunities with COVID.
And you realize who gets hurtthe most.
Whenever those news storieshappen, and it's, it's the
caregivers, I saw it firsthand.
(10:54):
It wasn't me, it wasn't theleader.
Somebody made a bad choice andthen all the negative comments
came and it was directed towardscaregivers and it was just like
eye opening.
So it is important if we'regoing to attack the reputation
of the industry in a positiveway and rewrite it, we need to
(11:16):
attack it with the truth.
to influence, like who are wetalking to?
Are we talking, we wanna talkabout the 20, the 30, the 40 to
50% of people who are doinggreat things.
So then we can attract peoplewho want and want to work like
that, who want to be the impactin somebody's life, which is
really important.
Peter Murphy Lewis (11:36):
So to that, to that point.
I was at LTC 100 in May withJaylene, and they did a really
interesting report.
Tim Craig and the leadershipteam presented a report around
perception of long-term carerehab.
and I'm not gonna get thisperfect, but I'll, I'll
paraphrase it, but what stoodout to me from the report was.
(12:00):
About 50% of the people who havea positive perception of some
side of long-term care, it'sbecause they have a personal
experience.
In long term care, they eitherhave a family member who works
there, a friend or family memberwho works there and they see
their passion and their love, orthey've had a family member
who's been in there and they'vebeen visited and they, and
(12:23):
they've experienced how hard itis and how beautiful it is, and
the relationship that they have,probably similar to what I did
when I became a CNA.
They have the exact same ex,same experience, and the
majority of people who have anegative perception have no.
Experience.
So you're saying like, who arewe speaking to?
the, the project was born tohelp out with working, with,
(12:45):
with staffing shortage.
Uh, it grew bigger because werealized that we can impact the
public narrative by showing amore full story.
And ideally maybe that 50% ofpeople who don't have much
experience.
Part of this documentary will atleast start to, show them more
of the reality than that they'regetting from traditional legacy
(13:08):
media.
the front headlines.
Erin (13:10):
Yeah.
it's like being a parent.
Oh, my kids are never gonna actlike that.
Then you get one and then yourealize, oh, I was so
judgmental.
So that's a very strong, strongpoint.
Peter Murphy Lewis (13:24):
It's true.
I don't give as much, I don'tgive as much parental advice now
that I have a kid.
I think I, it's easier to standon that stupid podium, before I
had a kid.
Erin (13:33):
Yes.
Tell me about it.
Tell me about it.
So, We've been talking about thepublic perception.
the public perception, and withme watching it, I felt, I, I, I
looked at the administrators,the executive directors, and I
was like, gosh, what would Ihave done if I was at that
community?
(13:54):
Or, and then looking how theygot ready for your, your time
there.
I'm like, oh, that was a lot ofwork.
That was a lot of work, and thenseeing the joy in the residents
eyes and faces whenever theywere the ones that are being,
honored.
Myrna.
And I can't think of the otherlady who, was at welcome.
(14:15):
her face when she was doing thearm exercises in a pink blazer.
I'm like, This is not a regularneighbor.
when you have something likethis happen at your community,
you make everybody feel special.
Everybody is a part of this.
Everybody plays a role ingetting the community ready, Did
you feel the joy.
I feel like you encapsulated itwell, so you must have but the
(14:37):
ripples of, of pride and joyinside that community.
Peter Murphy Lewis (14:43):
Yeah, I mean it's, it's it, permeates, the
ambiance when you walk in and toalong the lines of what you said
with people get excited.
This doesn't have to be adocumentary for people, for the
residents or the caregivers toget excited.
Right.
if the human resources personcame in or a CNA, who's pretty
(15:07):
good at using their iPhone,managed to do this ahead of
time, right.
You and I are gonna talk in alittle bit about what you can
do.
You can do this on your own.
I would guess that 90% of theresidents who are in the
documentary.
Might not care that.
You can see this on everytelevision in the United States.
They might have seen a clip orsomething from their family, but
it's the moment of theconnection of them getting to
(15:28):
share their story and theirlegacy, their relationship with
the caregiver.
Right?
Residents aren't.
Ignorant or blind to the factthat people talk bad about
long-term care in nursing homes.
And a lot, a lot of them willstand up and they just want to
be able to say it to somebodyelse.
so that vibe, when you walk init, it's pal, but you can, you
(15:50):
can feel it in the air and youcan see it in their smiles.
Now the caregivers are usuallyvery, very nervous.
The residents, less so, and Ithink it's because caregivers,
if you believe in the fivelanguages of love.
I think the majority ofcaregivers love language is,
service and they're not great atspeaking about themselves or
telling you, or showing you,right?
(16:11):
Unlike me who became a CNA andthen helped it for marketing.
These people do it in thedarkness.
They're delivering dignity everysingle day, and if you put a
camera on them, they get reallycamera shy, as opposed to the
residents.
Erin (16:25):
It's true.
So what surprised you the mostabout all the communities that
you've seen and that you wereable to go in and visit and
record?
What surprised you the mostabout how the communities or the
leaders or anyone in thecommunity, responded to the
stories?
Peter Murphy Lewis (16:40):
I think it goes probably to my fear before
the project ever started.
Mm-hmm.
Which was, I, I, when Jaylenesaid, let's go, I called.
The director, who's done mytelevision shows and I said,
Hey, do you wanna do somethingin the UN us?
She speaks English.
I said, this is gonna besomething odd for you.
(17:01):
It's, it's, it's a nursing homeambiance, and I think we're
gonna do seven days, to showthat nursing homes are open 24
7.
that was the idea that we cameup with a seven part series and
she said, let's do it.
And I said.
I don't know if how this isgonna work.
Like this could flop.
It could flop that thecaregivers don't feel
(17:22):
comfortable, it could flop, thatthe images that we're gonna have
are gonna be too slow.
There's not enough action, thatthe, that the residents aren't
gonna be talkative or we'regonna show them in a, in a way
that's not dignifying anddoesn't make them look as
beautiful as they deserve.
So that's a real possibility,right?
Like when I do television, youwalk into, one out of 10 shows
(17:45):
you walk into, there's problems,you know, the person that the
person, can't talk or things getcanceled.
So the exact same thing in anursing home can happen.
and that, so the biggestsurprise to me was.
How great the stories in thisindustry can look on a big
screen.
and I didn't know that.
(18:05):
Now I'm already three seasonsin, you know, you mentioned
Nebraska and Ohio.
We filmed New Mexico in May,2025, and it comes out in a
couple weeks, and we're filmingtwo more seasons next year that
I've already been booked for.
I no longer have that fear.
So if I were gonna guess.
Like, what if I were gonna tellyou what would be the next thing
that surprises me is that Ilearned something from either a
(18:28):
resident or caregiver in everysingle episode.
they're teaching me, like in NewMexico, there was a gentleman
who, I posted this on LinkedIn,I said, this is a beautiful
room.
And he, and he wrote back, thisis my home.
that gentleman, Kevin called methe other day, and asked when it
was coming out.
Well, he educated me like, don'tcall it his room.
Don't, don't make it seem like,oh, you keep your hotel room
(18:49):
nice.
Give him some more respect andso I, I continue to learn.
Erin (18:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's true.
to me, like when I think aboutthis documentary, I think about
the buy-in of the team.
I.
I look at it and I'm like, I'msure there's lots of stories
here.
I would like to ask theexecutive director, how is she
handling this and how is shehandling that?
And all the things.
(19:15):
But what I feel like I, I seewhat, what I see, what, what my
perception is.
These leaders have the buy-in oftheir team.
And they were chosen for areason.
They submitted to be chosen fora reason, and it was because
they wanted to show off whatthey have.
Not that they have perfectcommunities, because I love the
(19:36):
fact that the communities thatwere chosen were not
extravagant.
Mm-hmm.
Some of them were old andsuccessful.
you don't have to be, stunningand to be successful, you just
have to care and have the buy-inof your team.
And on the flip side of that.
My favorite saying in, in themission behind this podcast,
(19:59):
and, and it's, own your story soyou can create your future and
when you own it, come on in.
Warts and all, Yeah.
That one community that has beenpassed down, generation to
generation, that was an oldcommunity, but you could feel
the love and that residentsaying, I wouldn't wanna be
anywhere else.
Peter Murphy Lewis (20:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
The, the, the buy-in.
It makes me think about, I, Ithink there's, there's an
elephant in the room that someof the listeners might not pick
up on, which is not all leadersare comfortable allowing their
caregivers to be the face of adocumentary.
(20:40):
if you look at theadministrators and executive
directors, and the director ofnursing and the CEOs, they all
get less than 30 seconds almoston every single episode.
And that's intentional and, andorganized that way by my
director.
And, and it's to give the storyto the caregivers.
Not everyone wants that, right?
there's a whole bunch of peoplewho don't wanna give them that
leverage, give them that, thatvisibility.
(21:02):
And, you might be able to think,oh, they're gonna become a diva,
or now they're gonna negotiate.
These leaders felt comfortabletaking a step back, taking the
back seat.
And then you have these leaderswho have been there for, you
have these caregivers who havebeen there for 10, 20, 30 years.
Like the story of, uh, Deanne,who was at the manor at,
(21:23):
Perrysburg.
And she, she was a CNA and shewas.
Pretty depressed when she,because of a back problem, she
didn't think she was gonna beable to work there again.
She thought she was gonna haveto retire or go do something in
office and they found place forher as an activities director.
and those stories show you that.
(21:43):
There's leadership above whowasn't the face of the show, but
they make room.
So Deanne can take care of mymom and my dad, and my
grandparents and, and me.
and you mentioned the story ofthe two sisters, Jill and Heidi,
who, third generation fromWelcome and the nurses, mark and
Sean, who are the best men orthe bride, the brides.
(22:04):
The groomsmen in the wedding,for Jean, for David and June.
Those people, both of them saidthat they couldn't imagine
working anywhere else in, in theinterview.
They said, we've already pickedout our rooms in Wi Hall.
Um, so there's definitely buy-inand those of us who've worked in
many other companies, we dreamedto have some of the environment,
(22:25):
some of the work environmentthat, that we are able to show
in this documentary.
Erin (22:29):
Yeah.
So good.
I loved watching it.
but not every, community has tohave a documentary.
we have the power in our handsto create, to make stars of
every.
Every department.
It doesn't have to be justcaregivers.
I mean, to me, housekeepers playa huge role in the success of a
(22:53):
community because what does thefirst in first impression look
at?
Really the cleanliness.
Mm-hmm.
The smell, the atmosphere of thecommunity.
and I think this ties into howwe can retain people.
So how.
How can we, as leaders inside ofa community use social media to
(23:13):
our advantage in highlightingour teams?
Peter Murphy Lewis (23:16):
You're right that not everyone needs to, to
not everyone needs adocumentary.
I would say there's a coupleelements that you can use, the,
the first principles thinking orthis, the underlining premise of
this and turn it into successfor you.
Uh, the first thing that I wouldsay is.
Don't worry about being perfect.
(23:39):
Jaylene's tagline, after thisdocumentary came out, that she
said, the reason that this isresonating, the reason that this
is going national is becauseit's human, not Hollywood.
And when I do keynotes, and Idid a breakout session at a
state convention not too longago about how you can actually
design this program and do itin-house on your own is I said.
(24:02):
You need to kick the marketersout of the room who want
perfection.
This is progress overperfection.
You're better off doing a videothat has problems than one
that's doing perfect.
The polished videos that we haveput out in long-term care,
everybody knows that they'refake.
Anybody who's been in a nursinghome or hasn't been in a nursing
(24:23):
home, we all know that it's notperfect and it doesn't look like
a Ritz Carlton.
So when we try to producesomething that looks like that,
it immediately comes off assuperficial.
And so the human not Hollywood,if they, you have a marketer
wants everything perfect, thatperson needs to be out of the
room.
You should let a CNA, who isgood at TikTok to run this.
(24:45):
And then the second element.
Is, I, I think, is two, allowfor longer unscripted chats.
three to seven minute recordingwith your cell phone is more
than enough.
You don't need a camera, youdon't need a microphone.
And just start asking thecaregivers some questions and so
(25:06):
it's helpful for you.
It's not just about them.
Right?
if I were interviewing you,Aaron.
I wouldn't just say, tell meyour story about why you became,
a CNA and I wouldn't say, like,why do you live in uh, Alabama
and what do you do when you'renot caring, type of thing.
I would ask you questions thatare beneficial for your
organization, right.
I would say if you had to definethis nursing home that you've
(25:29):
worked in for 13 years and oneword, what word would that be?
Well, that's gonna be beneficialfor everybody.
It's gonna be beneficial for.
Staffing.
Because if I'm looking for a joband I hear Erin talk positively
about this, yes, sign me up.
I want, I wanna work at thatplace, right?
It's gonna work for residentsbecause, or it's gonna work for
prospects before they tour.
Oh, wow.
(25:50):
Look at how Erin described thisplace where she's dedicated,
half of her professional life toit.
and it's gonna work forretention, it's gonna work for
sales, it's gonna work formarketing.
So some of the questions couldbe, Aaron, the mission of X, Y,
and Z is the, this.
Can you give me an example inthe last week where you saw that
being acted out and nobody gotcredit for it, and then you call
(26:11):
out the maintenance man.
You call out the person who'sdoing house cleaning or the
dietician, right?
Those stories will go back andjust make magic, but I can't
emphasize enough that human notHollywood.
Human not Hollywood.
Human, not Hollywood.
Every executive who's listenedto this.
Who has a child somewherebetween the age of 12 and 25
(26:36):
could probably do a better jobthan what I did with the
documentary.
if they're just good atlistening and asking questions,
Erin (26:44):
yeah.
I mean, give, give them goodlighting.
do give them good lighting.
Peter Murphy Lewis (26:49):
This is true.
Good lighting.
Take them.
Yeah, do it.
Do it in the main lobby.
Erin (26:52):
Maybe a good angle, good lighting and good angles is
Hollywood.
Is Hollywood is gonna get, whatI mean?
Like give them that.
But that
Peter Murphy Lewis (27:00):
your 20-year-old talker knows that.
So if your executive andstresses you out, just pass the
phone over to somebody.
Erin (27:08):
Yes.
Highlight strengths too.
You know, I think.
I think that for a long time,well, I mean, I know I did this
and I will default to it if I'mnot careful, but talk about what
we have, not what we don't have.
Mm-hmm.
Because people want what youhave.
You just have to talk about it,Mm-hmm.
And that's, that's important.
(27:29):
Make people feel special.
So just to, recap why we thinka, this documentary gives.
Is really, truly reshaping thePR inside of the bigger senior
living leadership profession,which is really important.
And it is, it is focusing onwhat we have, what we do in a
(27:52):
positive way.
Yes, all of this is out thereand that's available and it's,
to some, to some extent it'strue.
And this is also available too.
That's really important.
Somebody's gotta tell thatstory, and I'm, I'm really
thankful that you're doing that,but you don't have to have a
documentary.
You can do this yourself ifyou've got the buy-in of your
(28:14):
team and they're willing, andlemme tell you something, a lot
of people like to see their selfon camera and on social media.
Peter Murphy Lewis (28:22):
Mm-hmm.
Erin (28:23):
This is influence.
Influence is a big deal.
So use it to your advantage.
And that storytelling is a verypowerful tool.
And it does not have to beelaborate.
And I love how you, you talkedabout how perfection is not the
goal.
Mm-hmm.
To be human and not Hollywood.
That's like a leadershipprinciple.
(28:44):
Be human, not Hollywood know.
Peter Murphy Lewis (28:47):
That's what people you the, I think it was
Ken Burns.
I was listening to an interviewwith him a month or so ago.
If you don't know who he is,he's the most famous
documentarian in the US has done46 years of documentaries on
PBS.
He said, stories are the onlytrue way that you can change
somebody's opinion.
(29:07):
right.
There's a certain amount of datathat we have.
there's negative data in ourindustry.
There's positive data and basedaround what traditional media's
put in front of people.
We believe the negative data,but it's not the complete
picture.
You add story on top of thatdata and people can start to
question if they had all thedata and they can start to come
up with a full, more accurate.
(29:28):
Picture.
Right.
And that's where you start tochange the narrative.
And I, I think there's oneelement that he says in there
that I learned after the fact, Ididn't know about this before,
and he said, documentaries, orlet's just say a long form
storytelling, right?
So if you have 10 minutes andyou're gonna do this with your
own cell phone, they allow, theyshow how humans have
(29:49):
contradictions, right?
Aaron and I both have.
Contradictions as, as parents,as podcasters, as, speakers.
What we, we don't, if you put,if you made us talk for an hour
about difficult things, we'regonna say something that we
don't have clear, anddocumentaries allow for that as
(30:11):
well, and viewers prefer thatbecause it re, they can relate
to it, right?
If I, if I announce.
Aaron is this keynote speakerfor aca, which you are, and I
don't say all of the othervulnerabilities that you shared.
we shared about our rooms beingdirty and disorganized.
Right?
Before we jumped on, we talkedabout our struggles with parents
(30:33):
and running around, right?
Like nobody will, the realpeople don't want to talk to
Aaron, the keynote speaker.
The people wanna talk to Aaron,the real person who's the
keynote speaker, X, Y, and Z.
And this applies when you'reshowing off your staff as well.
Erin (30:46):
Yeah, so true.
so true.
If the more we can get that out,the better that our profession
can be.
That's really important.
And, and I love documentaries.
If there is anything thatmotivates me, a good song, a
good song can get me going and agood documentary and it'cause it
(31:07):
really.
Highlights the struggle.
It, it, it's got that good storyarc, right?
That, that really good hook,everything's going fine.
You got the dip, and then yougot the rise coming back up and
that it shows all of it.
Mm-hmm.
if it's an hour long, two hourlong documentary, obviously with
people worth caring about ithighlights the strengths of the
(31:31):
community.
And that is the message.
That's the message for everycommunity, no matter what your
occupancy is, what the struggleis at the moment.
The struggle's always available,but the strengths are always
there too, and you just have tolook for it.
And, and that's, that'ssomething really important.
And it's definitely somethingthat you brought out that there
(31:53):
is so much joy inside of thosecommunities.
So, so much joy.
Peter Murphy Lewis (31:58):
Yep.
Speaking along the lines ofdocumentaries, I didn't know
this beforehand, butdocumentaries have the highest
completion rate on all of thestreaming apps.
So Netflix and Amazon Prime, andRoku and Samsung are really
pushing documentaries becausepeople, when they start it, they
finish it.
and like that's in line withwhat you said.
It resonates with how you, howyou view things.
(32:20):
Mm-hmm.
And we didn't realize that thiswas gonna get to a national
level, but Netflix and Amazon'sinterest line up with what we're
trying to do, which is get theword out.
Erin (32:31):
Yeah.
Especially I guess with thesuccess of the man on inside and
then the world, the world thatwe're about to live in.
Every day we get closer to, Thisbig shift that's coming, and
that's really important too.
So what's next?
Tell us what's next, what we canexpect.
I know New Mexico is a projectthat you are super proud of, and
(32:52):
that's coming out in the nextfew weeks.
Peter Murphy Lewis (32:54):
Yeah, that, that's gonna air on, August
22nd.
I'll be there in person, so I'llbe traveling there to do the
keynote and then presenting thatto their members.
After that, we'll be applying tofilm festivals and then applying
for Netflix.
and then, then next year we'llbe filming two other states, be
filming, Kentucky in, in Marchor April, and then North Dakota
(33:16):
after that.
So.
Hopefully, you know, I, I alwaystold aka my dream would be to
cover all 50 states and createsome type of scholarships so the
states that don't have the samebudget can pull it off.
I don't, I don't know if we'regonna get to 50, but I'm an
optimist, so let's keep pushing.
Erin (33:30):
Hey, let's keep going.
If you don't get to 50 and youget to 47, that's a pretty darn
good goal.
You know what I mean?
Alright.
They can find this documentarypeople worth caring about, which
as a leader inside of acommunity, you need to watch
because it does feed your soul.
You give a lot away, you need toput some of that back in and
they can find it on YouTube andany streaming.
(33:52):
Well, I'll let you talk aboutthe platform.
Yeah, just
Peter Murphy Lewis (33:54):
platforms.
just put on any smarttelevision.
If you have Roku, Samsung tv.
trying to think of the otherones.
Any Smart Fire, Amazon
Erin (34:02):
Fire.
Peter Murphy Lewis (34:03):
Yep.
It's on your fire.
And we've applied for to be onAmazon Prime and the rest of the
seasons will be applied forNetflix.
So we'll let you know when thosecome out.
Erin (34:11):
Amazing.
And you're, you are going tostate associations.
And then the state associationsare the ones that help you
choose communities, correct?
Peter Murphy Lewis (34:21):
Yeah.
They're giving us a short list.
They're usually going throughtheir award winners from the
last year or two.
and then trying to come up witha diverse amount of participants
to tell their story.
like in New Mexico we did, anursing home.
That facility that is, probably55% Navajo and we worked with a
caregiver from the Philippineswho speaks Navajo.
(34:41):
and so, there we've got somecool stories.
One of the states wants me to doit only on immigrants, so
that'll be a beautiful story'cause we have a lot of
immigrants taking care ofAmerica's seniors.
Erin (34:50):
It's true.
We do.
We do.
For sure.
Well, thank you so much, PeterMurphy, Lewis for joining me
today and really making me rightwatch this documentary to, to
have this conversation with you.
It really was, uh, a lot of joy.
My husband and I watched himtogether.
And then I made my kids listento them as we were going to
(35:13):
sleep one night.
'cause they like to listen topodcasts.
So they're getting it all in.
as well.
It truly is a work of art and Iappreciate your art and the
stories that you're telling.
Peter Murphy Lewis (35:24):
Thank you so much.
Erin (35:25):
You're welcome.
And as always, for my listeners,own your future.
No.
Why?
Why do I say that?
Yeah, own your story so you cancreate your future.
Aspire for more for you.
In a world where turnover threatens trust and perception
shapes the future of care, onefilmmaker set out to shift the
narrative.
Not with data, but with thepower of a caregiver's story.
Here's what Peter Murphy Lewissaid.
You can't fake 25 years ofloving someone else's
grandfather, but people feelthat and that they trust.
(00:24):
This is more than a documentary.
This is a movement, and todaywe're gonna talk about how it
just may change the way that youlead, recruit, and tell your
community's story forever.
Welcome to the Aspire for Morewith Aaron Podcast, where I have
the incomparable Peter Murphy,Lewis here, the master
(00:45):
storyteller.
I hope to learn a few thingsfrom him today.
So we are gonna talk aboutpeople worth caring about, which
is a documentary that I've beenable to spend some time watching
and it almost, I almost startedfilling out applications after I
watched it.
Peter Murphy.
Lewis.
Can I call you by all threenames?
Peter Murphy Lewis (01:06):
Yeah.
Yeah, you can.
That's what I think.
My mom calls me when I'm introuble.
Erin (01:12):
So tell us, welcome and tell us how did this happen.
how did your life's journey getyou to make a documentary about
people worth, about
Peter Murphy Lewis (01:25):
the origin story?
Probably could be interpreted.
Based around if you believe indestiny and the stars are
aligned, or if you believe inluck and chance and taking
advantage of opportunity.
I'm somewhere in between.
it, about two years ago I was atNebraska Healthcare Association.
(01:48):
Uh, I was doing, I think akeynote, and then I took my
podcast there to interview abunch of the caregivers.
And at one of the socials I metthe president of the Nebraska
Healthcare Foundation and toldJeff, I said, Jeff, I've been
doing television in SouthAmerica for about 10 years.
I do a version of the TV showDirty Jobs by Mike Rowe.
(02:12):
I always, I, that's why I alwayssay the joke.
My wife says, I'm the chubbierversion who doesn't dress as
well.
and, and I said.
WI would love to take the secretrecipe of focusing on people's
passion through their work anddo a version of this in
long-term care.
And I told him, I said, I thinkthis will help out with staffing
(02:32):
shortage.
It'll help out with thenarrative.
and I think he moved it up theline to Jaylene Carpenter, the
CEO of the association.
And maybe two calls afterwards,over maybe two to four weeks.
Uh, and she said, price it andlet's do it.
And she always makes the jokethat she thought I was gonna be
walking around with GoPros.
She said, I said that if I did,I'll own it.
(02:54):
But that's embarrassing to me.
I, I already have somewhat of abig head and that wouldn't make
for great television, but may,maybe I had two IPAs and that
would've came outta my mouth.
and that started.
So we, we made the decision in.
November, 2023.
We filmed in April, 2024 and itaired on October, 2024.
(03:16):
And it, in person, they did abig event in Nebraska, and then
we put it on YouTube, and thenit just got accepted in the last
month onto every smarttelevision in the United States.
Yeah,
Erin (03:30):
so exciting, like small steps.
I firmly believe in this world,in the journey that I'm in now.
And I, and I did believe it whenI was working inside of a
community as well, that everylittle seed that you plant will
eventually grow.
You will reap what you sow,however you wanna view that, the
energy.
(03:51):
the ideas, the passion, thepurpose, all of that.
And so you're always going to bein the right place at the right
time if you use that timeappropriately.
Hmm.
And here you go.
and now you have thisdocumentary, I, one of the in,
in the past few years since I'veseen you on LinkedIn, I hear you
always reference, I became a CNAand I was always like curious,
(04:12):
like.
He became a CNA.
Is he working as a CNA?
And he's doing marketing too,because that is intense, But I
see the perspective, like it's,when you watch these
documentaries, the perspectivethat you have that you're able
to give is really, reallyimportant.
did you find that that was aunique perspective that you had
(04:33):
when you were filming it?
Peter Murphy Lewis (04:35):
I think that it gave me a little bit of
street cred.
and, and street cred.
That gives me a little bit ofconfidence, right?
Like I am, I was, born, probablymiddle class in 1980.
didn't really have to doanything that I didn't want to.
Like, I mean, I mowed lawns andclean bathrooms in college, to
(04:56):
pay my bills.
My parents made me pay for mycar and things, but I've never
had to do construction oranything.
So when you come in with.
Cameras, people might be alittle standoffish.
Having that, that thatcredential three or four years
before I even filmed thedocumentary, it's not like I
said, I'm gonna go be become aCNA so I can film a documentary.
(05:19):
I didn't even think of that.
I hadn't even met Jeff orJaylene at that point.
helped, I would say even more soit helped me understand them,
right?
Like.
My understanding of A CNAwould've been cleaning,
changing, changing diapers andmaking beds.
I don't think I could haveunderstand the relationship that
exists between the caregiver,and the resident.
(05:41):
The amount of compliance andregulatory, the 24 hour shifts
right on working on holidays,all of that.
I went through that, thattraining when I became a CNA.
Uh, so I think it also made me abetter list, a better listener.
Erin (05:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
What did you notice was missing?
like what draw drew you to WhyCNAs?
why make a documentary aboutthis particular group of
workers, right?
Mm-hmm.
Inside of a community.
What did you think was missingand what are you hoping that
this documentary brings to them?
Peter Murphy Lewis (06:19):
Before I, I answer the exact CNAI think it
would be.
Helpful to go back just a littlebit and explain the catalyst of
why I became a CNA before I, whyfocused on caregivers in the
documentary.
I don't really know which personwas first.
I think that it was either theCEO of the electronic healthcare
records company that I workedwith who encouraged me to come
(06:41):
be become a CNA when I startedworking in marketing.
And I also think that it wasfrom a dear friend of mine who I
interviewed on my podcast aboutthree and a half years ago,
named Bob Spielman.
He's one of my favorite.
Thought leaders in, in long-termcare in the US from Ohio.
And on my, one of the times onthe podcast, we weren't, we
weren't recording.
He said, Peter, you shouldreally become a CNA.
(07:03):
he works the shift.
He works the floor a day or twoa week, even though he is vice
president.
He told me, how important it wasto him.
The way that he introduced me tohis CNAs.
He said, Peter, I don't thinkyou should interview executives
only you should startinterviewing the frontline
caregivers.
So I think it was between myCEO, my boss and Bob, and then I
went and became a CNA and theywere right.
(07:24):
They were good to push me inthat direction.
The reason that I, I put tututogether that the documentary
focused on the caregiver wouldbe helpful.
Came a little bit from myexperience in television where I
always focused on workers,right?
Like Dirty Jobs.
Mike Rowe works with people whodo hard jobs and he tells their
(07:47):
story through their grit andtheir passion and what time they
get up.
so I knew that that would work.
Why I thought it would translateinto long-term care is because
when I walked into long-termcare, it was right during COVID
and.
I heard all of the negativepress, and as a person who had
run my own company in SouthAmerica for almost 20 years and
(08:11):
interviewed a bunch ofexecutives, I knew that
executives and politicians andCEOs are really, really easy to
critique.
Because we think, oh, they makethe salary, they make one 50,
they make two 50, they make 500,whatever it is, they don't
actually work.
They just pass papers and theytell people what to do.
and it's really easy to blamelong-term care when you see
(08:31):
those people talking.
When you have a caregiver be theface of it, you don't feel
comfortable criticizing them.
So let the employee or teammate,or the person who takes care of
our grandparents be the face ofthe industry.
That's a much more authenticand, and very, very real, right?
Because maybe you and I, Aarondon't work the floor.
(08:54):
but the CNAs who might work inour organization do, and we
would think twice before wecriticized, uh, before we
criticized them.
You said, the quote at theintroduction, and I'd forgotten
that I shared that with you, wassomething along the lines of,
how.
who, who's not going toappreciate someone who's taken
care of my grandparents for 25years.
You can see it in their eyes.
(09:15):
If you're gonna stick in thisindustry, those people make for
an amazing story.
So it was that, it was thatfrontline caregiver that I
realized was gonna be great.
And also the time also,protected from those just
critiques of people who don'teven walk in a nursing home.
Erin (09:29):
Yeah, it's true.
my grandmother lived in mycommunity.
I knew where all the dirt wasinside of my community and I
still moved one of the mostimportant people in my life in
there.
And it, you really get to see,it's a very powerful moment when
you realize, oh, my family'sgonna turn into one of them too.
Like, I didn't think she wouldever play the rhythm sticks.
(09:51):
And then one day I walked out,walked down the hall and saw her
in the activity room playing therhythm sticks, and I'm like.
Are these snow flurries in themiddle of August in Alabama?
like this was something and yourealize like, oh, this works for
everybody.
Even mine, 1920, stubborngrandmother.
(10:12):
and those caregivers, offer somuch more than I could because I
was a granddaughter and I wasthe one that was having to tell
her what to do.
In a very loving way, but shedidn't wanna hear it from me.
And so there is something veryspecial about the bond between a
resident and a caregiver.
(10:34):
And the only thing, and I workedat a community that had a really
negative news story, and it wasaround COVID, it was around the
time they were coming aftercommunities with COVID.
And you realize who gets hurtthe most.
Whenever those news storieshappen, and it's, it's the
caregivers, I saw it firsthand.
(10:54):
It wasn't me, it wasn't theleader.
Somebody made a bad choice andthen all the negative comments
came and it was directed towardscaregivers and it was just like
eye opening.
So it is important if we'regoing to attack the reputation
of the industry in a positiveway and rewrite it, we need to
(11:16):
attack it with the truth.
to influence, like who are wetalking to?
Are we talking, we wanna talkabout the 20, the 30, the 40 to
50% of people who are doinggreat things.
So then we can attract peoplewho want and want to work like
that, who want to be the impactin somebody's life, which is
really important.
Peter Murphy Lewis (11:36):
So to that, to that point.
I was at LTC 100 in May withJaylene, and they did a really
interesting report.
Tim Craig and the leadershipteam presented a report around
perception of long-term carerehab.
and I'm not gonna get thisperfect, but I'll, I'll
paraphrase it, but what stoodout to me from the report was.
(12:00):
About 50% of the people who havea positive perception of some
side of long-term care, it'sbecause they have a personal
experience.
In long term care, they eitherhave a family member who works
there, a friend or family memberwho works there and they see
their passion and their love, orthey've had a family member
who's been in there and they'vebeen visited and they, and
(12:23):
they've experienced how hard itis and how beautiful it is, and
the relationship that they have,probably similar to what I did
when I became a CNA.
They have the exact same ex,same experience, and the
majority of people who have anegative perception have no.
Experience.
So you're saying like, who arewe speaking to?
the, the project was born tohelp out with working, with,
(12:45):
with staffing shortage.
Uh, it grew bigger because werealized that we can impact the
public narrative by showing amore full story.
And ideally maybe that 50% ofpeople who don't have much
experience.
Part of this documentary will atleast start to, show them more
of the reality than that they'regetting from traditional legacy
(13:08):
media.
the front headlines.
Erin (13:10):
Yeah.
it's like being a parent.
Oh, my kids are never gonna actlike that.
Then you get one and then yourealize, oh, I was so
judgmental.
So that's a very strong, strongpoint.
Peter Murphy Lewis (13:24):
It's true.
I don't give as much, I don'tgive as much parental advice now
that I have a kid.
I think I, it's easier to standon that stupid podium, before I
had a kid.
Erin (13:33):
Yes.
Tell me about it.
Tell me about it.
So, We've been talking about thepublic perception.
the public perception, and withme watching it, I felt, I, I, I
looked at the administrators,the executive directors, and I
was like, gosh, what would Ihave done if I was at that
community?
(13:54):
Or, and then looking how theygot ready for your, your time
there.
I'm like, oh, that was a lot ofwork.
That was a lot of work, and thenseeing the joy in the residents
eyes and faces whenever theywere the ones that are being,
honored.
Myrna.
And I can't think of the otherlady who, was at welcome.
(14:15):
her face when she was doing thearm exercises in a pink blazer.
I'm like, This is not a regularneighbor.
when you have something likethis happen at your community,
you make everybody feel special.
Everybody is a part of this.
Everybody plays a role ingetting the community ready, Did
you feel the joy.
I feel like you encapsulated itwell, so you must have but the
(14:37):
ripples of, of pride and joyinside that community.
Peter Murphy Lewis (14:43):
Yeah, I mean it's, it's it, permeates, the
ambiance when you walk in and toalong the lines of what you said
with people get excited.
This doesn't have to be adocumentary for people, for the
residents or the caregivers toget excited.
Right.
if the human resources personcame in or a CNA, who's pretty
(15:07):
good at using their iPhone,managed to do this ahead of
time, right.
You and I are gonna talk in alittle bit about what you can
do.
You can do this on your own.
I would guess that 90% of theresidents who are in the
documentary.
Might not care that.
You can see this on everytelevision in the United States.
They might have seen a clip orsomething from their family, but
it's the moment of theconnection of them getting to
(15:28):
share their story and theirlegacy, their relationship with
the caregiver.
Right?
Residents aren't.
Ignorant or blind to the factthat people talk bad about
long-term care in nursing homes.
And a lot, a lot of them willstand up and they just want to
be able to say it to somebodyelse.
so that vibe, when you walk init, it's pal, but you can, you
(15:50):
can feel it in the air and youcan see it in their smiles.
Now the caregivers are usuallyvery, very nervous.
The residents, less so, and Ithink it's because caregivers,
if you believe in the fivelanguages of love.
I think the majority ofcaregivers love language is,
service and they're not great atspeaking about themselves or
telling you, or showing you,right?
(16:11):
Unlike me who became a CNA andthen helped it for marketing.
These people do it in thedarkness.
They're delivering dignity everysingle day, and if you put a
camera on them, they get reallycamera shy, as opposed to the
residents.
Erin (16:25):
It's true.
So what surprised you the mostabout all the communities that
you've seen and that you wereable to go in and visit and
record?
What surprised you the mostabout how the communities or the
leaders or anyone in thecommunity, responded to the
stories?
Peter Murphy Lewis (16:40):
I think it goes probably to my fear before
the project ever started.
Mm-hmm.
Which was, I, I, when Jaylenesaid, let's go, I called.
The director, who's done mytelevision shows and I said,
Hey, do you wanna do somethingin the UN us?
She speaks English.
I said, this is gonna besomething odd for you.
(17:01):
It's, it's, it's a nursing homeambiance, and I think we're
gonna do seven days, to showthat nursing homes are open 24
7.
that was the idea that we cameup with a seven part series and
she said, let's do it.
And I said.
I don't know if how this isgonna work.
Like this could flop.
It could flop that thecaregivers don't feel
(17:22):
comfortable, it could flop, thatthe images that we're gonna have
are gonna be too slow.
There's not enough action, thatthe, that the residents aren't
gonna be talkative or we'regonna show them in a, in a way
that's not dignifying anddoesn't make them look as
beautiful as they deserve.
So that's a real possibility,right?
Like when I do television, youwalk into, one out of 10 shows
(17:45):
you walk into, there's problems,you know, the person that the
person, can't talk or things getcanceled.
So the exact same thing in anursing home can happen.
and that, so the biggestsurprise to me was.
How great the stories in thisindustry can look on a big
screen.
and I didn't know that.
(18:05):
Now I'm already three seasonsin, you know, you mentioned
Nebraska and Ohio.
We filmed New Mexico in May,2025, and it comes out in a
couple weeks, and we're filmingtwo more seasons next year that
I've already been booked for.
I no longer have that fear.
So if I were gonna guess.
Like, what if I were gonna tellyou what would be the next thing
that surprises me is that Ilearned something from either a
(18:28):
resident or caregiver in everysingle episode.
they're teaching me, like in NewMexico, there was a gentleman
who, I posted this on LinkedIn,I said, this is a beautiful
room.
And he, and he wrote back, thisis my home.
that gentleman, Kevin called methe other day, and asked when it
was coming out.
Well, he educated me like, don'tcall it his room.
Don't, don't make it seem like,oh, you keep your hotel room
(18:49):
nice.
Give him some more respect andso I, I continue to learn.
Erin (18:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's true.
to me, like when I think aboutthis documentary, I think about
the buy-in of the team.
I.
I look at it and I'm like, I'msure there's lots of stories
here.
I would like to ask theexecutive director, how is she
handling this and how is shehandling that?
And all the things.
(19:15):
But what I feel like I, I seewhat, what I see, what, what my
perception is.
These leaders have the buy-in oftheir team.
And they were chosen for areason.
They submitted to be chosen fora reason, and it was because
they wanted to show off whatthey have.
Not that they have perfectcommunities, because I love the
(19:36):
fact that the communities thatwere chosen were not
extravagant.
Mm-hmm.
Some of them were old andsuccessful.
you don't have to be, stunningand to be successful, you just
have to care and have the buy-inof your team.
And on the flip side of that.
My favorite saying in, in themission behind this podcast,
(19:59):
and, and it's, own your story soyou can create your future and
when you own it, come on in.
Warts and all, Yeah.
That one community that has beenpassed down, generation to
generation, that was an oldcommunity, but you could feel
the love and that residentsaying, I wouldn't wanna be
anywhere else.
Peter Murphy Lewis (20:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
The, the, the buy-in.
It makes me think about, I, Ithink there's, there's an
elephant in the room that someof the listeners might not pick
up on, which is not all leadersare comfortable allowing their
caregivers to be the face of adocumentary.
(20:40):
if you look at theadministrators and executive
directors, and the director ofnursing and the CEOs, they all
get less than 30 seconds almoston every single episode.
And that's intentional and, andorganized that way by my
director.
And, and it's to give the storyto the caregivers.
Not everyone wants that, right?
there's a whole bunch of peoplewho don't wanna give them that
leverage, give them that, thatvisibility.
(21:02):
And, you might be able to think,oh, they're gonna become a diva,
or now they're gonna negotiate.
These leaders felt comfortabletaking a step back, taking the
back seat.
And then you have these leaderswho have been there for, you
have these caregivers who havebeen there for 10, 20, 30 years.
Like the story of, uh, Deanne,who was at the manor at,
(21:23):
Perrysburg.
And she, she was a CNA and shewas.
Pretty depressed when she,because of a back problem, she
didn't think she was gonna beable to work there again.
She thought she was gonna haveto retire or go do something in
office and they found place forher as an activities director.
and those stories show you that.
(21:43):
There's leadership above whowasn't the face of the show, but
they make room.
So Deanne can take care of mymom and my dad, and my
grandparents and, and me.
and you mentioned the story ofthe two sisters, Jill and Heidi,
who, third generation fromWelcome and the nurses, mark and
Sean, who are the best men orthe bride, the brides.
(22:04):
The groomsmen in the wedding,for Jean, for David and June.
Those people, both of them saidthat they couldn't imagine
working anywhere else in, in theinterview.
They said, we've already pickedout our rooms in Wi Hall.
Um, so there's definitely buy-inand those of us who've worked in
many other companies, we dreamedto have some of the environment,
(22:25):
some of the work environmentthat, that we are able to show
in this documentary.
Erin (22:29):
Yeah.
So good.
I loved watching it.
but not every, community has tohave a documentary.
we have the power in our handsto create, to make stars of
every.
Every department.
It doesn't have to be justcaregivers.
I mean, to me, housekeepers playa huge role in the success of a
(22:53):
community because what does thefirst in first impression look
at?
Really the cleanliness.
Mm-hmm.
The smell, the atmosphere of thecommunity.
and I think this ties into howwe can retain people.
So how.
How can we, as leaders inside ofa community use social media to
(23:13):
our advantage in highlightingour teams?
Peter Murphy Lewis (23:16):
You're right that not everyone needs to, to
not everyone needs adocumentary.
I would say there's a coupleelements that you can use, the,
the first principles thinking orthis, the underlining premise of
this and turn it into successfor you.
Uh, the first thing that I wouldsay is.
Don't worry about being perfect.
(23:39):
Jaylene's tagline, after thisdocumentary came out, that she
said, the reason that this isresonating, the reason that this
is going national is becauseit's human, not Hollywood.
And when I do keynotes, and Idid a breakout session at a
state convention not too longago about how you can actually
design this program and do itin-house on your own is I said.
(24:02):
You need to kick the marketersout of the room who want
perfection.
This is progress overperfection.
You're better off doing a videothat has problems than one
that's doing perfect.
The polished videos that we haveput out in long-term care,
everybody knows that they'refake.
Anybody who's been in a nursinghome or hasn't been in a nursing
(24:23):
home, we all know that it's notperfect and it doesn't look like
a Ritz Carlton.
So when we try to producesomething that looks like that,
it immediately comes off assuperficial.
And so the human not Hollywood,if they, you have a marketer
wants everything perfect, thatperson needs to be out of the
room.
You should let a CNA, who isgood at TikTok to run this.
(24:45):
And then the second element.
Is, I, I think, is two, allowfor longer unscripted chats.
three to seven minute recordingwith your cell phone is more
than enough.
You don't need a camera, youdon't need a microphone.
And just start asking thecaregivers some questions and so
(25:06):
it's helpful for you.
It's not just about them.
Right?
if I were interviewing you,Aaron.
I wouldn't just say, tell meyour story about why you became,
a CNA and I wouldn't say, like,why do you live in uh, Alabama
and what do you do when you'renot caring, type of thing.
I would ask you questions thatare beneficial for your
organization, right.
I would say if you had to definethis nursing home that you've
(25:29):
worked in for 13 years and oneword, what word would that be?
Well, that's gonna be beneficialfor everybody.
It's gonna be beneficial for.
Staffing.
Because if I'm looking for a joband I hear Erin talk positively
about this, yes, sign me up.
I want, I wanna work at thatplace, right?
It's gonna work for residentsbecause, or it's gonna work for
prospects before they tour.
Oh, wow.
(25:50):
Look at how Erin described thisplace where she's dedicated,
half of her professional life toit.
and it's gonna work forretention, it's gonna work for
sales, it's gonna work formarketing.
So some of the questions couldbe, Aaron, the mission of X, Y,
and Z is the, this.
Can you give me an example inthe last week where you saw that
being acted out and nobody gotcredit for it, and then you call
(26:11):
out the maintenance man.
You call out the person who'sdoing house cleaning or the
dietician, right?
Those stories will go back andjust make magic, but I can't
emphasize enough that human notHollywood.
Human not Hollywood.
Human, not Hollywood.
Every executive who's listenedto this.
Who has a child somewherebetween the age of 12 and 25
(26:36):
could probably do a better jobthan what I did with the
documentary.
if they're just good atlistening and asking questions,
Erin (26:44):
yeah.
I mean, give, give them goodlighting.
do give them good lighting.
Peter Murphy Lewis (26:49):
This is true.
Good lighting.
Take them.
Yeah, do it.
Do it in the main lobby.
Erin (26:52):
Maybe a good angle, good lighting and good angles is
Hollywood.
Is Hollywood is gonna get, whatI mean?
Like give them that.
But that
Peter Murphy Lewis (27:00):
your 20-year-old talker knows that.
So if your executive andstresses you out, just pass the
phone over to somebody.
Erin (27:08):
Yes.
Highlight strengths too.
You know, I think.
I think that for a long time,well, I mean, I know I did this
and I will default to it if I'mnot careful, but talk about what
we have, not what we don't have.
Mm-hmm.
Because people want what youhave.
You just have to talk about it,Mm-hmm.
And that's, that's important.
(27:29):
Make people feel special.
So just to, recap why we thinka, this documentary gives.
Is really, truly reshaping thePR inside of the bigger senior
living leadership profession,which is really important.
And it is, it is focusing onwhat we have, what we do in a
(27:52):
positive way.
Yes, all of this is out thereand that's available and it's,
to some, to some extent it'strue.
And this is also available too.
That's really important.
Somebody's gotta tell thatstory, and I'm, I'm really
thankful that you're doing that,but you don't have to have a
documentary.
You can do this yourself ifyou've got the buy-in of your
(28:14):
team and they're willing, andlemme tell you something, a lot
of people like to see their selfon camera and on social media.
Peter Murphy Lewis (28:22):
Mm-hmm.
Erin (28:23):
This is influence.
Influence is a big deal.
So use it to your advantage.
And that storytelling is a verypowerful tool.
And it does not have to beelaborate.
And I love how you, you talkedabout how perfection is not the
goal.
Mm-hmm.
To be human and not Hollywood.
That's like a leadershipprinciple.
(28:44):
Be human, not Hollywood know.
Peter Murphy Lewis (28:47):
That's what people you the, I think it was
Ken Burns.
I was listening to an interviewwith him a month or so ago.
If you don't know who he is,he's the most famous
documentarian in the US has done46 years of documentaries on
PBS.
He said, stories are the onlytrue way that you can change
somebody's opinion.
(29:07):
right.
There's a certain amount of datathat we have.
there's negative data in ourindustry.
There's positive data and basedaround what traditional media's
put in front of people.
We believe the negative data,but it's not the complete
picture.
You add story on top of thatdata and people can start to
question if they had all thedata and they can start to come
up with a full, more accurate.
(29:28):
Picture.
Right.
And that's where you start tochange the narrative.
And I, I think there's oneelement that he says in there
that I learned after the fact, Ididn't know about this before,
and he said, documentaries, orlet's just say a long form
storytelling, right?
So if you have 10 minutes andyou're gonna do this with your
own cell phone, they allow, theyshow how humans have
(29:49):
contradictions, right?
Aaron and I both have.
Contradictions as, as parents,as podcasters, as, speakers.
What we, we don't, if you put,if you made us talk for an hour
about difficult things, we'regonna say something that we
don't have clear, anddocumentaries allow for that as
(30:11):
well, and viewers prefer thatbecause it re, they can relate
to it, right?
If I, if I announce.
Aaron is this keynote speakerfor aca, which you are, and I
don't say all of the othervulnerabilities that you shared.
we shared about our rooms beingdirty and disorganized.
Right?
Before we jumped on, we talkedabout our struggles with parents
(30:33):
and running around, right?
Like nobody will, the realpeople don't want to talk to
Aaron, the keynote speaker.
The people wanna talk to Aaron,the real person who's the
keynote speaker, X, Y, and Z.
And this applies when you'reshowing off your staff as well.
Erin (30:46):
Yeah, so true.
so true.
If the more we can get that out,the better that our profession
can be.
That's really important.
And, and I love documentaries.
If there is anything thatmotivates me, a good song, a
good song can get me going and agood documentary and it'cause it
(31:07):
really.
Highlights the struggle.
It, it, it's got that good storyarc, right?
That, that really good hook,everything's going fine.
You got the dip, and then yougot the rise coming back up and
that it shows all of it.
Mm-hmm.
if it's an hour long, two hourlong documentary, obviously with
people worth caring about ithighlights the strengths of the
(31:31):
community.
And that is the message.
That's the message for everycommunity, no matter what your
occupancy is, what the struggleis at the moment.
The struggle's always available,but the strengths are always
there too, and you just have tolook for it.
And, and that's, that'ssomething really important.
And it's definitely somethingthat you brought out that there
(31:53):
is so much joy inside of thosecommunities.
So, so much joy.
Peter Murphy Lewis (31:58):
Yep.
Speaking along the lines ofdocumentaries, I didn't know
this beforehand, butdocumentaries have the highest
completion rate on all of thestreaming apps.
So Netflix and Amazon Prime, andRoku and Samsung are really
pushing documentaries becausepeople, when they start it, they
finish it.
and like that's in line withwhat you said.
It resonates with how you, howyou view things.
(32:20):
Mm-hmm.
And we didn't realize that thiswas gonna get to a national
level, but Netflix and Amazon'sinterest line up with what we're
trying to do, which is get theword out.
Erin (32:31):
Yeah.
Especially I guess with thesuccess of the man on inside and
then the world, the world thatwe're about to live in.
Every day we get closer to, Thisbig shift that's coming, and
that's really important too.
So what's next?
Tell us what's next, what we canexpect.
I know New Mexico is a projectthat you are super proud of, and
(32:52):
that's coming out in the nextfew weeks.
Peter Murphy Lewis (32:54):
Yeah, that, that's gonna air on, August
22nd.
I'll be there in person, so I'llbe traveling there to do the
keynote and then presenting thatto their members.
After that, we'll be applying tofilm festivals and then applying
for Netflix.
and then, then next year we'llbe filming two other states, be
filming, Kentucky in, in Marchor April, and then North Dakota
(33:16):
after that.
So.
Hopefully, you know, I, I alwaystold aka my dream would be to
cover all 50 states and createsome type of scholarships so the
states that don't have the samebudget can pull it off.
I don't, I don't know if we'regonna get to 50, but I'm an
optimist, so let's keep pushing.
Erin (33:30):
Hey, let's keep going.
If you don't get to 50 and youget to 47, that's a pretty darn
good goal.
You know what I mean?
Alright.
They can find this documentarypeople worth caring about, which
as a leader inside of acommunity, you need to watch
because it does feed your soul.
You give a lot away, you need toput some of that back in and
they can find it on YouTube andany streaming.
(33:52):
Well, I'll let you talk aboutthe platform.
Yeah, just
Peter Murphy Lewis (33:54):
platforms.
just put on any smarttelevision.
If you have Roku, Samsung tv.
trying to think of the otherones.
Any Smart Fire, Amazon
Erin (34:02):
Fire.
Peter Murphy Lewis (34:03):
Yep.
It's on your fire.
And we've applied for to be onAmazon Prime and the rest of the
seasons will be applied forNetflix.
So we'll let you know when thosecome out.
Erin (34:11):
Amazing.
And you're, you are going tostate associations.
And then the state associationsare the ones that help you
choose communities, correct?
Peter Murphy Lewis (34:21):
Yeah.
They're giving us a short list.
They're usually going throughtheir award winners from the
last year or two.
and then trying to come up witha diverse amount of participants
to tell their story.
like in New Mexico we did, anursing home.
That facility that is, probably55% Navajo and we worked with a
caregiver from the Philippineswho speaks Navajo.
(34:41):
and so, there we've got somecool stories.
One of the states wants me to doit only on immigrants, so
that'll be a beautiful story'cause we have a lot of
immigrants taking care ofAmerica's seniors.
Erin (34:50):
It's true.
We do.
We do.
For sure.
Well, thank you so much, PeterMurphy, Lewis for joining me
today and really making me rightwatch this documentary to, to
have this conversation with you.
It really was, uh, a lot of joy.
My husband and I watched himtogether.
And then I made my kids listento them as we were going to
(35:13):
sleep one night.
'cause they like to listen topodcasts.
So they're getting it all in.
as well.
It truly is a work of art and Iappreciate your art and the
stories that you're telling.
Peter Murphy Lewis (35:24):
Thank you so much.
Erin (35:25):
You're welcome.
And as always, for my listeners,own your future.
No.
Why?
Why do I say that?
Yeah, own your story so you cancreate your future.
Aspire for more for you.
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