Georgia Focus - Comfort Keepers

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Comfort Keepers is a leading provider in home care,
offering customized services to meet the unique needs of your
loved ones. They help seniors and other adults who need
assistants to live and thrive in the home environment they love.
On today's show, we'll talk about comfort Keepers. Our guest
st are Vince san Ghero of comfort Keepers and of

(00:31):
the Alzheimer's Music Fest, and Jennifer jack Wonder, owner and
director of client services for comfort Keepers. What it's good
to be here in Canton today at comfort Keepers and
comfort Keepers you just had zero has just joins you.
So we know Vince from Alzheimer's Music Fest and so
how did you get together with him?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, me and Vince have done each other for a
really long time. It's kind of you know when you
joke and say how long. Life comes full circle sometimes.
And we were both connected with care stories my grandmother.
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and we cared for her
for ten years and Vince was part of a program

(01:15):
that provided assistance to my grandmother. And then I had
the opportunity when Vince's father also had Alzheimer's that our
company was able.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
To provide some respite services.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
So we connected on a level of knowing what that
story is like caring for somebody and what that journey is.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
What does comfort keepers do primarily now, so we can.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Take care of anyone over the age of eighteen, but
mainly we focus on our heavier you know, focuses on seniors,
with the large percentage of people that we do take
care of having some form of cognitive decline or dementia.
So about eighty percent of the clients that we care
for have unform again of dementia, and we go into

(02:02):
the home and we'll help with things like bathing, grooming, dressing, ambulation,
companion care, socialization, medication reminders, those type of things. We
have a nurse that provides oversight on those cases and
then we help get the families connected with additional referrals

(02:26):
sources if they need that as well. But our main
goal is me being a nurse as well is thinking.
You know, when you go in and a lot of
people have these short term services, like they'll have a
hospice company or a skilled home health company, and these
people will be in there for like thirty minutes to

(02:47):
an hour once or twice or maybe three times a week,
and it's really just not enough time sometimes to make
sure all the needs are met nutritional needs, physical needs,
socialization needs. So comfort keepers can help with that, whether
we're just coming in for a few hours of respite
or whether we're providing twenty four to seven gear.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Our goal is to keep people.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Comfortable in their homes and let them thrive where most
of us want to thrive in.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
That home environment.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Right, Well, you'll probably be better off if you're at
home anyway, Yeah, Vince, how do you like it so far?

Speaker 4 (03:21):
Vince? Oh no, Britt. You know, I really didn't make
a conscious decision a while back.

Speaker 5 (03:29):
Doing the nonprofit working by the nonprofits which I still
work with, yeah, most of them today. Chris brand Lug
for fot Act, a great nonprofit, introduced US number a
decade ago. But I made a concious decision that I
was getting burned out.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Fundraising like twenty.

Speaker 5 (03:47):
Four hours a day's you know, when you get a nonprofit,
you want to do programs. I really love those, and
I'm good at fundraising, like a couple of times here. Yeah,
So I decided to bring a board on do our
own nonprofit and also have that board take it to
the next level with things that maybe I don't want
to spend time on, whether that's grants, solicity, listening bigger

(04:13):
corporate companies, things like that, because it needs the next step.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
So I made a conscious effort.

Speaker 5 (04:18):
I was like, well, where can I go because for
fourteen years when I was taking care of my dad,
went through my retirement, lost a lot, you know, well
not I bought maybe material stuff, but I was like,
I need retirement. One day, I'd like to learn home
care because we were doing the rest of the care
program and it was always my favorite thing to talk

(04:41):
to families to really help them with that first step
that can lead you to support groups, leads you to socializations,
like Jennifer said, can lead you to so many things,
medical equipment of course, brand you know, rest the care programs,
and also hopefully maybe get retirement and insurance. Here thought,

(05:05):
take up care of myself and my family, music and everything.
Yeah kidding, but anyway, so I didn't make a big effort.
So I did start working with another company, which I
loved very much, but you know, I said, man, I
want to do this full time because I was student

(05:26):
part time with them and getting the music vests. And
so I only called two people. I called Jennifer and
one other person I really respected and just saw. And
you know, I'm still astounded because I, like I said,
I've known Jennifer and I want to say Alan Waite,
who was the founder, but she has grown. Yeah, this

(05:47):
company and the way she does it is very thoughtful,
very considerate, looks at caregivers, looks at the needs of everybody.
Everybody here is pretty much a caregiver, feels like any
way in some kind of way. So everybody has a
story if you want. I'm so sick of saying that
the Alzheimer's story stud But and then I was like

(06:12):
or not diagno. Sorry. I found out that I have
the APO four gene.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
About two years.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Did I ever do.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
That?

Speaker 5 (06:20):
Was kind of quiet about it at first so I
could process it again.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
It's fifty to fifty.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
We all have some genetic gene and so I wanted
to kind of, you know, kind of build my life
and have some security, which I just have it done.
Plus just turned fifty and it hit me.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Oh, what do you mean fifty fifty?

Speaker 5 (06:41):
Yeah, I know, it did hit me that I'm like, okay,
we're doing okay on the hant. We made some wise decisions,
but let's do this. And so I'm here now and
I'm loving it. I'm not kidding. I walked in the
office and she does this, I think for every new hire.
And you just saw that it was great. Have the
pictures of my dad, Oh yeah, shappy bird guitars and music,

(07:04):
a little Fender penholders, damps, two bold or penholders, and
I just I love everything about it.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Right, that's great, you know, in two and thinking about
events and what you did with your dad for fourteen years,
I think, you know, I try to try to word
just right. The people have had on this show so
much like FOTAC, like I had got comfort some some

(07:34):
people on the other day, some caregiver jour caregiver's journey,
and it's all about Alzheimer's and dementia and so forth.
And you know, I like the fact that you're keeping
people at home because I think they do better at home.
I see where they met. They My grandmother did not
go home. She had to go to a nursing facility

(07:57):
because it was that bad. But has to be helping
people more? Is that is that That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Is that is that true?

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Do you think?

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yes? I think it does. You know, definitely help people more.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
One of the things, you know, if you've ever had
a loved one that is experienced in some form of
dementia and you have.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
To do a redirection.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, you know. Some of my most fondest memories of
being visiting clients and being in the home, because again
I'm a nurse, is you know, you have somebody and
they're having a bad day, and they're struggling, and they're upset,
and and you're trying to take that anxiety away from them.
It's so easy to like look at the wall on

(08:40):
their you know, at their house, and there's some pictures
of their grandchildren and you say, wow, who are these
children right here in this photo?

Speaker 3 (08:49):
And they get this big smile on their face. Or
a picture of you know, them with their.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Spouse and it's a wedding photo, and I'm like, look
at that couple on the wall, do you know who
that is? And then they get like a little tears
in their eyes. Because what's special to me is a nurse,
is when you see that tiny spark that sometimes appears
with dementia clients where you know, at that very moment,
something some memory, some objects, something a smell, a taste,

(09:20):
a visualization of you know, something has brought them back
to that little piece of memory that's still there, and
it's just so beautiful to see them connect. So I
think at home, like you're sitting in your favorite chair.
You know, you're walking past your photos.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
On the wall.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
You're going to bed in that same bed that you've
had for many years that you slept with your spouts in.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
And I think that, you know, and statistics show that.
I mean, if you look online.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
And you look at research, it shows that people who
are at home recover at a higher percentage than those
that are not at home.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Because you know, it's like the Wizard of Oz, you know,
Northey just wanted to go home. That's where we all
want to be, right.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Right right, And you said that to to that also,
you said, how home services don't go in, it'll go
out one day week because you're in the longer term.
You can see how they are and see if they
need medical attention or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Right, Yeah, And I think sometimes the world of medicine,
especially here in the United States, we tend to be
more reactive with medicine instead of preventative. And so I
think being in the home early on, if you can
get in there early on and making sure that you
know the clients are taking their medication correctly, that they're

(10:42):
eating properly, it is it makes such a powerful impact,
the simple things that people don't think of. You know,
everybody's like, Okay, here's a diagnosis, here's the medicine you take. Well,
does that person have access to that medicine? Is there
somebody going to remind them to take that medicine, supposed
to have that medicine with food or are they gonna

(11:02):
you know, maybe they're diabetic, or are they eating?

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Is somebody preparing those meals?

Speaker 5 (11:07):
You know?

Speaker 3 (11:07):
I think that's things.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
That sometimes people don't think of. They're so focused on
the diagnosis. They don't think of the simple things that
it's necessary to really improve, you know, overall.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Health for any of us, no matter what the diagnoses is.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Well, you know, if I can yeah a world two.
You know, I like call aging the place I think
most people do. I think with you know, anybody trying
and I never want to judge anybody, you know that
don't do this at home, and maybe it's too much
for them, but I think we're people always ask like,

(11:45):
how did you stay sane?

Speaker 4 (11:47):
Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, And true it was
terrible at the beginning. I was horrible at it. I
was twenty one years.

Speaker 5 (11:55):
Old, I was an idiot. I still am an idiot.
I just got good at that part of not being
an idiot. So routine was everything, and they wondered. I mean,
Dad was up at the same time every morning, we
had the same we ate lunch, we went to the
bathroom the same time.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
And I don't think people understand.

Speaker 5 (12:14):
They focus so much on any kind of dimension relating disease,
which is a big spectrum, whether it's Alzheimer's, leuvybody's vast
or front of lobe, and.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
That's what we diagnosed.

Speaker 5 (12:24):
But I think there's a like ninety nine I think
different types of dementia.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
So they do try to categorize it, like Jennifer.

Speaker 5 (12:31):
Said, but they don't realize the biggest thing was, of course,
the brain dies.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
They just focus on the memory thing because that is
hard for a careiver, but they don't think, oh, the
brain's gonna die, They're gonna forget to brush their teeth.

Speaker 5 (12:44):
They're gonna forget how to pick up a fork, how
to feed, They're gonna forget to drink out of cup
like we had those plastic cups with the straws attached
because muscle memory. So Dad was always able to. Oh,
for some reason, that worked. Have to lift it up
to them, but that worked also a big thing with

(13:05):
my father. And this isn't for everybody. But they have
the same called sundaners, which I can't stand because it
sounds like a freaking vampire.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
I feel the same way. I don't know what I
don't know what it is, but it comes out at night.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
But sunders, I don't know. I don't really know what
it it really is.

Speaker 5 (13:24):
Okay, So in my mind, all I can do is
I've worked with many dementia families, but all I can
say from our experience was just they don't regulate time
the same way anymore. They don't regulate temperature that at
one point we'd have to stay between seventy and seventy.

Speaker 4 (13:40):
Eight degrees he could get a heat stroke. The last
couple of years, we.

Speaker 5 (13:45):
Had to be so careful about weather patterns going outside,
and then time that's it.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
They just don't regulate time some way.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
It could be five in the morning, they'll be that's
right going, and you know, it could be afternight.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
It just depends where you tie all the time from that.

Speaker 4 (14:01):
Oh man, I still got fight or flight when I
first started doing this, like because Jennifer, Oh my god,
she's like me. I not like me. I give her
on fudos because I'm altsy. She's very focused. But I
was just like just emailing like four and she was like,
are you on that early every morning? I'm like yeah,
and so she and I'm just like, oh, you got

(14:23):
he early every morning? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (14:25):
I again, I got that nurse just nurse.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
You know, just you out asleep is kind of and
I drive off of that, but you know, I wanted.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
To touch you.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
And we were talking about what that's cycle that emotional journey.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
When I was taking care of my grandmother.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
I think a story that I am able to share
with people that are going through that journey.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
Now is I was, you know, I am a nurse
and I have a home care company.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
So people think, oh, well, if your grandmother gets you know,
Alzheimer's said, You've got all the answers.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
That is so not true.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I've told family man, I would pull in the parking
lot at work and sit there and cry for fifteen
minutes because I felt like I was felling her. I
felt like, you know, I wasn't doing enough. And we
stayed with her. She stayed at home. That's what her
wish was.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Ten years. We all took turns as.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
A family or staying or had, you know, caregivers coming
in to help so she could stay at home. And
one day she was up all night, like she was
up all night. I had to go to work the
next day. I didn't get very much sleep. So at
some point I slept for just like maybe a two hours,
and in those two hours, she had gotten my keys.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
And so I was like, the next day, I'm looking
for my keys.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
I need to go to work. I can't find my keys.
And I called my mom and she came over and
were looked tearing the house park So we call a locksmith.
Finally get the keys. Two days later, I'm back staying
with her and I'm making her sandwich, and and I
had looked everywhere. I mean, at this point, I thought
maybe she flushed them down the toilet or something, and know,

(16:01):
and so I said she loved pickles, and I said, Mama,
would you like pickle with your sandwiches?

Speaker 3 (16:06):
She said, oh, I'd love a pickle. I guess where
my keys were. They were in that pickle jar.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Because at some point she had got up at night
when I was sleepy, and she had my keys and
she was hungry for a pickle, and her mind, you know,
I wasn't able to properly process, so she the one
where she knew to the keys was in the pickle jar.
And I know, I just want to say to anybody
out there listening to this, if you're going through that

(16:32):
and you just feel emotionally broken, just know that you're
providing such light and love in a situation.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
That is so hard for so many people, and don't
get discouraged.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
There are millions of people out there going through the
same journey. When you feel alone, I highly recommend connecting
with like a support group, because one in three people
over the age of seventy will form some they'll get
some diagnosed with some kind of dementia if they are
over the age of seventy. There there are three of

(17:10):
us here talking right now, and that's scary.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, yeah, And so that means.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
That this isn't even though you feel so isolated and
alone in this journey, you're not really.

Speaker 5 (17:23):
Yeah, I think that's really important what she said. And
we're going to start one here. And you know, everybody
was doing support group. I've been doing them for a
long time for caregivers, and something hit me about a
year ago and I was like, I want to do
a grief support group because.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
One grieving, I know, I lost.

Speaker 5 (17:43):
I don't know I needed a new identity, but I
was very very you know, my identity was still tied
with dementia. I'm the dementia music guy. Yeah, you know,
it was just kind of my life. But you know,
support groups everything like that, the grief because you we're
grieving why you're a caregiver. And I think speaking with

(18:04):
someone that maybe has gone through it, maybe at any
kind of loss, whether it's demnial related diseases or not
talking together, you will learn more from each other than
I think you can learn it from anybody else. So
I'm really excited about doing that with comfort Keepers.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
And it kind of goes like that, you're using your
experience here comfort Keepers to reach other people, to focus
on other people. Do you use your experience to do
the same thing too from comfort Keepers. I mean, you
formed the company, it's yours. Do you use it to
go forward with your nurses and work?

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yeah? I do, and I tell everybody because it's amazing
how many people like he mentioned. If you're in our office,
most of our office staff ninety percent of the office
staff has been a caregiver before. And that was important
to me because you're working with people whether they're calling
about their bill or their schedule, or they're wanting to

(18:59):
talk to a nurse, whatever they need help with from
this office, I want the person on the other, you know,
end of the phone to understand that both of us,
you know, on both sides of the phone, know what
that journey's like and to share that support each other.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, someone, what areas you serve?

Speaker 2 (19:18):
So? We service all of North Georgia, So pretty much
if you took and drew a line from Cherokee County,
you know, across the state of Georgia and just went
north to all the state lines, we cover all of
those areas. We have caregivers and we have you know.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Clients in all of those areas.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
We've also been in business for twenty three years So
we've been around for a long time serving those of
North Georgia.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
And that's another special thing. I was born and raised here.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Oh really, so I've had the opportunity to have clients
that were my teachers, that was my pe coach, you know,
different things like that. And having that opportunity to give
back to somebody that played such an impactful role in
your life. It's a blessing, it really is.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
It's going to be interesting. So they call you North Georgia,
but if it's somebody's in South Georgia, can they call
you and you get a referral forum down there to somebody?

Speaker 4 (20:20):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
So comfort Keepers is nationwide. Comfort Keepers is a franchise.
You know, I have four offices through you know, comfort Keepers,
but there's comfort Keepers all over. There's over eight hundred
locations here in the United States, and there's even locations
outside of the United States in Canada and Ireland and

(20:40):
other countries as well. So that's the thing about dementia
is that it affects the world.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
The world.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
It affects the world.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
Well, what's kind of interesting is because I'm kind of well,
I am the community outreach director here and we have
a wonderful person Dakota, which is amazing.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
So we're going through all the tearies.

Speaker 5 (21:00):
And you know, Alpharetta, Roswell and Milton is one that
we're trying to grow and it's doing it.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
But you know, if you need.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
Any support in that area, please let us know. And
then el J, which is kind of interesting. I'll tell
you a story when we hired comfort keepers for my
dad and this was one of my first experiences getting
home care and rest ofic here didn't have a vacation
for a decade. Ye also met my wife during that time.

(21:29):
She doesn't like to be mentioned, so she's not a.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
Very public person.

Speaker 5 (21:35):
But our first trip, I wouldn't leave more than forty
five minutes. So we went to l J, really went
to a holiday and in l J for three days.

Speaker 4 (21:45):
It felt like a month really just to get ELJ.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
But I wouldn't go further than that, right because I
just didn't trust it, Like.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
I don't know why, but I just didn't trust it.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
And again now I'm doing Roswell and everything, and I
want to give a shout out to my good friend
Pim bent On. We're going to be celebrating the anniversary
of her passing.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
But she had Amy's Place.

Speaker 5 (22:10):
You met them, ye Amy's Place, Carrying Together and Helpe
and first freestanding memory care cafe and Roswell And it
was very hard for me to go to Roswell and Alfaretta.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
It was like ghosts.

Speaker 5 (22:22):
Because me and Gary Kitchen from Lanta and Houston Foundation,
we were up there all the time. They had a
small office towards that way, and it kind of made
me break through.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
This job to kind of go up there.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
You know.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
It's just it's pretty amazing.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, it is amazing. I mean people the people you
met along the way and doing the music fist too,
you meet them, they come to the show, but they
have their families that everybody's touched by this disease. No
matter who you are, how old you are, what color
you are, what what race you are, where you're from,
It don't care.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
It breaks.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Every is coming is coming. So yeah, is that what
you're telling people in this that how realistic are you
with you? I mean, I want to say, because I'm
just somebody that says, hey, it's gonna be pretty bad.
I hate to tell you, I but it's gonna be bad.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
But that's what I do.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
What do you say to people.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
I just tell people that you know, there's gonna be
days where your loved one's maybe not going to know
you anymore. You know, you've been married sixty years and
they're going to look at you and say, who are you?

Speaker 5 (23:27):
You know?

Speaker 2 (23:28):
And I said, it's really gonna hurt. And I said,
but you know, try not to focus so much on
that hurt and get through it with those good memories,
with what those sixty years were. But you know, making
sure that they're getting help, and it's okay to get angry,
It's okay to cry, it's okay to be upset.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Those are valid feelings.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Don't think because you're upset with that person not remembering you,
that you're not entitled to feel that way, because it's
good to get those feelings out because if you don't,
it can really affect your health.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
If somebody needs to contact you, what should they do?

Speaker 4 (24:06):
Where should do?

Speaker 5 (24:07):
So?

Speaker 2 (24:08):
They can go to you know, comfort keepers dot com.
They can go to the website and find any comfort
keepers that's in their local area if they go to
comfort keepers dot com if they want to, if they're
in North Georgia, I want to call us directly. We
answer our phones twenty four to seven, provide service twenty
four to seven, and that's seven seven zero eight eight
seven zero four nine nine.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Vince, what about you? You're out and about work in
the area. How do they get in touch with you
about anything?

Speaker 4 (24:36):
Call the office?

Speaker 5 (24:37):
Yeah, yeah, please do, just because we do have a
big territory. We are around, but we're in the field,
so we're really helping serving the community. Also, like today,
the whole morning I was out talking to Roswell and
Molten firefighters giving them donuts too good a comfort Keepers,
so they enjoyed.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
That early in the night.

Speaker 5 (24:56):
All right, So yeah, please contact us. And with that
this being said, we will be announcing what's coming up
with Alzheimer's Music Best after.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
The new year.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Okay, thank you both very much for let me come
in here today. It's been really good talking to you.
I appreciate it very much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
That's Jennifer jack Wander, the owner and director of client
services for comfort Keepers, and vincean Garo of comfort Keepers
and from the Alzheimer's Music Fest. To find out more
about comfort Keepers, visit the mccomfort keepers dot com. Forward
slash Canton Georgia. For questions of comments on today's program,

(25:27):
you can email me, John Clark at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com.
Thanks for listening, I'll talk to you next week. Right
here your favorite local radio station on Georgia Focus