Building a Culture of Compassion in Senior Living

Building a Culture of Compassion in Senior Living

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Got it. Now you’re in business. I got it now.

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Ruby Mehta: Great

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Ruby Mehta: Welcome to the CareSmartz360 on Air, a home care podcast. My name is Ruby Mehta. I am VP sales at Caresmartz.

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Ruby Mehta: Today, we’re talking about compassion and compassion in senior living compassion isn’t a luxury in senior living. It’s the cornerstone by understanding and sharing the joys and struggles of aging. We create a foundation for well-being that goes beyond physical needs.

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Ruby Mehta: It fosters a sense of security, dignity, and connection, all crucial for navigating life transitions. Imagine a family caregiver, who remembers a favorite song from their loved one’s youth, playing it during a moment of anxiety.

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Ruby Mehta: This small act shows empathy and builds trust senior living in a compassionate environment, feels comfortable, expressing themselves, leading a better care and a stronger sense of community, whether at home with family or in assisted living settings

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Ruby Mehta: a compassion approach benefits everyone. Seniors feel valued and understood, caregivers find meaning in their work. Families have peace of mind, knowing their loved ones are treated with kindness. By prioritizing compassion we can enrich the lives of all involved.

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Ruby Mehta: creating a more supportive and fulfilling experience for those navigating their golden years. Today we have on the panel Francis Legacy, junior, co-founder at Assured Senior Living that aims to provide the highest level and most creative tailored care for their residents, to have an incredible quality of life.

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Ruby Mehta: Welcome to the podcast Francis. How are you?

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Ruby. I’m wonderful. It’s such an honor to be to be on the show here. I truly appreciate the invitation, and I look forward to our discussion around, you know, compassion and care.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: I think it’s

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Francis LeGasse Jr: it’s an area that is is really important. Right? Now. Given, you know, some of the challenges that the industry itself is facing.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: and that was one of the big things that my business partner, Brian Turner, and I, you know, got into almost 15 years ago. Now we started our company back in 2,010, or the end of 2,009, beginning of 2,010,

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Francis LeGasse Jr: and it stemmed around entrepreneurship, but also some family stories. Brian. I had a grandmother. That you know. His mom was trying to navigate care from afar, which we all know is common and challenging and emotional. And then

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Francis LeGasse Jr: I had

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Francis LeGasse Jr: 2 grandfathers, one diagnosed with dementia, which is my paternal grandfather. He was a 23-year-old year military veteran

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Francis LeGasse Jr: they believe Agent Orange was his, you know, predominant reason for his dementia. And then my other grandfather had Parkinson’s

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Francis LeGasse Jr: just seeing the

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Francis LeGasse Jr: the roller coaster and the the unknown, for the family is really what was a a big factor for us.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: I mean the stress on my mom and my grandmother, I mean, I watched that roller coaster and then my dad and his 6 other siblings and that roller coaster. I

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Francis LeGasse Jr: I felt like something was missing. You know we needed more than just a place for them to live. We needed a better way for connection, so that the family could

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Francis LeGasse Jr: know that their person, their loved one, is being well taken care of, and that’s kind of what started us on our journey of residential assisted living with a very heavy focus on memory, support, or memory care. We always kind of thought. That was an afterthought for a lot of the industry, but we wanted to make it the forethought. And so

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Francis LeGasse Jr: today I can proudly say, we are the largest residential care provider in Colorado. We have 32 homes

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Francis LeGasse Jr: ranging from anywhere from 8 to 12 residents. And then we typically staff about 2 caregivers in those homes. So we have a very intimate experience at a very, you know, reasonable and affordable price. And

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Francis LeGasse Jr: we’re just trying to spread the word that care matters at the end of the day, and that love and compassion can go a long way.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah, yeah, that’s Francis. You have a great experience in the industry, and you have co-founded more than one company.

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Ruby Mehta: right, I think our audience can really learn from your experience here. I wanna ask since you you hire here, it’s

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Ruby Mehta: more than 15 years right? You have been.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Yeah, just about 15 years. Here, yeah, just about 15.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah. So tell me from your experience that how can caregivers be best trained and equipped to provide compassionate care within the seniors home.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: I think it’s all coming down to how, how the staffing is. I think at the end of the day, your caregivers

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Francis LeGasse Jr: they care. I mean, they love with all their heart, and I think it’s on the organization, the team, to make sure they’re really supported.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: I kind of feel

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Francis LeGasse Jr: a lot of the challenges caregivers face is because of the additional stress that’s put on them from overwork, because we know

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Francis LeGasse Jr: the best caregivers they give their heart. So if someone calls off, of course your caregiver that already worked 5 days like, Yeah, I’ll do the 6 right.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: But what are we doing to that person in the long term. How are we

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Francis LeGasse Jr: supporting them emotionally, physically, spiritually, because

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Francis LeGasse Jr: if they’re working so 5, 6, 7 days a week for months on end

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Francis LeGasse Jr: at some point that’s going to break. And so I think

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Francis LeGasse Jr: we have to look back and say, How do we get more creative with our scheduling. How do we get more

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Francis LeGasse Jr: supportive of bringing other individuals into the space that wanna serve those that are aging cause news flash. We’re all getting older, right we were. And the question is.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: where are we going to have

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Francis LeGasse Jr: the need for support? We might not need it till we’re 70 or 80 or 90 or 100, but there also are some that need it when they’re in their thirties as well, too. And at the end of the day it’s really important that we support our individuals that provide our care, our frontline team, because they have to be the the Bret. They have to be our core of love and compassion.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. They need to be cared 1st before they can provide that care.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Correct.

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Ruby Mehta: Shin, on.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Yes.

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Ruby Mehta: A grippy.

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Ruby Mehta: Yes.

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Ruby Mehta: and the other piece of it is

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Ruby Mehta: to ensure the safety and security of seniors in their homes.

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Ruby Mehta: What measures have you taken, or how do you guide people? Those are like starting businesses or starting in the home care space what measures they should take to ensure the safety and security of seniors in their homes.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Well, I think it starts from.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: I say, goal setting for that individual you’re serving really understanding what they want out of this experience, because at the end of the day we’re there to serve them right. We’re there to make sure that they’re both their physical, their emotional, their social needs are met, but at the same time they just can’t sit there and

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Francis LeGasse Jr: just sit there because that still creates the sense of loneliness and isolation. They need social engagement. They need opportunity to meet new people, to meet younger people, to meet older people. We have to foster an environment

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Francis LeGasse Jr: that allows them to live. If the whole point of home care

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Francis LeGasse Jr: is that you’re now even more homebound because you’re not doing things

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Francis LeGasse Jr: that’s probably not the best approach right? We have to look at how we engage outside of those 4 walls

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Francis LeGasse Jr: and literally think about building a senior living or a senior care environment that is beyond the 4 walls, because at the end of the day we have to make sure they’re socially interacted with and connected with.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: because otherwise

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Francis LeGasse Jr: we’re not living. We’re just

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Francis LeGasse Jr: kind of sitting there waiting.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah, yeah, true, true. And the other piece is really the communication.

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Ruby Mehta: Right? So

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Ruby Mehta: how do you really

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Ruby Mehta: ensure that there is good communication and collaboration between caregivers and families.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: I think it’s.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Yeah,

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Francis LeGasse Jr: for us. We use this really cool app called Serenity Connect. It’s a HIPAA-compliant app that we use to add a level of communication. Right? We can put live updates on that. We put videos. We put text messages, and it’s all in this kind of slack for senior living. So I’m a big believer of having tech as part of the augmentation process of communicating, and our team puts

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Francis LeGasse Jr: the happy moments of we celebrated a birthday, or we had an outing, or we, you know, we went and planted flowers in the garden, or walked around the neighborhood right? So we can share those in-the-moment photos, the real live activity, not scripted just living. But I also then think you have your, you know your phone calls with your care conferences and things like that which are a little more formal structure.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: But at the end of the day it’s capturing and sharing the true moments of life. And that’s why I love tech as a way to augment and improve some of that communication. Not, you know, essentially replace the traditional phone calls and emails.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: because there’s some beautiful moments that are unscripted that we are able to capture. And we can maybe share with a grandson that lives in, you know, out of state, or a daughter that, you know, had a long day at work, and she’s like, Oh, my goodness! I didn’t know my dad liked to paint or, wow. Dad planted some flowers today. That is so cool.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: It’s those moments that allow us to be interconnected.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: And then just showcase

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Francis LeGasse Jr: the beauty and the care and the compassion that our team has for those that we serve.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah, you brought a really good point. Technology plays a significant role when it comes to

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Ruby Mehta: communication or transferring information. And that’s a transfer of information, right?

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Yes.

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Ruby Mehta: Share. Your pictures. You share notes and stuff that brings peace of mind because loved ones are not here to support them. What other technology pieces do you use to ensure that? It’s if it’s effective, your for your effective operation communication. And

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Ruby Mehta: even to find the right caregiver.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Obviously, we use a CRM, we use sorry an Ehr, an electronic health record and an electronic medication administration record to track all of that clinical component. So everybody is up to date to the changes in the care Plan or the service plan, depending on how you want to phrase that so that we’re really able to make sure that as our residents and our clients change, we’re there to support them on their aging journey.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: And then, I think, too, a big part of our ethos for our frontline team and our entire team is

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Francis LeGasse Jr: understanding

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Francis LeGasse Jr: the importance of just slowing down

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Francis LeGasse Jr: and getting to know your client on both a personal level as well as a service level. Of course, right? And

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Francis LeGasse Jr: our older adults, they want that connection. They don’t want just some random person that runs in really quickly and helps them get showered right? They want a bond.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: And so by our model, we’re able to really

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Francis LeGasse Jr: slow down, and our staff can truly know what you know one that say, you know Jim really likes, and the approach Jim likes, and that makes that connection stronger. And so that’s a really big piece is is

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Francis LeGasse Jr: training our staff, not just on the core basics of

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Francis LeGasse Jr: How do you do transfers, or any of the toilet machines, but then also the shadowing component where they get to follow a current staff member and get to begin to learn about the existing residents, and what their approaches are, and what they don’t like.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: And then for the recruiting as a whole, we use a lot of different platforms, all the kind of standard platforms. But we’re big on referrals from our own staff we find that the best caregivers typically are referred to us by our current staff members, because

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Francis LeGasse Jr: the best

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Francis LeGasse Jr: marketing, in my opinion, is word of mouth right? If a family recommends you to another family, that’s a great honor. Same thing. If a staff member recommends it to another friend of theirs. Hey, I love working for this organization

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Francis LeGasse Jr: that’s pretty powerful, and that’s a great way to build a very great culture and an amazing team that we have today.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah, no, that’s that’s definitely the biggest marketing channel. If your clients can talk about you with that proud, with that satisfaction, that’s the biggest achievement and also your staff.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Right. And I wanna add one more piece is

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Francis LeGasse Jr: It has to be kind of a little bit of a ground up and a top-down like we have a wonderful coo. Stephanie Wood, who’s got a lot of experience in the industry, I won’t, you know, date her with telling me amount of years she has, but she has phenomenal experience, working for large corporations and covering a lot of the Us. And

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Francis LeGasse Jr: she has a great philosophy on how she implements a bottom-up and a top-down approach to working with the staff. Right she she builds out systems and procedures that not only benefit the residents, but truly support the staff as well, too. And I think that’s really important, is she? Doesn’t.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: you know a lot of organizations can live in that bubble that they’re up there, and they think, Oh, this is going to work, because I said, it’s going to work right.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: And then the staff gets to work with it. And they’re like, Well, this doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to do this right.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: but her approach is much more inclusive. It’s understanding truly what that staff needs to make their job more successful.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: and then bringing in her system her philosophy around that to wrap it all together into a program

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Francis LeGasse Jr: that benefits everyone and it benefits

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Francis LeGasse Jr: the residents, obviously, from the care and services they’re receiving, but also that frontline staff where now they’re like, well, they heard me. This is really cool, and this makes my job a lot easier.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah, no, yeah. We started with compassion. And that’s exactly what it is. If we are compassionate with our staff, the staff really delivers, and they are because

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Ruby Mehta: they are, they become caregivers because they wanna care, and they do.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: And king.

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Ruby Mehta: Both with me. And yeah, they wanna feel heard and valued.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely. That is the great summary of that.

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Ruby Mehta: 100%. Yes. How do you bring transparency? Because the family members, they they’re remote. I’m talking billing and service notes and

all that. Good stuff. What tools or processes do you follow to bring transparency to family members?

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Francis LeGasse Jr: The big thing is kind of what I hit on earlier. The Serenity Connect application that app enables us to do videos, pictures text right through that in a HIPAA, compliant manner. And that goes right to that family member. We obviously will. Do, you know, remote Zoom or Facetime, you know whatever type of video calls as well, too, emails where our bills are our models. Very simple. We have very flat rate pricing. So it’s a very consistent pricing that family knows what they sign up for. So that’s always helpful in the sense that it’s not a

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Francis LeGasse Jr: a variable bill based on how much care that person received that much. It’s a fixed rate for that year they’re with us. And so that’s super helpful for transparency. And then, honestly, it’s the way our executive directors and our frontline staff share information through serenity. They’re very honest about, you know, the positives and the challenges of that day so that they really see

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Francis LeGasse Jr: we’re there for them. We’re we’re there for our residents when it’s great, and we’re also there. Maybe when they’re having a rough day, and we’re able to express that through, you know, videos and images which to me carries more weight than just an email saying, Oh, your dad’s doing good today versus, no, your dad did this today or your mom did this, or we had a group sing-along, or we had yoga today, or we went to get ice cream that carries the weight that families go.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Yeah, okay, dad is. Or mom is, or my spouse is right. They’re doing well. And that’s how we really keep that transparency is starting from the honesty is

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Francis LeGasse Jr: at the end of the day.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: We have to know the magnitude of what we do.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: and we are taking care of someone’s best friend, someone’s person that means to world to them. And if

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Francis LeGasse Jr: if we can’t do that

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Francis LeGasse Jr: with some honesty and transparency. Then there’s no reason to be in this business

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Francis LeGasse Jr: because they are trusting us to take care of their person.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: and that’s the root of what we do. We build, trust, and we execute

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Francis LeGasse Jr: upon that trust to show the family that

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Francis LeGasse Jr: we can’t replace you. But we’re here to help you.

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Ruby Mehta: Yeah, beautiful summary there. I can’t agree more.

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Ruby Mehta: that’s where I wanna wrap up. It’s it’s a beautiful, beautiful thought that you you gave us all. And well, thank you so much, Francis, for spending this 30-minute time with us and sharing these great insights. I’m sure the audience found these useful and someone who is in the business or starting this business.

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Ruby Mehta: they now understand it more. That care is compassion, and somebody is trusting you to take care of their loved ones. So it’s that important.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Absolutely.

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Ruby Mehta: Thank you for your time, Francis, again, and

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Ruby Mehta: I’m sure we’ll have another great episode for our audience. So this is Ruby Mehta signing off for today. Thank you.

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Francis LeGasse Jr: Thank you.