Speaker 1: 0:08

Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson. Two summers ago, my mom fell in my house the day after my daughter graduated. My poor mom ended up breaking four bones and she ended up staying in Dallas for the whole summer and it took us a while to get things sorted out. This was the first time I had ever gone through something like this with a family member and it's just one of those situations that you have no idea how to navigate or what to do until you're put into that type of situation. It literally took weeks to figure out where she needed to go after the hospital and she ended up going to a skilled nursing facility and it was just a lot to get to go through for both of us to figure out the process and what made the most sense. But it just really got me thinking about long-term care.

Speaker 1: 0:56

I have so many friends whose aging parents are starting to need that type of care and my friends are navigating the system right now and going through the whole process. So as I was doing my research, I got connected with Cambridge caregivers and reached out to them and I was blown away with what their services were and, funny thing, it turned out that they had wanted to be connecting with me to be an advertiser on the show. So over the course of several meetings with Adam Lampert, ceo, and Brian Levy, the chief relationship officer, I fell in love with their services. The level of passion they have for their clients and their staff just literally blew me away. And they just happen to cater to families that live here in the bubble who have senior loved ones and have a certain expectation of white glove concierge service when it comes to care at home. They also helped me understand the nuances of finding an elder care agency, from the questions to ask to what to expect.

Speaker 1: 1:53

Trust me, you don't want to be trying to find at-home care at the last minute for your mother or father. So to help you, I sat down with Brian Levy, chief Relationship Officer for Cambridge Caregivers and Manchester Care Homes. He's going to walk us all through the process of finding quality elder care. There is a lot of great information in this special dedicated episode and several funny stories that I think you're going to like. And one more thing we are so excited to announce our new advertising partnership with Cambridge Caregivers and Manchester Care Homes, and we're presenting this episode commercial-free, since they are our new sponsor. Brian, thank you so much for being here today.

Speaker 2: 2:31

Thanks for having me, Martha.

Speaker 1: 2:32

Well, let's start with you telling us a little bit of how you got into this industry. By accident, by accident.

Speaker 2: 2:38

Yeah, I've always had a background in sales and marketing and my dear friend Adam Lampert, who owns he's the CEO of Manchester Care Homes and Cambridge Caregivers. He and I had another business together while he was building this and as this started to grow legs, he grabbed me by the collar and said get over here and help me run this. And so I fell into it. I have no healthcare background whatsoever but I'm sure grateful that I found it.

Speaker 1: 3:04

Well, I have had the pleasure of visiting you at one of your care homes and I have to tell you that you definitely are very passionate about what you do. You really connect with the people that are there at the home and you just have a way with people, I love people and I love the elderly community.

Speaker 2: 3:22

I have a personal connection to the Manchester Care Homes. My grandmother was a resident for four years prior to me even knowing Adam, and so I was a client, I was a customer, I was the grandkid coming to visit grandma. So I believe in the product and the service. I've been there so I'm very passionate, for sure.

Speaker 1: 3:42

So tell me what exactly inspired the creation of these two elder care companies.

Speaker 2: 3:47

Sure. So in 2009, manchester Care Homes was born, if you will, for custom purpose built care homes. So imagine a multimillion dollar mansion with eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms so they're en suites. Every room is a master bedroom. Nine bathrooms, so they're en suites. Every room is a master bedroom. And we filled up right away.

Speaker 2: 4:07

And a family came to us and said we need a place for mom immediately. And you know, like a deer in headlights, we're like well, we don't have a room available right now, but we can pull somebody from the floor and from from the care home and send them to your home. And we did that multiple times before we realized, wait a minute, that's a business model. And so we got a license, a pas license from the state of texas, personal assistance services and cambridge caregivers was born. And the rest is history. I mean that division is now, you know, 5x the size of manchester, just by mere fact of every house is a, every rooftop is a client. So we have an office in Fort Worth, of course, headquarters in Dallas, and we just opened an office in Houston, soon to be Denver, atlanta, tampa, miami. We're going to scale it.

Speaker 1: 4:58

Oh, wow, okay. Well, I think it's so interesting because I think most people I talk to would love to have somebody come to their home and take care of them and I, literally until I met you, had no idea that these care homes existed where you could live together with other people. And, like I said, that's where I went and visited you that day and I was really impressed by the whole setup and all the people that were there the staff, the clients, everything was top notch, it's a neat concept.

Speaker 2: 5:24

Staff, the clients, everything was top-notch. It's a neat concept, I mean, when you think about elder care, when you look at the large monolithic building type facilities. We're the opposite of that. Most of our resident base come from the large facilities with 20 to 1 ratio, where mom or dad they're not as active, if you will, they're not going to movie night and happy hour and playing shuffleboard. They're focused on care night and happy hour and playing shuffleboard. They're focused on care. And that's our specialty, that's our sweet spot.

Speaker 1: 5:50

Right, okay, well, so tell me what the difference is between hiring an agency like Cambridge Caregivers versus hiring a private caregiver?

Speaker 2: 5:58

My favorite question. I love it the difference between an agency and a private caregiver. Love it the difference between an agency and a private caregiver, night and day. So think of liability. If you hire a caregiver directly just you know your friend's housekeeper or a friend who had a caregiver for their grandmother they're not insured, they're not background checked. If they get a flat tire and can't show up, there's no backup. So those are some key takeaways when you're thinking about hiring a direct caregiver. If you hire an agency, you know that it's licensed by the state of Texas. If you hire an agency, that's licensed and then you can fall back on the insurance. The training, for instance. Training is super important. Caregivers are caregivers, but if they're not trained properly, it's not going to go well. So at Cambridge we offer 43 paid training sessions throughout the year for our staff and each session is super important. We cover everything from transfers to dementia care to redirecting. I mean there's so many different classes that they can take.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Right? Well, it just sounds like it's just very personalized and just really customized to each individual need, which is something that I find very fascinating.

Speaker 2: 7:11

Everything we do is customized. There is no drawer that I open to say oh well, your mom has dementia, let me do this. Every care plan is customized, from schedule to care plan, to likes to dislikes. So what we do is we meet with a prospective client to better understand what their needs are. Let's start with geography and then start with is mom or dad upstairs? Are they downstairs? Do they have a dog? Do they smoke? Do they prefer a male? Do they prefer a female? What are their start times and end times? Knowing all that, or some of that, is going to evolve, but that's a good starting point.

Speaker 1: 7:50

Well, it's almost like dating or finding a nanny I know a lot of people who have worked with agencies to hire nannies but just finding that perfect fit that matches your personality.

Speaker 2: 8:01

It is. You hit the nail on the head. It is like matchmaking. We have four scheduling managers that take all of the elements from the care plan that we work on and determine who from our staff would be a good fit for that Personality, geography, care plan. All that criteria goes into matchmaking. Sure, that's what we do.

Speaker 1: 8:21

Well, you know, this is one of those things that you don't need it until you need it and you're in crisis mode, and it's very overwhelming to navigate something like this when you don't know the ins and the outs. So what are some of the misconceptions that people have about caregiving?

Speaker 2: 8:36

One of the misconceptions is this person is going to be my housekeeper, they're going to replace all my other staff, and that is a true misconception. We like to say we're not housekeepers, we will do light housekeeping. We train our staff to be solicitous. We don't want them just sitting on the couch. My mom's taking a nap, so we want to go to the grocery store, cut the vegetables for the salad for dinner, make the bed, change the sheets, do light housekeeping, but really focus on the client and what their care needs are. And you know, sometimes it's just basic companionship, just to be there to listen.

Speaker 1: 9:12

Yeah, definitely, I could see that being a huge thing. Well, have you noticed any shifts in the trends of caregiving since you've been in this industry?

Speaker 2: 9:20

One of the shifts I don't know if it's a shift or it's just becoming more but people want to age in place and that's why, instead of expanding the Manchester division, we're expanding the Cambridge division, because we recognize people really do want to age in place and stay at home, and so we're giving the community what they want caregivers in their own home.

Speaker 1: 9:40

Yeah, my grandmother used to say I'm not leaving this home until you carry me out of here, right, we hear that all the time and that's fine with us.

Speaker 2: 9:48

We're happy to come to you.

Speaker 1: 9:50

What kind of advice do you have for somebody who might be starting to look for options for their loved one?

Speaker 2: 9:55

Do your homework and ask a lot of hard questions. I've actually collected questions for the past almost 10 years now oh, that's brilliant questions for the past almost 10 years now and add them to my frequently asked questions section of the website, because there are so many important questions to ask that you just don't know to ask and so, um, you know, ask, ask a lot of questions and um, and know the details, know what you're getting into.

Speaker 1: 10:20

Well, it seems like technology is evolving in every industry. What kind of technology do you use in your business? I know that we talked a little bit about AI before we started recording industry standard, the gold standard, if you will.

Speaker 2: 10:34

So we use WellSky. We're also for scheduling for everything. We're also talking to an outfit about adding an AI component to help us matchmake with that matchmaking component as well. So I see AI being a very big part of our operation as we scale.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Okay, that is so interesting. I love that. Well. So what factors contribute most significantly to a senior's quality of life?

Speaker 2: 11:10

We know that hydration, nutrition and engagement are super important, and I'll give you an example. We had a sweetest lady. She moved into one of our care homes. Her elder son brought her to our care home and said this is where we want mom to live out her final time. And so she was 101. Oh wow. And he's like, look, this isn't going to be long, but this is where we want her to be. She passed just before her 107th birthday.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Oh, my God.

Speaker 2: 11:37

So not to say that we're wearing capes, but with the proper hydration, nutrition and engagement, we know that those are factors that make a big difference.

Speaker 1: 11:46

Well, that engagement is so key. I mean just keeping that brain active, the body active. I mean that's a perfect example right there.

Speaker 2: 11:54

And also recognizing that engagement is different for everyone. You know, it could be just having Frank Sinatra on the Alexa that's engagement right, because you're stimulating your mind and you're bringing back familiarity. On the Alexa, that's engagement right, because you're stimulating your mind and you're bringing back familiarity to the brain.

Speaker 1: 12:09

Well, one of my friends told me recently that Jane Fonda attributes her longevity to art, just activating that creativity in the brain.

Speaker 2: 12:18

There you go. Maya Angelou said that it was gin, so whatever rocks your boat.

Speaker 1: 12:24

Everyone has their thing. I thing. Well, brian, what are some of the biggest challenges facing with elder care?

Speaker 2: 12:31

Really educating people. And if I told you today, tomorrow, you're going to go sell commercial gutters or residential gutter systems, you would look at me cross-eyed and say I know nothing about gutters. Well, right now you're in crisis mode and you're going to make a lifelong, very expensive decision and you know nothing about it, and so it's really just educating the community and answering questions they don't even know to ask.

Speaker 1: 12:57

Well, is there kind of a blueprint that you have on your website or anything like that that kind of puts together the steps? Or I hear you have your own podcast. Maybe that's something people could listen to.

Speaker 2: 13:07

Yeah, I started a podcast to help people navigate the complex maze of elder care. It's not monetized, it's basically just to educate, educate right and it's learn, you know, not just Google, but really learn about, not the diagnosis as much as what is best for mom and dad, what do they really need. And oftentimes people will come to us and say we want to move into your care home, but we really want dad to do puzzles, or mom, we really want mom to continue to knit or whatever. That's the adult children's need, but their parents really don't want to do that anymore. And so we have to educate the adult children to say we want to keep mom and dad healthy and safe and honor their wishes as they age.

Speaker 1: 13:57

Okay, I want to run a scenario by you. I am desperate. All of a sudden, my dad is, you know, towards the end of his years and he's got Alzheimer's and I really don't know what to do. I'm not up to speed on all the processes, so I reach out to you in a panic walk me through the onboarding process.

Speaker 2: 14:16

Boom. So we establish the fact that you want in-home care. You're not going to come to the care home, you want in-home care through Cambridge Caregivers. So I connect you with one of my liaisons, so I put Lisa on the phone or I have you call Lisa directly. We all operate with our cell phones and you can reach us 24-7-365. You get Lisa on the phone and you say I need care at home. Now what? Lisa will send you a link to our onboarding documents. We're licensed by the state of Texas.

Speaker 2: 14:42

Onboarding documents are simple. You can fill them out online. Basically they consist of care plan and billing information. And care plan is does mom or dad need help with eating? With standby assistance, with you know, check the box right. And then Lisa will get that document and then come out and actually do an assessment Meet you, meet your folks, really understand and get a lay of the land. And then she'll work with our scheduling team to matchmake, like we talked about earlier. She literally will sit down with them and say, okay, this is what the document says and this is what I know about this client. And then at any introduction meaning anytime there is a new caregiver coming to meet your folks she or somebody from our team will be there for an introduction, to introduce you to the caregiver and walk them in and make it as seamless as possible. Every engagement is customized. So just because your dad has a diagnosis or needs a certain care plan, they're all different and we recognize that and we treat them as such. Okay, okay.

Speaker 1: 15:50

Well, I noticed in the times that we visited you have shared some interesting stories. You have you work with quite a few people in the park cities and you're used to dealing with people that maybe just have an apartment or some that have, you know, kind of more lavish lifestyles. Sure.

Speaker 2: 16:07

We're here to serve the community, although we do have quite a few clients in the Park Cities. Your podcast is the Bubble Lounge and we consider the Bubble our target and where we thrive the best. Our staff are very accustomed to working with affluent clientele. They're not going to walk into a 20,000-squ house and say wow, they're going to say hello, my name is so-and-so, how can I help you? What can I? You know, introduce themselves properly. That's what we do.

Speaker 1: 16:35

Okay, Brian, I feel like you're holding back on us. I know you've had some interesting experiences with people in the bubble.

Speaker 2: 16:41

Absolutely, I live a Seinfeld episode all day. People in the bubble Absolutely I live a Seinfeld episode all day. Yeah, we've had some really fun experiences. We love our clients. I'll tell you a funny story.

Speaker 2: 16:51

I was doing an assessment back when I did assessments at a lovely lady's home in the bubble, and part of the assessment through HHS is do you have life alert? We have to know if they have a life alert system. And she said what is a life alert? And I said well, you know, that's that lanyard around, that goes around your neck and it's you know. You, I fall in and I can't get up. And she says no. And she reached over to this desk next to her, this coffee table, and hit a button, which I didn't know what she was doing. And all of a sudden I hear hands up and I turn around and there's a security guard with a, with a gun, and I'm like he says, oh, we were just testing the system. I'm like, well, the system works, can you put the gun away please? So you just, you just never know. I mean, we have seen it all.

Speaker 1: 17:37

Well, so I know that you've also had some stories about private airplanes.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Yeah, we have. Our caregivers have spent more time on private planes than most people. I mean it's really it's an interesting world and we go where our clients go. I have clients with three homes, with four homes, with multiple ranches, and we just go with them. Whether it's to a wedding, a funeral or spend the summer in California, we go with them and we just blend in. Our caregivers really become part of the family.

Speaker 1: 18:07

Yeah, that's exactly what it sounds like, and I just think that that is something that is so impressive with you guys, because you are so highly adaptive and you do just integrate with the family so well.

Speaker 2: 18:18

Yeah, we get to know our families and our community liaisons. I mean we always joke about the group text, families and our community liaisons. I mean we always joke about the group text. There's four siblings and we're like unlicensed social workers. We're trying to coach them through the madness and the chaos of dealing with adult parents who are declining. My favorite line is I always tell adult children your parents taught you how to use a spoon, so be patient with them.

Speaker 1: 18:45

Oh, that's a good analogy and it is.

Speaker 2: 18:47

It's like just take a deep breath and know that it's from a good place.

Speaker 1: 18:53

Well, everything that we've talked about before, I am just really blown away by the level of care that your staff gives. I mean, they are just. You do an amazing job of hiring, you really get the right people in there, the perfect match for each family, and you guys really invest a lot in your staff we do.

Speaker 2: 19:12

We recognize they are our biggest asset. They're client-facing, they're the ones with their hands on your loved ones, and so our staff are treated like family to us. We have some staff. I have a caregiver that's been with us 13 years. Wow, that's a long time.

Speaker 1: 19:30

A really long time.

Speaker 2: 19:32

Yeah, our retention rate is 90 plus percent.

Speaker 2: 19:34

Oh my gosh, that's kind of unheard of, especially in this industry right, it really is, and that's why we treat them so well is because they're loyal to us and they're loyal to our clients. Right, they're not in your kitchen on their phone looking for a job. They love their job. As a matter of fact, we don't call it a job, we call it a career. And our staff? They're paid well, they're treated well, they get life insurance, health insurance, pto, gas stipend, 401k. They get no interest loans. We recognize on a given day someone gets a flat tire or a broken refrigerator or they have to go back to their country of origin for a funeral. We're going to take care of them and they take care of us in return.

Speaker 1: 20:17

Right, right. Well, you just mentioned a flat tire, which got my attention. There's a really good story circulating about Adam, who you kind of orchestrated.

Speaker 2: 20:28

Yes, years ago, during Snowmageddon in Dallas, adam was driving down Hillcrest and ran into a woman stranded and picked her up and coincidentally, she was a caregiver going to an assisted living facility. And so he went and dropped her off and on the way back, in almost the same place, there was another caregiver who was stranded and he picked her up and he said where can I, how can I help you? Where do you want to go? And she says could you please take me home? And on the ride home, as she was sitting in the back seat, they were talking. And he said where do you work?

Speaker 2: 21:02

And she said well, I work for a company called Cambridge caregivers. And he looked at her in the rear view mirror like a deer in headlights, and he said well, my name's Adam and I'm the CEO. And so, of course, I called the news and they did an entire story on it. It was beautiful, it was a really good, feel-good story, exactly, and those are the kind of things that Adam does as the CEO of this company on a daily basis. He's in touch with our staff in the field as much as he is with the senior leadership team at the office.

Speaker 1: 21:31

I mean, I just think, that speaks volumes, no doubt.

Speaker 2: 21:33

We are family owned and operated and you can feel it all day, every day.

Speaker 1: 21:38

Well, what does the future look like for you guys?

Speaker 2: 21:41

We're growing leaps and bounds. You know we spent since 2014 putting systems in place with Cambridge caregivers to perfect all aspects of the operation. I mean growing our HR division, our scheduling division, our marketers who are in the field, working with not just the referral sources but the families. So we have all of our systems in place where we can rinse and repeat this operation virtually anywhere. And so that's our plan we're going to grow.

Speaker 1: 22:12

Well, I think that that's so important to make sure you have the fundamentals down. I feel like there's a lot of companies that get private investors and they just expand all over the place, but they're not really perfecting what they started with. They're just growing by leaps and bounds and never addressing some of the things that could have made it better in the beginning.

Speaker 2: 22:31

No doubt, and so many companies are focused on pleasing a board or getting back to their investors. We have no investors. Adam is the investor. He makes all the decisions. So when he wants to do things like put a gas stipend on everybody's paycheck, he'll just go back to the office and do it and it just happens immediately. That's exactly what happened during COVID. He went and realized wait a minute, I've got caregivers driving around, I'm going to put a gas stipend on my paycheck and I wasn't going anywhere. I'm like Adam, I don't need it. So he's just very focused on our staff and doing the right thing. Adam is a capitalist. He wants to create jobs and serve communities, and we can take that model anywhere to create jobs and serve communities.

Speaker 1: 23:18

Well, I have spent a lot of time with both you and Adam and I have to say I mean, you guys are just good people. Your enthusiasm for what you do really shines and I can really see it.

Speaker 2: 23:29

We love what we do. I mean, it is truly the most gratifying job ever. I always say this doesn't feel like work. If it feels like work, I don't want to do it. This when my phone rings. I love it. I love helping people and educating people. I know they're in crisis mode and I know that I have resources that they don't, whether it's with our companies or just in general. What that? I have resources that they don't, whether it's with our companies or just in general. What if they need a hospital bed, or if they need home health, or if they need hospice? Whatever the case is, I want to be a resource.

Speaker 1: 23:57

Well, how can people learn more about you?

Speaker 2: 23:59

Great question. They can always call me directly. I'm available 24-7. Please don't call me at midnight, but I can be reached on my cell phone at 214-649-9922. You can look at. Actually there's a virtual tour of the care home at manchestercarehomescom and you can also find out more information about the Cambridge In-Home Division at cambridgecaregiverscom.

Speaker 1: 24:25

And, as always, I will include links to those so you don't have to remember everything. Thank you, I appreciate that Well, brian, thank you so much for being here today. You've just shared so much with our audience and I know that it's going to benefit a lot of people out there.

Speaker 2: 24:38

I hope so. We're excited to work with the community and help your listeners out Perfect.

Speaker 1: 24:45

Well, that's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I'll see you next time.