From Caring for His Dad to Supporting Caregivers

Caregiving often arrives without warning, and for many families, the weight of responsibility is compounded by not knowing where to turn. In this episode, we sit down with Lance A Slatton, whose plan to help his father recover from a fall turned into a nearly three‑year caregiving journey. His experience revealed just how many resources go undiscovered—and how isolating caregiving can feel when you don’t know what support exists.

Lance shares how that journey inspired him and his wife to build a business called Enriched Life Home Care Services dedicated to guiding caregivers toward the services, tools, and information that can make the road easier. 

We also explore the importance of making decisions before circumstances make them for you, and how conversations about future care don’t have to be heavy or ominous—they can be empowering, practical, and rooted in love.

Lance A. Slatton is a Senior Case Manager at Enriched Life Home Care Services in Livonia, MI. He is also host of the award-winning podcast & YouTube channel All Home Care Matters & President of AlzAuthors.  Through AlzAuthors Lance is helping expand access to a rich library of resources for families navigating dementia. This episode offers clarity, encouragement, and a reminder that no caregiver should have to walk this path alone and they can learn about the resources they may need during their caregiving journey.

(Thank you to Pixabay Folk Acoustic Guitar 138361)

Transcript

Speaker 3 0:00

Thank you for tuning in to the Island Treasures podcast. We value the insights shared by our guests and hosts, but it's important to note that their personal experiences are intended to inform and encourage, and not to replace professional, legal, or medical advice. With that, we are ready for today's exciting episode. Hello and welcome to Island Treasures Podcast. We're entering a new season with a new direction. For years, we've walked alongside caregivers in the midst of their caregiving journey, offering resources, support, encouragement, and community. Now, as we shift our focus, we'll be exploring what comes after caregiving. I'm your host, Alison van Schie, inviting you into conversations with former caregivers. Each episode features honest reflections on what comes next, stories of resilience, renewal, and rediscovery. And since the podcast comes to you from Vancouver Island in Canada, you'll hear the occasional episode that explores a different kind of treasure, local places and experiences that make the island itself something special. Whether you're navigating life after caregiving or simply curious about the treasures held within Vancouver Island, I'm glad you're here. Let's explore new treasures together. He cared for his father with devotion and has earned the title of the senior care influencer. He spent more than 20 years helping people and shaping the healthcare space in a multitude of ways, including as a writer, author, influencer, and seasoned professional. He's also an award-winning podcast and YouTube host whose voice guides countless caregivers and families. There's so much more to him. So let's not wait another moment. Please join me in welcoming Lance A. Slatton. Welcome, Lance.

Speaker 2:30

Thank you, Alison. It's great to be here on the island with you. I feel warm already.

Speaker 3 2:35

Excellent. You are on the island. We will keep you here.

Speaker 2:39

Yes. Getting out of this cold here in Michigan.

Speaker 3 2:42

Yeah, I'm so sorry. I see news footage and there's actual snow on the ground. And we've avoided snow so far this winter. So we're lucky.

Speaker 2:51

Yes, you are.

Speaker 3 2:53

Yeah. So you do have a lot to share. But um, as we're now focusing on life after caregiving as the theme for the Island Treasures podcast, would you mind sharing a brief synopsis of your time caregiving for your dad, what that looked like, and then we'll go into how you transitioned into the next chapter.

Speaker 3:12

Sure. Well, you know, when I look back at it, Alison, you know, first and foremost, never once did I ever stop and say, I'm a family caregiver. You know, it was always I'm a son taking care of my dad, helping him out. And, you know, my wife and I, we were newlyweds at the time, and I was pursuing medical school. She'd already graduated and completed her degree and had her career job that she's still at all these years later. And we were told it would be a couple of weeks at our house. He just needed an extra hand. Or, you know, the home health care nurse that we were talking to said, or, you know, I could put him into rehab for a couple of weeks, either way. And so, you know, I think we made the decision that most would if they were able to. And we said, no, have him come stay with us. And not knowing what we didn't know was that it was going to be seven more major operations and almost three years of him requiring 24-7 care. And that revolutionized my entire outlook on the healthcare space and really on what caregivers went through. And so I decided at that point, I said, you know, there's got to be other people out there going through the similar situation as us. And it wasn't immediately, it wasn't even in the first year or the first two years. It was really towards the end where we were left with no other alternative than for him to have to go into rehab because he started to require uh IV antibiotic or IV therapy. And so we made that ultimate decision. And, you know, I started thinking, you know, how can we help people like us? You know, because seven major surgeries, multiple, multiple hospitalizations, a couple of rehab stays after these surgeries. And then we had home health care coming to our house five to seven days a week. And this was not just, you know, intermittently, this was consistent and continuous. And never once did anybody in any of these areas of healthcare ever stop and ask us, are there resources we can help support you with or provide you with? You know, my father was a veteran also. And, you know, I don't fault these individuals because so often with any real profession or industry, people tend to stay in their own lanes, right? They don't want to bleed over to another lane. But the problem is what lane is it and whose responsibility is it to share resources with family caregivers? And I still don't know the answer to that because we still encounter it daily with the company that we subsequently started as a result of that experience caring for my father.

Speaker 3 5:44

Wow. Going into it, expecting it to only be a two-week commitment, and it was years.

Speaker 1 5:51

Yeah.

Speaker 3 5:52

And like so many people, you don't know what it's going to involve, and you quickly learn what it's involving. But uh it struck me when you said nobody asked what resources are there to support you as the caregivers, as the ones supporting the father.

Speaker 6:10

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, so we encounter all these years later, like I mentioned, we'll get calls from families saying, Well, my dad's being discharged from the hospital. They said we need to get help, and they just said, open up the phone book, so to speak, go on Google and search in care. And sometimes it's really home health care they're looking for and not home care. And sometimes it is home care. But a good friend of ours, he had uh coined this term, even though he said he didn't create it. I always credit him for it. It's basically diagnose and adios, you know. Yes, you're getting that diagnosis, but that's all you're really getting. You might get a prescription, but you're not getting, you know, a stack of resources or a list of resources. And, you know, families are then as soon as you leave that hospital or that doctor's office and you exit that door, it's kind of open season. You got to figure it out and you got to find a way really quickly to find these resources and what the right resources are for you. Oftentimes families don't even realize they can, you know, here in the States that they can get home health care through Medicare, you know, and home health care doesn't substitute home care. We work all the time in tandem with families that have that because it's only going to address that one specific need. So, like my father, it started off as a wound from a fall he had. The wound care nurse was coming. And that's part of the reason he had to come live with us. Because originally, after the first surgery in the area he lived in, the home health care nurse said, You know, I'm really concerned. I don't see how he's going to be able to properly cleanse this, bandage it, you know, and all do all this stuff on his own because it was on his coccyx from a fall. And none of us could take care of it properly. We would all need assistance. But my father was living alone, you know, he never remarried after uh the divorce from my mom. And so we said, Yeah, he can come stay with us. Well, whether that nurse knew it or not, you know, there's no way he should have just been sent to our house. He should have gone to rehab, and but subsequently, it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome of the multitude of surgeries he needed. Um, but I was just glad to be there to help him however I could, you know, because again, I'm not looking at it like, oh, I'm putting on that family caregiver hat, I'm the son, and I'm helping my dad out for a couple of weeks until he can get back up on his feet. And it ended up being, like I said, almost three years. And so towards the end of that, though, by the time we got to the point where we realized, and even the doctor realized, you know, being at home is no longer practical uh because he didn't he did need that IV and uh therapy. And so I'm you know, I went to have lunch with a friend, Alison, and there was a home health care company hiring in my friend's office building, and I had gone through EMT training, paramedic training, and I popped in there and I thought, well, maybe this might be a good way to earn extra income because I was working in the labs at the university and I was doing student teaching. And anybody that's worked at university for a job, it's great scheduling because it goes right around your schedule and your availability, but it's not really meant to be a sustainable, you know, income either. And so, you know, I'm trying to find a way how can I earn more money? And the gentleman at this uh office had no idea what they were hiring for, what the qualifications were, the credentialing you need, nothing. And so, but it got my brain thinking. I'm like, well, why can't we start something like this? And it wasn't home health care though, we were gonna start, it was gonna be home care, and so yeah, that's how that's how the company started. And you know, it's all through that lens, though. It's not just a business for us, it's really we've been there and we know firsthand very well what these families go through and what they experience. And I try to take that personal experience and then mix it with my professional background and just support them the best way that we can.

Speaker 3 10:05

Yeah, there's a lot there, Lance. Um, I just want to go back to when your father was being discharged from the hospital. Um, was there no discharge planner there to assist you or a social worker?

Speaker 10:19

So, well, I I will I will back up to the beginning. So his very first surgery that he had, um, first we didn't know he was having surgery. Okay. Uh, we didn't know he had had this fall, and he, you know, he's uh got his own rights and he can make his own decisions. So I don't know what they gave him after that first discharge, right? And so, but he did have to go to rehab and he went begrudgingly. And my my father, you know, they say doctors make the worst patients, and lawyers who represent themselves have a fool for a client. Well, it's very similar with my father. He uh he was uh a Marine and a veteran from the 60s, and the Marine Corps was a lot different then than it is now, and you know, it was a very much can do mentality, and nothing is going to stop me, and I will push through, and you know, you'll come out at the other end. And so he was trying to just handle it and deal with it on his own. And it was only when he got that first surgery and they had to send him to rehab that they had to have an emergency contact. And so that's where I came into the picture.

Speaker 3 11:27

Gotcha.

Speaker 11:28

And, you know, he he did great at rehab, and then when they discharged him, they told him, Yeah, you're set to go home. And then the home health care nurse started having concerns because she didn't know he lived alone, and you know, the bandage was too difficult to, you know, take care of uh when you're just by yourself. And so that's when she reached out to us and said, Would you be willing? And we said, Absolutely. Um in fairness, she didn't really probably give us the full picture, and so that's where you know it led to, you know, it ended up being, like I said, seven major operations. But no, once we got involved, we weren't given any of those. Yeah, you're getting discharge instructions, but it's for you know what to look out for, how to take care of it, you know. If you see this, this is what you do. If you have any problems, call us, you know, to come back in. But nothing as far as being a caregiver and how can you get support as being the caregiver for the family member. They look at it generally as this person's going to a home, a safe environment, and he has family support. So, what is there for them to tell you? You know, and you know, they just don't take that extra step because most times they're not thinking in that lens, they're thinking specifically just in the health of that person. Um, and I tell people all the time, I wish doctors' offices and hospitals would really look at the family as the second patient. You know, is there anything we can do for you so that you can continue taking care of your loved one? Um, you know, some do, but most don't, right? Because they're overwhelmed, they're understaffed. And, you know, they gotta, you know, when I worked in the hospital, you know, I didn't like this phrase, but it'd kind of be a little, you know, side remark of, you know, treat them and street them because you gotta take care of them, get them out, get someone else in, you know, and so, you know, hopefully they're, you know, and I think there's some hope on the horizon, but we're still getting even calls from discharge planners and social workers, and they think home care is home health care, and they don't know that they're two separate things entirely. Um, so even, you know, healthcare professionals need that awareness and knowing what the differences are and what one offers and what one doesn't offer. And so that that's also a little bit of an obstacle as well, just having a heightened awareness into the resources that they can offer people.

Speaker 3 13:47

Could you expand on the differences between home health care and home care?

Speaker 13:52

Oh, absolutely. So, home health care is provided through Medicare. Um, if an individual has Medicare and the doctor feels it's necessary, you know, it's easy to ask the doctor, say, doc, can my dad get a prescription for some home health care? What they're gonna do is the social worker or a registered nurse initially is gonna come and do an evaluation once that patient gets home. They're gonna determine the services that they are in need of. So, like in my dad's situation, he he was uh receiving physical and occupational therapy as well as a wound care nurse, but he didn't need a dietitian or a speech therapist. Um, and so that will go on for up to nine weeks at a time through your Medicare, no cost to the family or the individual. However, that nine weeks, and like in my dad's situation, it extended for almost three years. So if they still feel that there is a necessary need there, all the doctor has to do is re-up that order for an extended another nine weeks. So it could go nine weeks at a time for as long as they feel that skilled need only. So that's key here. A lot of families misunderstand that aspect. It doesn't necessarily matter if the individual is getting fresh groceries, if they're getting their prescriptions refilled, they are there and they can make, you know, they're not going to ignore that sort of thing, but they're not gonna send somebody over there to, you know, take you to the pharmacy. They're not gonna send somebody over there to make you meals. Um, but that nine weeks is for that skilled need. And you have to also be housebound. So being housebound really means you cannot leave your home unless it is for a religious event, a haircut, or a doctor's appointment, or like a funeral or a wedding. That is it. You can't just go and say, Well, I'm Friday at what time are you coming? And they say, We'll be there between two and five. Well, in theory, that really shouldn't matter what time they're coming because you're supposed to be home, right? But if the individual says, Well, I'm going to a movie at 3:30, they're going to say, You can't go to a movie. You are housebound. That is the Medicare guidelines. With home care, the family hires the company, like with us. A family would hire us. We would come in, we would do a complete care plan assessment and an evaluation and an intake. We're going to get all the details, just like home health care will do, uh, you know, very similar. You know, they're going to have your medical history and your medical records and all that. They're going to have the doctor's orders with our services. You don't need a doctor's order. Now, if you have long-term care insurance, VA has a benefit called aid in attendance. Um, auto insurance, if you have personal injury or the other person has personal injury, you can get your care for uh provided under those. If the accident or whatever the auto uh situation was, if the care is a direct result of an auto accident, auto insurance, personal injury coverage, can and will pay for that. Long-term care insurance, you have to meet two to three, sometimes even four of your activities of daily living to qualify. And long-term care insurance will send somebody out to do an evaluation. Some require, if not most, a doctor's signature authorizing that, yes, do you have these needs? Then you put in a claim with your long-term care insurance, and then they're gonna set up an evaluation where somebody from the company is gonna come and do like an OME, they call it one-time medical evaluation to identify you have these needs and they agree that you have these needs. And then they usually there's like a 90 to 100 day waiting period, which for some people is not sustainable. If you need 24-7 care next week, Alison, and you're paying $25 to $35 an hour, 24 hours a day per hour, that's a lot, right? That's a lot to take on as far as your you know finances are concerned. But then at that 90-day period, then your auto or your long-term care insurance will kick in, and then they will start paying out for that care, you know. And again, just like with auto insurance, long-term care insurance, everybody has a different plan, everybody has different coverages. That's just a general idea of how it works. And then the aid and attendance to the VA, um, like my dad would not have qualified because he was not a wartime veteran. And so we couldn't even look at that as a resource. But again, at the time, nobody even made us aware of any of these resources or that there was even this type of service out there to begin with. But with aid and attendance to the VA, the person requiring care had to have been a wartime veteran, you know, any of the recognized United States conflicts, Korea, Vietnam, you know, Afghanistan, Iraqi wars, um, some World War II veterans, you know, that we've helped. But if you qualify as a wartime veteran, that's the first qualifier to get through the gate. But then they're going to look at your finances. Then you have to financially qualify too. And I always recommend families talking to like a VA counselor and to an elder law attorney when it gets to like the finances, because there's things that you can do legally that can help you if maybe you don't qualify right off the bat. Um, but then uh the spouse as well. So let's say the wartime veteran is qualified for that benefit, but as an extension of them, their wife also qualifies. So the wartime veteran may not need the care, but the wife may. And so you could still get uh qualified for aid in attendance that way as well. You know, we had a lady we were helping whose husband was a World War II veteran, but she ended up needing the care and not him. But because of his service and you know, qualifying for that, she was able to uh get that aid in attendance, which is a wonderful blessing. You know, it's a it's a wonderful thing for our uh wartime veterans as a perk for their service to the country. My only thing to that is if I was running the world, I would make it available to any and all veterans, not just wartime veterans, but sadly I don't run the world.

Speaker 3 19:47

Yeah, I was not aware of that either, that uh you had to be involved in uh a wartime conflict. Um, I know here from my social work hat, um I was always quite thrilled when someone had the Veterans Association as one of the tools in their tool belt because it was an easy referral for me.

Speaker 20:08

Yeah.

Speaker 3 20:08

And not that it's all about me, but it also made it a lot easier for them. Sure.

Speaker 20:13

Yeah, absolutely. Well, if it's easy for you, it's gonna be easy for them as uh, you know, but I will say too, and then of course there's private pay. So home care, you know, and often a lot of families don't have any one of these needs. You know, they're not in an auto accident, so the auto insurance is off the table. They didn't have long-term care insurance, so that's off. And if they didn't have wartime status, or even if they did and they didn't meet the financial requirements, um, that's off the table, then you're left with private pay. But those are really the big uh four ways that you can pay for home care. Um, there's a couple others, like you know, reverse mortgages and stuff like that. But again, when it gets into like assets and heavily based stuff like that, we don't we try to just tell you what the options are, and then the family can consult their you know family attorney or whoever their financial advisor, whatever it may be, to see what's the most viable and practical uh solution for their uh care needs.

Speaker 3 21:08

Wow. And you know all these things. So if someone comes to you, you can certainly direct them in the right way. The sad part for me uh was hearing the wait period. Like if you're in a dire situation, you want it right away, and you don't want the hassle of trying to figure out all the financial aspects of it. Like it's it's just a lot when you're in a crisis.

Speaker 21:33

Yeah, well, you know, and especially Alison, too, you know, if you're dealing with somebody with any sort of cognitive issues or altered mental status, you know, and you have family that's scattered, right? Maybe somebody lives in the West Coast, somebody in the East Coast, somebody in the Midwest, and them finding out who is the decision maker, and you know, it just you know, there's a lot of layers to that onion that need to be peeled back. And you know, sometimes it's easier than not, but oftentimes It can be tough when you're having a situation where you have families spread out and nobody really close by. And you know, maybe the person close by isn't able to make those decisions for their loved one. You know, so we just do our best to support them, you know, in whatever their need is at that time.

Speaker 3 22:16

Yeah. There's a call out there for families to have good communication before that time happens.

Speaker 22:22

Yes. Yes. Always talk about what mom and dad want. And, you know, we tell families all the time, you make those decisions while you still have the ability to make them. Don't wait till they're going to be made for you. And, you know, that's always very tough.

Speaker 3 22:36

Yeah. And and share who the decision makers are that you've appointed as well. Because if there's a large family, who's the one? Who's the spokesperson?

unknown 22:46

Yeah.

Speaker 3 22:47

And if mom and dad have appointed someone, it's not going to be as argumentative or as difficult for the family to come together.

Speaker 22:55

Yes. Yes. And, you know, just one more thing to that is we had a situation a couple of years ago where one son was, you know, over finances, the other son over health care. And when it came to the and they had a long-term care insurance policy, and their dad and mom absolutely needed more care than what they originally had thought. You know, in our case managers and our staff, you know, they do full reports and you know, everything, and we keep the families all up to date on any concerns we have and observations, that sort of thing. And the son over the health care, he recognized it right off the bat. He's like, I did not realize. And he's like, I would like to add full-time care. And not 24-7, but you know, like 40 or more hours a week with mom and dad, seven days a week. And the son over the finances really wanted to wait and just try to ride it out, you know, and the situation they were in. It's not a situation that gets better ever, it's always going to get worse. You just hope it doesn't, you know, it's a slow process. Well, come to find out, he thought he, and they had long-term care insurance, so it wasn't costing them anything. And so the son over the healthcare about a week later called and said, I, you know, I need to meet with you guys immediately. And so we set up a time, went in our conference room, and he's like, I'm really at a loss of what to do. He said, You know, our family attorney just called me and said, My brother basically took in all the finances and the boxes of documents, dumped them at the lawyer's office and said, I'm done. And so he was relinquishing that. And come to find out the reason he was upset, you know, they had a very, very generous long-term care insurance policy. The brother over the finances, he was trying to cash the policy in to get the cash for it. And with long-term care insurance, it doesn't work that way. It has to be used for care and care only. Uh, and so he was just furious because he thought, you know, this is gonna be a big windfall of cash to put into the estate. And but it's very sad because it became about the money, you know, and just self-enriching themselves, really, this particular brother. And, you know, meanwhile, mom and dad, their their care is suffering because of it. And so when families sit down and have that conversation with their parents, sometimes it's comfortable, sometimes it's uncomfortable. You know, you're talking about something that's kind of a little doomy and gloomy. And we always say, you know, make it light, you know, like we just had Thanksgiving a few months ago. Talk to your mom when you're, you know, in the kitchen, use a use a friend of a friend scenario. You know, mom, Linda was telling me that, you know, her mom decided she wanted to have her over this or her her care decisions, if anything ever happened, were that, you know, and you could even use that as just a gentle way to maybe bring up that conversation. And mom might say, Oh, yeah, you know, I think I would want that too, or you know, just gently start that conversation so that you can avoid scenarios where you're gonna have a lot of strife and conflict with the children. Because if the parents are the ones that make the decision, right, none of the other siblings who may not have been chosen as the power of attorney or what have you, they can't say, well, you know, my sister's just doing this for herself when it's documented that no, this she's she's just enforcing and exercising what your parents' wishes were, not what her wishes are, because sometimes she may not even agree with the parents' wishes, but it's her duty to you know enforce her parents' wishes, you know. So having it documented is really just it's for everybody's benefit.

Speaker 3 26:30

Oh, and I love the way you suggest starting that conversation, just very gently ushering it, making it a welcome discussion. Yeah, I love that. Um, family dynamics are hard, and um, that's why I had a job, social work. It's like it works.

Speaker 26:46

Yes, it does. Absolutely.

Speaker 3 26:49

So let's circle back to um looking after your dad.

Speaker 26:54

You know, it got to the point, Alison, where you know, after seven major surgeries, you know, he developed osteomyelitis, which for your viewers or listeners, that's infection of the bone. The infection had, you know, spread into his tailbone. Um, yeah, I won't get very graphic, but just to give you an idea, uh, they ended up having to carve off part of his tailbone, which, you know, was just very, very painful, horrific, uh, very life-altering altogether. And the spread was not stopping. And so this was about at the two and a half year mark or so, give or take. And so he had to go into rehab because he had to be almost not continuous, but almost continuous IV therapy. And it wasn't something we could financially afford or were even prepared or equipped to do at home. And so, you know, he had to go into uh a nursing home. Um, and you know, sadly the infection just continued to spread. He was there for about a year, year and a half. Um, and then he subsequently went in. Um, I chose palliative care before hospice, and then you know, then ultimately hospice. Um, and then he, you know, he did pass in the nursing home.

Speaker 3 28:04

Yeah. And how how did you manage that? How for you? He's your dad.

Speaker 28:11

Yeah.

Speaker 3 28:12

How did that impact you?

Speaker 28:14

Oh, I mean profoundly. You know, I had my uh my daughter was not quite two years old at the time. And you know, you you know, you look at those things, Alison, right? And you know, I have three kids now, and two of the three never even met him, you know, and the one that did, my oldest, I mean, she has no memory of that, and you know, to no fault of her own, she was basically two years old. And you know, you just you know, it's the it's the miss moments, and you know, you really look at how something could have potentially been avoided because what happened was when he had fallen, you know, again, we talked about the wonderful winter weather here in Michigan. He was coming off of his front door and hit a spot of black ice, fell, you know, landed on his tailbone. He got up, got in his car, and drove off, you know, and there was a bad bruise there. And, you know, just like you and I are now, we're all sitting on our coccyx, and there's all of our pressure, right? And so that bruise never had the opportunity to heal. And so when a bruise can't heal, it can develop into an abscess. Well, an abscess is infection and pus and just all that, you know, unpleasantries. And he was driving his car one day, and all of a sudden his pants just became really wet. And what it was is the abscess had burst. So he went to the family doctor that we've known for a hundred years, almost literally. The man was 94 and just retired about three years ago. No, um, yeah. And he he said to him, He goes, What in the world are you doing here? You need to get to the emergency room. So, you know, he went to the emergency room, he had emergency surgery. Like I said, we didn't know any of this at the time until post-suring and went into the rehab, and it was looking pretty good, but uh the infection just was not able to get under control and it just continued and ended up having seven more major surgeries. And you know, it was just one of those what could have been kind of things. Did they miss something in the surgery? Should he have had the IV antibiotics sooner? You know, you second guess everything, right? Um, but again, with as intimate as we became during that two and a half, three years uh with these surgeries in the hospitals and you know, visiting home health care nurses and you know, everything, you know, you just wonder why would not somebody just stop for a moment and think maybe there's some resources that could have supported him and also us, you know, because my wife is primarily working her nine to five Monday through Friday. I'm running home in between classes, labs, work, and you know, working at the university. And they knew these things, but they just, you know, for whatever reason, and I don't fault them, but it was never something that was thought of to say, hey, have you guys looked into these, you know, area agency on aging or you know, any of these resources to maybe give you guys a hand? Um, and so you know, I kind of that's kind of my motivator for why I do what I do is to be able to help these families because I you know, we all know if you don't know something, you don't know it. You don't know what to do.

Speaker 3 31:24

And you don't know to ask, exactly.

Speaker 31:26

Right. You know, I can't ask for it if I don't know it even existed. Like I said, when I came up with this idea, I thought I invented the wheel of starting a company, and then you know, when we start researching it, it's like, are you kidding me? There's an entire industry out here. Surely we would have known about this, you know. Why why didn't we know? Yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 31:46

You think you should have definitely known about it. But if this hadn't happened to you, you wouldn't know that. And you by giving that extra piece, by being that resource that folks don't know is there, I think that's what you brought forward. That's what you took away from everything you went through with your dad, being that just that extra piece of information that makes a world of difference.

Speaker 32:10

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, you and I would not be talking right now. My life would be entirely different. Um, you know, because my goal of pursuing medical school was just to be able to help. Um, and I look at it now, like I actually, Alison had somebody uh who had wanted to interview me a few months ago. And the first time in almost six years that we've been doing this, and doing this being the podcast in all home care matters, we've had our company for almost 15 years. And they asked me, they said, So do you regret it? And I had no idea what they were referring to. And I go, Well, I don't know, regret what? He goes, regret going back or finishing or you know, being a doctor. And I said, actually, I've never even thought of it. I go, so I don't think I regret it at all. If I really did regret it, I would have just after my dad's passing, I could have just gone back. Um, I said, but really, I go, you know, we've had such a profound positive impact on so many lives that, and I and I'm saying that very humbly, you know, we've helped countless families here in Michigan, and we take it very seriously with like a reverence. Yet they're entrusting us and our staff and our company to be in their homes or wherever they're at, assisted livings, independent livings, to care for their loved ones as an extension of them. And, you know, we've been to countless birthdays and sadly also funerals and a lot of wonderful family events, and you get to know them very personally and intimately. You don't get that if you're a doctor or you're a nurse, you know, you get that small snapshot of what their lives are, but you don't get to meet the grandkids or the parents or the children, you know, whatever the situation is, and really become an extension of the family in every sense of the word.

Speaker 3 33:58

I love that. Um, to be you're you're almost like a surrogate family member. You're just involved in the family.

Speaker 34:08

Yes, and I and I will say this, you know, sadly, sometimes our family members that we're caring for pass. And almost every time A we're, you know, getting uh the invitation, we would go anyhow to the funeral, but not necessarily myself or the other case managers, sometimes, but not always. But what always does happen is they have the family has the caregiver that was with their loved one, and it might be a team, you know. If we're helping somebody 24-7, we got four to six people working in that home, not at the same time, but different shifts. And we keep the same people, we don't rotate them, it's not a merry-go-round, and that does become very, very close and very personal. And they will have them sit with the family right there in the front rows at the funeral. Um, and quite often too, they will acknowledge them by name when you know a family member gets up to speak at the funeral. And for me, that's really what it's about. Like that's why we're doing what we're doing to have that positive impact, get not only giving them peace of mind, but also making sure their loved one is being cared for in the way that they should and deserve to be. Because, you know, we've had other families who have been with either other companies or they're in a nursing home, and not everybody that's in a nursing home has to medically be there. But again, it's what the families don't know what they don't know. So when they're getting discharged and they say, Well, is anybody at the home that can help, you know, your mom or your dad? And they say, Well, no, they they live by themselves. Well, then I want them to go in the rehab, you know. But they don't say, as, you know, there is an option, you can maybe bring in outside professional help to help them so that they can return right to their home and not have to go in the nursing home. And we had a lady uh not too long ago who she was in a nursing home because she was legally blind. So that's what the doctor thought would be best for her because she lived alone. The kids kind of were they were in the state, but they were not close by. And the mom, you know, went from vibrant and full of joy to just becoming deeply, deeply depressed. And it was because she missed her home. You know, she's legally blind and she's in a strange environment, strange people, and she wanted her bed, she wanted to be in that feeling of comfort, you know, and safety. And the family didn't know there was an option, and then however it happened, a family we had helped years ago had said, Well, have you looked at this? And they referred them to us. We met with the family at the nursing home, and the mom was the the mom we ended up taking care of was just an avid, avid uh baseball fan, and so am I. And as we're talking and learning about her and everything, and they're just so hopeful that we are gonna say, Yeah, this is no problem, we can take care of her, which it wasn't. And so they brought her home. And so when uh our tigers here in Michigan, they uh they made the playoffs. I told her, I said, I go, I'm gonna come by and watch some uh baseball games with you. Well, the family thought, oh, it's just a sales pitch. For anybody that knows me, I am not a salesperson, I'm terrible, I don't like and you know, I'd go over there when I'd get done at work, go over in the evening and watch the game with her. And the family had bought cameras and put them up around the home. And they, you know, when she passed, they said, that is one of the fondest, greatest memories they will have of mom's later life, is just her being able to go home and just seeing her sit there and have somebody to talk to about the baseball game. I had more fun than she did, I think. But you know, for me, that's what it's about though. You know, I mean, business is business, but we're not dealing in stocks or you know, car sales or you know, widgets and all this other stuff. These are people and they have lives and they, you know, they're a person and uh we treat them as such.

Speaker 3 37:53

I love that too. Um aging in place, what a wonderful thing to support with your business. And I don't know, I know we've we've kind of talked about the name of your business, but do you want to just say it again?

Speaker 38:08

Yeah, so our company um is enriched life home care services, and then the the podcast and YouTube show is all home care matters.

unknown 38:18

Yeah.

Speaker 3 38:20

But um, I say often as a social worker, I was a gap filler, um, always just stepping in where there's a void. And it sounds to me that you're doing that an awful lot.

Speaker 38:31

We try to, yeah.

Speaker 3 38:33

And with relationship as well. I just yeah, I I say I love that so many times, but yeah, it's it's a good thing.

Speaker 2 38:42

Thank you.

Speaker 3 38:42

Yeah. You said that your goal had been to become a medical doctor, and you have no regrets because this has just evolved into something amazing. You're helping people, which is what is in you as a passion. You really like to help folks, and taking what you learned and growing it. You have just created this space for caregivers and families and and their loved ones. And uh yeah, that's an amazing journey that you didn't plan for yourself.

Speaker 39:19

No, did not plan it. Did not plan it. I you know, I I feel like there's a plan in place, and you know, I think I feel like for me at least, you know, um you end up doing what you're meant to do, right?

Speaker 3 39:32

And you're doing it very well. I kind of would like to just come and shadow in your in your business. I think I'd love to see it. I'm not going to because I doubt that I'll be coming to Michigan anytime soon. But it sounds lovely. Um I think all home care matters. All people matter. It just really fits, you know.

Speaker 39:55

Thank you, Alison.

Speaker 3 39:56

You're very welcome. Thank you for what you're doing and just for being this beacon of light in the caregiving world. So you do a podcast and a YouTube channel, but I think you do more than one podcast. And I have no idea how you have the time to do that. But do you want to talk a little bit about the extras that you do?

Speaker 40:17

Sure. So um All Home Care Matters started as a temporary, you know, gap filler. Um, we were just going to do it for a few weeks when they had the COVID shutdown here in Michigan. It was a two-week shutdown. And then after the second one, we, you know, I actually heard a podcast one night and I said, you know, maybe that's something we could do. Because I was going all over Michigan at the beginning of our company, and then it was others, and we were doing dementia seminars, caregiver support groups, you know, lunch and music with Elvis, just everything we could think of. Never took a penny for any of it because it was all it was joyful and fun for us too. And then about seven, eight years into it, when COVID hit, we made the decision before the governor here and said, let's just put a pause on this public event stuff because we don't want to risk anybody getting sick. We don't want to expose ourselves or our staff to getting sick, but we still operated and functioned as an essential business. So we are still taking care of all the families that we are entrusted to care for. And I heard a podcast one night when I went out to the track by my house. And I, embarrassingly or not, Alison, I did not really understand what a podcast truly was in the definition of the word. I literally thought it was the media outlets and different things that just took their content and put it in the audio format. Instead of watching it, you would just listen. And then I heard a podcast of a company that was a home care company here in Michigan. Never heard of them before. And we do our research. And for me not to know was kind of interesting. And I went home and I said, kind of like with the company, I when I said I have an idea, we should start a company where we help people. This idea I came home with, I said, we should start a podcast in the meantime so that we can still get information out to people. And so, you know, I spent a couple of months researching it. A, you know, is this is this really a space that there's room for more? And that answer was quickly and evidently yes. And then I w had to take some lessons and training because I I never wanted to be on YouTube. I didn't even have my own social media except for the company. And so that was a big adjustment for me. And we launched a show in May of 2020, and it just started really taking off quickly, and it just has exploded. And so, as time went on, you know, others in the industry wanted to work with us and collaborate with us, and a couple of those wanted to do podcasts with us under the All Home Care Matters Production and Media Company. And so we started uh the first one was Conscious Caregiving with L and L, where Lori LeBay and I do a show together. Then we started the Caregivers Journal, and then we started the Care Advocates. And uh just last month in January of 2026, uh the uh it was announced that we'd been working on it for about four or five months, where we were in um you know, discussions and whatnot uh to uh acquire Alz authors. And that was just announced in uh January that uh you know it transitioned over to All Home Care Matters. So now we're we're the company behind Alz Authors, which for your viewers and listeners that are not familiar with Alz authors, it's the largest international single resource location for anybody dealing with dementia. We boast over 400 authors, resources, podcasts, articles, um, and we have a lot of exciting things planned for that. Um, and we just could not be more honored to um, you know, now be the responsible party for all the authors because they've done such tremendous. Work there. You know, it was a nonprofit originally until we acquired it. Um, and just for simplicity and business reasons, we just absorbed under our existing business license. Um, we're not looking to make a profit. We're just it was just for simplicity reasons that we did it that way. But uh Alz Authors is such it's a cornerstone resource in this space that has just touched so many lives over the 11 years almost that it's been in existence, and we're just honored to be continuing it into the future.

Speaker 3 44:30

So folks can get books on dementia and Alzheimer's through the Alzheimer Authors?

Speaker 44:37

Yes. Yeah, there's over 400 and some different titles. And what's really unique and nice about it for families that are going through that journey is every single book has been vetted. So you're not going to get bad information, false promises, fake cures, anything that's not legitimized. And every book goes through a very rigorous, rigorous vetting process. And then once it is approved, then it gets the stamp of uh approval of being an all-zauthors book, and now you're an Alzauthor author. Um, and there's just uh an abundance of resources there from blog articles, interviews, and but the books are the primary you know pillar of Alz authors, that's what made it into what it is today. And the other nice thing about it is instead of going to Amazon and just typing dementia book, you're gonna get just page after page of books. But if you're a daughter taking care of a mother who has dementia, right, you want a book that's really going to speak to your unique situation. And that's what all's authors does as well. It has categorized and broken down the books by category. So maybe you're a parent and you have young children who love grandma and grandpa, and now grandma and grandpa maybe don't remember the children's names, or grandpa's getting upset easily, and the kids don't know why, and they they have a hard time understanding that. You know, there's wonderful books for children who have a loved one with dementia. You know, these children books are phenomenal. Even books for teenagers who have a grandparent or a loved one, you know, dealing with dementia, um, a spouse dealing with a loved one with dementia. It's all categorized too for your unique situation that you know you're facing.

Speaker 3 46:21

So you just type it in and uh the specific resource will pop up.

Speaker 46:27

Yes, yeah. It's all, yep, it's all broken down. And you know, if it's been approved by Alz authors, then you know it's good information.

Speaker 3 46:36

Yeah, it's really good to fast track resources when you're caregiving and you don't have time to sort through 400 resources.

Speaker 46:43

Yes, yes. Or Alison, like when we started the conversation, families don't know what they don't know. And you know, you go on Amazon and you type it in and you get a book, and maybe that book gives you uh a false perspective of dementia, false hope about a cure, just bad information in general, and you don't know any better, and you just think, oh, that's the reality, and that could change the entire dynamic of how you care and approach and go through that journey with your loved one. You know, there could be some very significant consequences for getting information that's not accurate.

Speaker 3 47:17

Well, and I'm just thinking somebody who's an ace at search engine optimization may have, you know, hired all these people and but has a really poor product, really poor information, but they're gonna pop up in the searches all the time. And yes, yeah, you you don't want to risk that.

Speaker 47:35

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'll tell you just briefly, we actually about a year ago now, we had a company uh reach out to us and they made us a very, very generous financial offer to promote their product and have them on our show. And when our team and I, we were looking them up and doing our due diligence, what they had was uh the cure for Alzheimer's, or what they claim to have, I should say, was the cure to Alzheimer's. And it was like a four or five step process. And each step, start like step one, let's say, just for an example, was $800. You complete that step. Then the next step is $1,200, then the third step is $2,000, and the final step to fully eradicate Alzheimer's from your loved one was like $2,500. It was just disgusting how people can, you know, manipulate unsuspecting and unaware individuals and give them that sort of false hope and to try to financially capitalize on it. And so obviously, without saying, probably, we we decline that very strongly. But things unfortunately like that do exist. And so people have to know that what they're reading and what they're getting is vetted, it's trusted, and it's legitimate.

Speaker 3 48:46

Well, your values are astounding. Um astoundishing? Astounding? Your values commendable.

Speaker 48:55

How about commendable?

Speaker 3 48:56

Okay, your values are commendable. Um, can you imagine they're probably making that pitch to many other companies?

Speaker 49:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it, and you know, I just hope you know others have that same principle.

Speaker 2 49:09

Yeah.

Speaker 49:09

I feel like Alison, for the most part, you know, every batch of tomatoes is gonna have a bruised tomato that's you're gonna want to just throw out. Kind of like our space, I feel like for the most part, everybody has the same values and integrity and principles. And you know, I I like to think that something like that nobody would take the money just out of convenience and give people that false bad information and that false hope.

Speaker 3 49:34

Well, that false hope when you're desperate, you just you want, oh, you want to eradicate this horrible disease.

Speaker 1 49:42

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 49:44

If there's a way, absolutely, yeah, people are desperate.

Speaker 1 49:47

Yeah.

Speaker 3 49:48

But um, prevention is key, learning how to care early on, getting those advanced care plans in place, knowing who the resources are, finding someone to help you fast track to those credible resources is really um very important. So I think we've covered a lot today.

Speaker 50:08

I do too, yeah.

Speaker 3 50:10

I'm so grateful that I met you. I this well, thank you. I love your energy. I just uh pick up on that.

Speaker 50:18

Oh, thank you.

Speaker 3 50:19

Yeah, you're very welcome. Um, Lance, do you have a quote that you'd like to share with the listeners?

Speaker 50:25

One of my favorite, and uh it is biblical, but I feel like it can apply no matter what your beliefs are or aren't. And I just love this quote. I always have, and it's to whom much is given, much is required.

Speaker 3 50:39

Well, you've been given a lot.

Speaker 50:42

Yeah.

Speaker 3 50:43

And it sounds like you've been blessed, and you're blessing others through what you're doing. And I just want to thank you. Yeah, this has been great.

Speaker 50:53

Thank you, Alison. And you know, I I do want to say before we go here, um, you know, now we gotta get you on our show.

Speaker 3 51:01

Let's see what else we can talk about, Lance.

unknown 51:04

Okay.

Speaker 3 51:06

Perhaps you have a joke you could share.

Speaker 51:09

No pressure now. No pressure. So I'm gonna try to do it justice. But um, so there was a husband and a wife, they were newlyweds, they lived in Ohio, okay. And after their wedding, the first thing they did was go to the uh real estate office and they wanted to buy a house. So they took them to a couple of homes and they found their dream house. And the problem was their reservations for their honeymoon were like three days away. So the husband said, He goes, Honey, I'm gonna go down there because this was a place they went to when they were dating. It was kind of older, not modern, a little outdated. He said, I'll go ahead of you, stay here, you take care of the closing, and then just come down when you're done. And she said, That's great. Go down there, get us checked in so we don't lose our reservation. Well, meanwhile, in Illinois, there was an elderly couple. They had been married for like close to 50 years. The husband had just recently passed away, so their kids were staying at the house with mom, you know, just you know, for support and just comfort, so she wasn't alone. And so the man going on the honeymoon, he gets down to the hotel, he gets checked in, and he's just amazed. He's like, You guys have really modernized this since we've been here. They had internet now, Wi-Fi, all the amenities. So instead of calling his wife, like he said, he was going to, he said, I'm gonna I'm gonna send her an email, I'm gonna surprise her, she'll never expect it. So he goes to the room, gets on his computer, sends her an email, but he didn't realize he left one letter out accidentally. So the email actually went to this woman who just lost her husband. So at their house, she told her son, she goes, Hold on, I got an email. She goes, I don't know what this is. So she goes into the den where her husband, you know, had his office, and she's reading the email, and all of a sudden she gave out a big scream and she fell down and passed out. So the son ran in there and he's concerned, right? Mom is passed out and she's screaming, what's going on? So they get her a cold compress and get her a cup of water and stuff. And he said, Mom, what happened? She couldn't barely say anything. She's pointing at the screen. And so the son goes to the computer screen, he reads the email. It starts out, Dear honey, I just wanted to let you know I made it. You're not gonna believe it. They were already set up for me, they're waiting on you tomorrow. He goes, They even have technology here where they have the internet. He goes, It's just the most unbelievable thing. I never would have thought they would have had the internet down here. And he says, he goes, they're waiting for you and can't wait to see you tomorrow to welcome you. And at the end, he said, P.S. It's very hot down here.

Speaker 2 53:57

Oh no.

Speaker 54:00

So you get it. She thought the email was from her husband that just passed. Oh, when I heard that, Alison, I I cried, I laughed so hard. I just thought that was that was great. That was great.

Speaker 3 54:11

Well, thanks, Lance. That's a good way to end the show.

Speaker 54:14

Yeah, yes, yes.

Speaker 3 54:16

Lance, how can folks reach you?

Speaker 54:18

Yeah, so they can um reach me at lanceaslatton.com, allhomecare matters.com, or alzauthors.com. And I'm also on LinkedIn. Um, please reach out if there's anything we can do to help or information we can help guide you through, or if you're interested in being on our show and you have a resource or a story that you think can help support other families going through a caregiving journey, we are more than happy to meet and talk with you.

Speaker 3 54:48

Thanks so much for today, Lance.

Speaker 54:50

My pleasure. Thank you, Alison.

Speaker 3 54:52

Okay, take care.

Speaker 54:53

Bye-bye.

Speaker 3 55:00

As we wrap up, I hope the chuckles from Lance's joke stay with you and bring a bit of brightness to a topic that can at times feel heavy for many caregivers. Lance's journey, from stepping in to help his dad for a few weeks after falling on black ice, to becoming his caregiver for nearly three years highlights how quickly life can shift and how vital it is to know what resources are available and how to access them. Lance's experience didn't just shape him, it inspired a business dedicated to helping and supporting others. We underscored the importance of proactive decision making, and as Lance shared, planning conversations don't have to be doom and gloomy. They can be empowering, practical, and even connective. And with his recent acquisition of Alz authors, he is expanding access to a rich hub of dementia-related books, resources, and guidance for families everywhere. Thank you for joining this discussion. My hope is that it sparks the conversations and connections that make caregiving feel a little lighter and a lot more supported. And thank you to Lance for bringing such positive energy to the podcast and the caregiving community. To contact Lance, you can reach him at Lanceaslatton.com, allhomecare matters.com, alzauthors.com, or through LinkedIn. If you enjoyed today's episode, and I hope you did, please share it with your friends, especially those navigating a caregiving journey. And if you don't want to miss future episodes, be sure to subscribe to the Island Treasures podcast. See you next episode.