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Summary
In this episode of CareLab, hosts Emilia Bourland and Brandy Archie engage in an insightful discussion with Mim Senft, co-founder and CEO of MotivityCare. The conversation explores challenges faced by caregivers, the importance of practical solutions for caregiving, and how innovative tools can alleviate stress. Mim shares her personal caregiving experiences, highlighting the need for preparation, support networks, and technology to manage the complexities of caregiving effectively.
Key Takeaway
- Self-Care for Caregivers: Simple practices like breathing exercises, mindfulness, and physical movement can help caregivers manage stress and improve their mental well-being.
- Impact of Caregiving on Women’s Careers: Taking breaks for caregiving can significantly reduce lifetime earnings, retirement savings, and career advancement opportunities, particularly for women.
- Value of Support Networks: Building strong personal and professional support networks can help caregivers navigate challenges and make informed decisions.
- MotivityCare’s Mission: The company simplifies caregiving by offering personalized resources, secure document storage, and expert guidance, ensuring caregivers can focus on their loved ones rather than logistics.
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Proactive Caregiving: Early preparation, such as organizing critical documents and creating care plans, reduces stress and enhances peace of mind during crises.
Transcript
Emilia Bourland
Hey everyone, welcome to Care Lab.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Welcome to Care Lab, it's Care Lab Day. I'm so excited to be here today with Amelia, of course, but we've got a special guest today and we've got Mim Senft. So welcome to Care Lab. I'm so glad that we're here today with Amelia, of course, my fearless co-host and Mem Senft. And I'm gonna do your intro first and then we're gonna do
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Your icebreaker question, so I hope you're ready for that. But let me tell the people who you are. Menft is the co-founder and the CEO of Motivity Care. It's a company that takes the complexity out of caregiving management. And she has 25 plus years of corporate experience, although it doesn't look like it, in project management, benefits design, health and wellbeing, program strategy, and implementation. She also had oversight of strategy under Optum Umbrella.
Mim Senft
Bring it on.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
for the Goldman Sachs Wellness Program and has worked for more than 70 US and international clients. She also holds certification in group benefits, worksite wellness and property and casualty insurance. She's also a co-author of academic chapter that's been viewed over 2,400 times on workplace health and wellbeing. And she has served on the board of directors in the National Wellness Institute. And as an advisory board member on the Women's Business Collaborative, so she has a ton of experience in the workplace.
And part of the reason that we wanted her to be on the show is because of our experience as a caregiver and how that led her to create Motivity Care. But let us not get ahead of ourselves because we got to do our icebreaker question first. So I want to know, since all of us have been caregivers in some form or fashion, what is, when you're having a tough day, because those happen often, what's one go-to strategy that works for you?
Emilia Bourland
Ha ha ha!
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
in order to like switch your mood or make your dates just a little bit better. And then you get to start.
Mim Senft
That's a great question. And I think it's just so important. I try to physically move and that doesn't mean that you have to go out and do a run. It's just that as a caregiver, sometimes we're sitting, sitting, sitting in it physiologically. just know this. Like you can change your mindset if you physically get up. And if you can't, if I can't physically get up and walk for two minutes or stretch or do it, then I'm going to do a breathing exercise. And I also happen to be a certified yoga teacher. So
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mmm. Yeah.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
didn't
Mim Senft
Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
That's why she looks so young.
Mim Senft
So I'm a big believer in deep breathing that does bring down cortisol. There's real science behind this. So it's a simple, simple technique that if you just remember to do this, it can help bring down your stress level.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mm.
Yes.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah. And you know what? You don't even have to remember. I have this app on my phone that reminds me at certain times to do my breathing and it guides me through it and it's awesome. It only takes like 30 seconds.
Mim Senft
There you go.
Emilia Bourland
It is really incredible how just taking a few deep, slow breaths can absolutely reset your body. So like this thing that my kids and I do all the time, we do finger breathing where you like breathe up and down and up and down. it's, and my, my kids will literally, they'll, I don't have to prompt them to do it. Like if they are feeling stressed out or just a little overwhelmed, they'll sit there and they'll finger breathe on their own. And it's really helpful. And frankly, I do the same.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mim Senft
I'm familiar with, yeah, that's great.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Good strategy.
Emilia Bourland
It's a great strategy and like it's one you're doing the breath, but I also think the thing that's helpful about it is you're focused on a physical thing at the same time. So we're focusing, it's like a tiny mini thing. I think of what yoga does for us as well, which is like you become focused on your breath and the movement and it's so clarifying. It just really like brings everything down, right?
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
It's a mini mindfulness practice. it's really funny that you, cause I know other people, like I've told, like if you're in a stressful meeting with a doctor, right? Cause your mind is all over the place. What you just shared, you can do that under a table where nobody even sees it. So it's not even like, so I love that you brought that up Amelia. Thank you so much for sharing it. Cause I'm huge believer in what you just shared.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
I legitimately, I teach finger breathing to both professional non-medical caregivers and family caregivers as part of the training content at Higher Standards Caregiver Training. it's just, because listen, people, get frustrated. Providing care for another person can be very frustrating sometimes. We're all human, we all experience this range of emotions, but sometimes we have to get ahold of it too because we cannot.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
always lose it right in the middle of what we're doing. So like, it's a very quick way to just have a reset and then you can kind of move on with the thing. yeah. What was the original question?
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
What?
Mim Senft
Oh, what do we do? It was like, what are those little mini things that we can do as a caregiver when we can't necessarily get away or, you know, get in it? Because we know, I mean, we all go through this. You know, if you've been a caregiver, you know, there are just times when you can't get up. I get a little frustrated when I coming out of the employee benefits worksite wellness world for many years. I argue this all the time. Well, people need to do 10,000 steps and people need to do this or that. But when you're a caregiver.
Emilia Bourland
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah.
Mim Senft
You are so overwhelmed sometimes. I mean, we've all gone through this, right? And you just need to kind of reset. You need to do something that is, in my estimation, comforting and caring for yourself. And that doesn't mean, you aren't doing enough exercise. I just believe in the kindness to yourself. We've got to give ourselves a little bit more grace when we're going through the tough.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Ay, yes.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah. know, the other thing that I find really helpful personally in a lot of different situations is, is using music to really like reset my mood or modulate my mood. If, if I'm in one place and I need to get to another, music is a really fast way to get there and just say, okay, we're going to do away with all of this, all of these emotions that are really not helping me move forward through the situation right now. We're going to put something on that I know will
put me in a better place or help me feel motivated or whatever it is. Music is absolutely one of my main go-tos also.
Mim Senft
There's a lot of science behind that too, so yay. Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Well, I made a face because that was my answer. So you stole my answer. It's music. But let's see, if I come up with, if another one I would come up with is, I like, okay, my memory is not that great. And so I like to preload my phone reminders with helpful words of wisdom or scripture. And so then the reminder shows up at whatever time I said it was going to sign up automatically. And then I'm looking at my phone and I'm like, yeah.
Emilia Bourland
Sorry.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
And that's like one, one additional way that I used to try to like either change my mood or like keep it in the right direction. Keep my mind on the right things.
Mim Senft
Can I add one more little tiny one? I am a big believer in support networks. So having a caregiving buddy, I know that sounds kind of like, but somebody that you agree each other that like when I'm really at this point, know, it even just five minutes, hey, I'm really stressed out. Just need to hear your voice. Human connection is a huge thing. I, you know, and again, if you have a spiritual community, you know,
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
Of
Mim Senft
church, a synagogue or whatever, I think it's a great opportunity because they speak your care language. And I think sometimes we get very isolated. There's things we can do for ourselves personally, but I think sometimes we forget how much human connection supports our health and wellbeing and our mental health and wellbeing.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Absolutely. So, what you gonna say, Amelia?
Emilia Bourland
was just going to say, so like you are clearly very knowledgeable about a wide range of things. You have a lot of experience doing different things. I'm wondering how you got to be where you are right now in terms of like, how did you come to offer the kind of support and gain this knowledge that you have for caregivers?
Mim Senft
so it's, I don't have like a straight path career clearly as you could probably tell. but again, I have an insurance background. have a business background, HR, finance, like all of these things. So how does that play into caregiving? Right. Because like so many, I got thrown into it. And, so I'm a data girl. I really am. I mean, I've designed a lot of programs. I've looked at a lot of gender equity and diversity issues and looked at real data.
And so it's been a combination of my own experience. I'm going to, I mean, people go, no, how many times have you done this? And I said, I, yeah, I know, but, but it's also been a gift because I've experienced things different ways. So my, father had pancreatic cancer. I was the primary person for that. My sister-in-law had ALS. I was not primary, but very involved, like from a family perspective, my husband was in a hit and run accident and I yip.
And that one like turned my life upside down. We dealt with my stepdad who I was very close to during COVID end of life, bringing him home, figuring out how we were going to do that for him because that was what he wished for. You know, helping my elderly mother-in-law overseas and doing that through a completely different lens. And just seeing a completely different model, by the way, in terms of how we help aging people age better.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mm.
Emilia Bourland
Mmm.
Mim Senft
and age more securely. And right now, literally last weekend, I got the call and the oldest in my family I am and of all my cousins. And so I do have that kind of care gene, but it was we have a family member who's older, never married, no kids. And now we've started to move it forward. So, you know, making sure her legal documents are in place, decluttering so that, you know, we can make it safer. And the family's going, she's got to go into a place. Well, here's the deal.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
you
Mim Senft
in caregiving. So often we want to jump in and do what's right for somebody or what we think is right for them. But these aren't children. And so if it is somebody that has a sound mind, you have got to listen to them. If you're a caregiver, and that can be so frustrating when you're trying to balance your home and your job and like, oh my gosh, if you just listen to me, we can get this done. But sometimes that backfires on you. And so I, you know, we we're down, we're now putting in this whole process and we are working. I'm going to say it.
We're working with as Sammy and with key partners because it's coming in and doing all of these things like, you know, and this ecosystem. So I've learned a lot personally. I've also looked at the data at how this is impacting businesses. Because most of the people making caregiving decisions are in the workplace and it impacts women working women at a much higher level. That's just a fact. It's not a discrimination thing. It's just a reality.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
Mim Senft
But I think the other thing that businesses and business owners need to understand is what this means to their bottom line and where this is going. We have 70 million baby boomers in this country who's caring for them. And the last thing I'll share with you, because I think this is really important to understand, is that the number one financial risk for millennial workers is cost of care for their parents. Number one.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mmm.
Emilia Bourland
Wow.
Mim Senft
going through their 401ks, their parents don't have enough. So this is why this care discussion is so important. Like what are the component pieces that we need to have in place? And because I've lived this, this gets back to your original question. I have sat next to my husband's hospital bed trying to manage my business, my family, and four sets of doctors and not knowing if he was gonna recover or not.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
You know, I had to manage my consulting at the time, my consulting business and giving morphine, no joke, to my stepdad because it was COVID and they didn't have enough caregivers. So this is a lived experience for me and I am mission driven. My company is mission driven on making this better. And my little secret thing, I want to keep more caregivers in the workplace, keep them financially stable, make it easier for them. You know, and of course, you
Obviously we work with retirees, we work with everybody just like you guys do too. But I think the real pain point here in our society that we have to do more conversation around is how many working people are now being thrown into caregiving and not getting the right support.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
And this has like a cascading effect, right? You were talking about how it hurts the bottom line of businesses, which is the only way that things get done in America because we have a capitalist society, right? But in addition, there's a lot of data, I'm sure you know way better than me, about how working women either don't advance in their careers at the rate that they would have normally because they had to take a break or slow down because of caregiving. And also they're at risk in their retirement because they're not making the money
that they were before or could have made throughout their career that would have led to the appropriate 401k that they need for their retirement, which means now their kids are gonna probably have to supplement some of their care. So can you talk a little bit more about how it impacts like the caregivers financially?
Mim Senft
absolutely. You know, I'm super passionate about this. So the answer is yes. So, you know, I've done joint presentations with Heather Ettinger, who used to be in the steering committee for Hightower Financial Advisors. They're a national advisory, financial advisory company with 124 plus offices, right? So they know their stuff. And they went out and did this survey specifically around this issue. So when a woman takes a caregiving break,
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
you
Mim Senft
on average, you will leave between $300,000 $800,000 on the table over the course of your career. So that's number one. So if you take a break for kids and then you take it for your parents, that is a huge difference in terms of what you're going to be financially be able to save compared to somebody who is not, kind of push into that piece of it. Then we get the second issue around this, that if you take a caregiving break as well, really,
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
male or female. If you're over the age of 50, the chances of you ever getting a job where you make the same money that you made before you took that caregiving break is almost zero. You haven't put into social security. You may have tapped into your 401k and I have had people walk up to me at conferences and tell me they have gone through their entire 401k savings, entire 401k savings at 50, 55 and starting all over again. They will never
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
retire. And so this gets back to what you were saying, Brandy. Like so many businesses focus on you've got to save for retirement, but how many are talking about this care issue?
first through the gender lens and how it really is the broken rung piece versus the glass ceiling piece. And again, clear data to show that. But also, if we're really trying to keep people financially stable, there just needs to be a bigger conversation around this.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
So can you talk a little bit about how your company helps with those kinds of issues? that's a big, hairy, difficult problem to solve.
Mim Senft
Yep. So, yeah, so right. And again, it's challenging, right? How do you simplify a message about a very complex thing?
that we are taking the complexity out of. I mean, that's really what the thing is. So here's what I'm going to simply put. There are medical issues, there are legal issues, there are financial issues, there are personal considerations, there are diversity considerations in caregiving, there are spiritual or religious considerations. And too often that caregiver, right, gets thrown into this without any expertise. And suddenly they're trying to deal with a Medicare thing and, I've got to get an aid in, what about food service?
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
That's super unique to each person. Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah.
Mim Senft
Can mom or dad or my loved one age at home or not? Or maybe I'm going through a care situation. I'm getting major shoulder surgery, but I'm not married and I don't have a support system around me. Or there is an accident or I'm, I mean, I'm going to be very timely here, but look at what, you know, as of this recording, this is right around the time of the California fires. We don't think of those as being care situations, but.
What would you do if your loved one is in a wheelchair and you suddenly had to evacuate?
You know, exactly. And where are all the key documents that even if, God forbid, you lose your home, you need this documentation information in order to get back on your feet. And, you know, I'm going to give you a little, this is one of things I always tell people, you've got to make sure that your documents, if you do have them in paper form, that it is also waterproof, not just fireproof.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Have you thought about that?
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
because people make this mistake all, and that's just a really simple thing. I personally think it should be digitized. So the way we help is we do two things. First and foremost, we've built out a network of resources, which includes Ask Sammy, because we believe that you should always get connected to the best resources that meets your budget, your insurance needs. If you have to go out and research all of this on your own, this becomes a huge time suck. Plus, you don't have the expertise.
Like I'm not a plumber. Like I could read all I want about plumbing and go out and do the research, but that's not the same as having like 10, 15 years of experience as a plumber. Right. So what our goal is, is to say, you call us, you tell us what the situation is and whether it is help with appointments or manage or getting into a big conversation with a financial advisor or getting in the face of an insurance person or getting us to the right resource for whatever it is, or can we decide,
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
doing it. Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
whether living at home or going into a particular type of retirement community is best for us, it doesn't matter what you call us for. So this simplifies, right? One phone call, we help you get to the right resource. And then we can potentially act as your chief of staff, which we've done many times. So somebody might call us, they've gone through the emergency, it's the crisis, they're going into a skilled nursing facility, the hospital hands you that list of 40 options, and you're going, what the heck do I do?
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
So this is a real clear example, and we've done this multiple times. You pay us to do the list, we narrow all that down for you. We don't just give you the names. This is what I think really makes a difference. We're gonna tell you, this takes your insurance. This is what the staffing to patient ratio really is. There is both short and long term. This is how far away it is from the primary person who's gonna visit them. We give you much more information so that you can quickly make the right decision versus you having to go vet.
And this is true for all of whatever resource it is. This now reduces the time and it reduces the risk because it matches your specific needs. I have a real problem. Look, I'm not anti-AI. I'm not. But I believe that too often we think that we're going to spit out a list. And now that working person is going to do what? How are they going to vet them?
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Right.
Mim Senft
Right? You know, and I think this is the example, like our Medicare expert speaks nationally. He has more than 6,000 clients. and you know, Mark, the owner of this company has literally been to my home. we've built this network in a very different way because over the decades of years of my own experiences, I've learned that if you want to get problems solved quickly, top people have to be talking to top people. I mean, it's just, I wish that wasn't true, but it is.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
Mim Senft
It's not a fair world. And so we're here to be in your corner to do that. We marry that with the tech platform, which allows you to keep every piece of documentation information securely. For those of you that might know tech security, we have SOC 2 level 2 cert. That's what any global bank has, seriously. And we meet EU, Canadian, US, and California data security standards. This is not a Google Docs. It allows you to share a piece of
of information.
Just that specific piece of information, a portion of information, or the entire platform. You and a loved one, if you're sharing care, can see and edit everything, but then you might have an aide come in. So you only give them access to view certain information. Maybe you're getting a will updated, or you're putting a trust in place, or you're going through the Medicaid application process, whatever it is. You can permission the attorney to upload
down back and forth in this platform. And I can tell you, we have attorney groups that are now working with us because A, the level of security, B, ease of use. They don't get a stack of papers anymore. Like it makes it super, super simple. And then the app also allows you to photograph. And I know we're on a podcast, so it's hard to say this, but imagine instead of you typing in all this information, did this, literally did this with my aunt last weekend.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
pulled out her Medicare cards, both the major one and her supplemental plan and our expert and this and her driver's license and the credit card that she uses most of the time and all this other information in less than 30 minutes. We just set it up. Click, click, click, click, click, click. My cousin, who is also sharing care responsibilities, who lives in Vermont. My aunt lives in Virginia. She's now permission. She now has access to that. That's how easy this is. And
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
So it doesn't matter where we are if we get that emergency call from my aunt, I have the information that I need. And she gets to choose who she wants to share it with. So it's the network of resources married with the technology that allows you to securely have what you need when you need it. And I think that's what makes us very different. You're not ready to go find a file. Yeah, I'm in the middle of a meeting or I'm in a business call. I've heard this, right? I have everything. Where is it?
in a folder. Do you take that on vacation with you? bet no. Right. We want people to have that security around them. And yes, I am on my own platform. Yes, my husband is on my own platform. Yes, my family members. You know, I mean, that was my first thing as I want that piece of mine personally. It doesn't have to take a lot of time. It doesn't have to cost a lot.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
You
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
But what is that peace of mind worth it to you?
Emilia Bourland
Yeah, when I think about, you know, every one of us has those times when you wake up at like 2 a.m. in the middle of the night and you're like in panic about something. And I have definitely had those moments when I'm like, wait, did I file this or wait, where's this thing that I probably actually have somewhere and I know where it is, but I'm panicking about it, right? Like to wake up at that time and be like, oh, wait, no, everything is actually right where it needs to be. Anyone can get access to it. It can't.
If something happens to my home, this is gonna be okay. If something happens to me when I'm not in the country or somewhere else, like this is gonna be okay because I'll still have those documents. There is a great peace of mind that comes along with that as well as I think a sense of control over being able to make sure that the right people have what they need if they need to step in and help you out in certain situations.
Mim Senft
Yeah, my cousin, my cousin's husband, and this happened before, I mean, again, so it's real story, know, went over with his son and they were in Europe and he had an unexpected accident, broke his ribs like really bad. Okay, where's your information?
Right, not just your insurance information, but like, are you going to remember what your blood type is or the person with you if you can't speak for yourself? What meds are you on? You know, is there any specific allergies that have to come up? Is English your primary language? Super important in an emergency situation because, you know, my husband sounds like me, but English is not his mother tongue. And so how is a hospital ER team going to know that? And this is
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
vital in those situations because you will revert to your mother tongue. And so you may be reacting differently because they just don't know that. So I'm giving a very specific example. And why again, I think it's so important in a crisis. And let's be honest, I don't care how good, how smart you are. When I get that phone call about my husband being in a hit and run accident, mean, literally,
The phone call went, we have him here. I was 60 miles away. He's in Manhattan. I'm 60 miles Northwest. So this is a Friday in the middle of the summer. So you can just imagine what the traffic's like getting into New York City on a Friday afternoon, right? So I get this phone call and it goes from, we have him here. We're volume. And can I talk to him? Nope, can't talk. How fast can you get here? I'm like, how fast can I get there? Yeah, we're probably taking him into surgery. Please keep your phone on.
So even given my background, I'm human like everybody else. I'm thinking, my God, what am I going to walk into trying to process all this stuff? Now this goes back to the mindfulness thing that we talked about.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
You're not thinking about, you're not thinking about, well, I'd better make sure and get all of the documentation that I need in order before I go to the hospital. Yeah.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
before I drive down there, yeah.
Mim Senft
Right. Did I remember his blood type? Did I remember to tell them any of these things that he's allergic to? Nope. The one thing I will say about mindfulness is that before I ran out the door, I actually stopped myself. That was like, I think, you know, is that saying, are you in the right state of mind to get in a car and drive into Manhattan on a super busy day? Is this just putting me at more jeopardy and making this even worse? And so, um,
I am very grateful to have some wonderful friends and called a friend up and said, there any, yep, I'll be there in 15 minutes. In the car, went down there. So it's another example to me of thinking about, and especially because of where caregivers, right? And I do think this is true for most, maybe I'm speaking for too many women, but I can speak for myself. I have to do it. Well, of course, like I'm a caregiver, right? Right, I should be able to handle this all myself.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
my role this is yeah
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mim Senft
Give yourself some grace. It is overwhelming. We don't know everything. Know that there are people that you can reach out to, and particularly in these times, having that extra backup, having that person stand beside you who is not in same emotional state can make a huge difference in care decisions. Help you see things and be that support network that you need. And it can be virtual too. I mean, that's totally fine.
But again, it goes back to why I don't believe that the first phone call that you make to us should ever be a bot, ever. If you are going through, you just got a cancer diagnosis, you're a family member or early Alzheimer's or it's an accident, I believe you should talk to a person.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah. Yeah, that's so important. And also like, I'm barely keeping my own life together. So then to think that I can just like take over somebody else's life and like keep their life running too, is like a lot. And you know, I know like we talk about things from a caregiving perspective and maybe it's for somebody else. Like you talked about your mom and your aunt and like putting their information in so you're prepared as things change. But I'm also thinking about it as far as like,
Emilia Bourland
Hahaha
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
My husband's often asked I like manage the paperwork and the stuff of the house, right? And so that's all on my computer. I know how to access it All he needs to do is remember my password But in a moment of trouble when I'm probably not available is why he'd be accessing it Is he gonna remember that where's that information gonna be yet? Even if I write the password down and put it somewhere is he gonna remember where it's at? But he's probably always gonna have his phone, you know, and so even just for like preparation and like
being preventative in any life, at any age stage, it makes a lot of sense to be able to have a safe, secure place for your things that are, that's accessible to the people who you would want to be helping you. I actually have a pretty big help network, but they don't have access to any of my stuff. You know, like they'd be very willing to do the things, but like how would they actually access it? You know?
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
Right. Exactly. How do they know that this is what your wishes are? And again, whether we are talking about somebody who's older and having conversations, you know, again, one of the big things I always encourage, even now, wherever you are in life, you know, and again, you know that I have an insurance background. So unfortunately, over my career, I have heard the worst of the worst. I really, really have. You know, the poor 25 year old that got hit by a cab, no joke, and a million dollar claim. Yes, it's few and far between. I get it.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yes.
Mim Senft
You know, and so there's, you know, it's, it's, you know, a smaller pool of people, but just like what we are seeing, right? Whether it is the hurricanes in Florida that we saw in 2024 or these fires or major tornado, you know, or a health crisis that happens or whatever. We've seen so much like, and yet look, all of us, right? I'll get to it. Doesn't seem that important, right? We do it. No, no, no, it's not, you know, I still got to feed the kids and I got to pay my bills and I got to do my job. I'll get to that at some point.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah, yeah, I was planning for that.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
I can't emphasize enough that a little bit of time, a little bit investment of time to do this, if it is you, it will make a world of difference for you and your loved ones. It really will. I think that, know, beyond the business case, I think for all of us that are caregivers, do we not want more time with the people that we love versus running around doing things for the people we love? How many conversations get missed out on? And you can never get those back.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
That's more my spiritual side of this. Having done it, having sat next to, having listened to those conversations in the last weeks, days, hours of people's lives. And that's a hard thing for people to talk about. But I promise you that knowing how to have those conversations, having the time will be one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and your loved ones. Plus practically the financial security piece.
Um, fraud against seniors is increasing at an incredible rate. And this is something else we have in our network, by the way. So we have somebody who is a cyber security expert has done this globally. This is not just anybody. Um, our Medicare claims person has been interviewed by consumer reports five times. So when I say we've built a network and, yeah, and I know I'm plugging, you know, to a certain point, see, mean, but this is what we do. Brandy knows, like we got to know each other.
and had a conversation and we did this. so I look at this network as a network of care and really the network that is there to put arms around people and their families and beyond that businesses to say, if you care about your employees, at least 25 to 30 % of your workforce right now are working caregivers to adults and aging adults. That's AARP data.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
What are you doing to them? It is costing you in terms of time. It is costing them. So you can do these mindfulness stress programs after years of designing all this stuff. My personal feeling is we have to get to root causes. You can keep going stuff on plates, but does that if the plate is, who cares how much money I'm sorry. And that's coming from a certified yoga teacher, right?
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yeah.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Definitely.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
We need to make it easier. so getting the right information, getting the right person who can go in there, getting somebody who can ethically help you design a financial care plan, help you think through what is the best way to do this, understand tax ins and outs. If you have annuities, like this gets real complicated, real fast. And again, it goes back to, if you have one phone call,
and you actually have a point person for this, this is what allows you to now be able to navigate and get the right information for you and your family. And it should be specific to you. This is the other thing. There is no one size fits all. One care situation is one care situation.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Mm-mm.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Yep, totally. And people need answers for like their specific life situation. so Googling doesn't really help you with that, right? It gives you general information that might apply and may or not apply, but like there's no substitute for having an expert be able to help with your unique situation and, and to validate that this is a unique situation and here's the things that we can put in place to try to help you. So I'm really grateful that you decided to come on a podcast with us today and share it.
Emilia Bourland
Yes, thank you so much.
Mim Senft
Thank you. Thank you. just, am honored to be here. Thank you to both of you for the amazing work you do in this space. And, you know, I believe in more good together. I believe in the power of collaborative competition. Again, I'm not a socialist. We all have to build businesses, but let's build businesses for good. And what could be better than doing this and helping working caregivers stay in the workplace, help those that are at home and struggling.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Mim Senft
get the right resources, protect their financial stability. We can build businesses, better businesses. We can build better communities. This is an issue that is only gonna grow. So if you think you're gonna be a caregiver, now's the time to start thinking about it. We're all here for you in a crisis. But truthfully, the more you can do a little advanced planning, the less dramatic the crisis is gonna be.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Better. Yep.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah. So for listeners right now, where can they find out more about you, your services, your company getting connected?
Mim Senft
So you can email us at info at MotivityCare.com. We make it really easy. So you can go on our website. You know, there's contact information there. Please feel free to reach out to us. We also have educational series because we're very, very big on people getting educated. So there is, if you just want to know the difference between a will and a trust or whatever, I invite you to go to our YouTube channel and connect with us there.
You know, and we do individual, like if we were for our corporate clients, we also do ongoing education beyond the service that we provide. We're really on a mission to make it better. But, or if you have a great story to share, please, you know, reach out because we love to share like, like this podcast. We also love to do that. The more we can learn with the more, you know, solutions you have, the better we can make it for all of us.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
True. Well, listener, if you haven't made it to the end of this episode, we really appreciate you. so share the love by downloading the episode so you can listen to it anytime. Like and subscribe and on all the platforms and ones that you like to use and share with a friend so that they know what's going on. Because it really helps us to be able to get the word out to more people who could really benefit from this unique level of education that we're trying to provide to you for free on CareLab. So thanks and we will see y'all next week.
Emilia Bourland
right here on CareLab. Bye.
Brandy Archie, OTD, OTR/L
Bye.
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