0:21

Hi there, my name is Sherri Lund

0:21

and you're at the Probate Podcast.

0:24

My guest today is Mike Houston. He is the, he is at Prevere at Northgate,

0:26

a memory care community in North Houston.

0:35

And we're going to be talking today about

0:35

what it's like when families go to seek

0:38

out care and what to look for when they

0:38

visit a community for their loved one.

0:43

Before I get to that, let me tell

0:43

you a little bit about the podcast.

0:46

The podcast was started and is

0:46

sponsored by Willow Wood Solutions.

0:50

It's a company that I founded to help

0:50

families that are going through probate.

0:54

And it wasn't long before I figured out

0:54

that really the issues, the challenges

0:59

that families face start way before

0:59

probate in the senior transition

1:03

period and in the lack of planning. And so we talk about estate planning,

1:05

we talk about senior transitions and

1:09

downsizing and grief and all kinds of

1:09

topics related to this end of life season.

1:14

It's a hard Season and so

1:14

I want to educate people.

1:17

I want to demystify the process. I want to start the conversations so

1:19

that families will start to make plans

1:23

and have those conversations too. Mike and I agree that, we're here for you.

1:28

And so we're doing what we can

1:28

to educate you so that you can

1:31

make a more informed decision. Grab your pen and paper your

1:33

favorite beverage because you're

1:36

going to want to take notes. Mike's going to talk about some really

1:38

important things and give you some

1:41

tips that you can use now or in the

1:41

future, if you need someone like Mike,

1:45

so Mike Houston, thank you so much

1:45

for sharing your day with me today.

1:50

Hello, Sherri. Thank you for having me. What a delight.

1:53

Yeah, let me tell you a

1:53

little bit about Mike.

1:56

Mike is the director of sales and

1:56

marketing for memory care community

2:00

in North Houston called Proveer

2:00

at North Cape for over 20 years.

2:04

Mike has been in marketing and

2:04

administrative roles for various health

2:07

care agencies in the Houston area.

2:10

In addition to his work with senior

2:10

living and memory care, Mike's experience

2:14

includes home health and hospice. Mike's been in the healthcare

2:16

industry, and he's observed it closely.

2:20

He's seen a lot of changes. We're going to talk about some of that.

2:23

He's passionate about meeting

2:23

the needs of seniors and being

2:26

a resource to the community. Things like 19, the affordable act,

2:28

and many hurdles in the healthcare

2:33

industry and payers are just a few

2:33

of the obstacles that are facing

2:37

seniors and their families today. Mike helps families navigate these

2:39

challenges with his insights and

2:43

many connections in the community. On a personal note, Mike lives in the

2:46

Cypress Tombaugh area here in North

2:51

Houston and he has two sons, Zach and Sam.

2:55

Mike grew up in Alaska and came to

2:55

Texas to attend Texas Tech University

3:02

and ultimately graduated from Hardin

3:02

Simmons University in Abilene.

3:06

Before working in healthcare, He was

3:06

in student ministry and campus ministry

3:10

college ministry for about 15 years.

3:13

Mike's been around the block a few times. He loves helping people and he has

3:15

seen a lot of changes in this industry.

3:19

Again, Mike, welcome to the podcast. Thank you very much.

3:24

Yeah Mike, tell me about

3:24

you not work related just.

3:27

you as a person. What would you say?

3:30

What would describe you? Well, I grew up in the one of the greatest

3:31

times in the history of the world and the

3:36

greatest country and in the Bible belt.

3:39

Lived in West Texas, East New

3:39

Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, then

3:43

fifth grade moved to Alaska. My dad was a part of starting

3:44

the trans Alaska pipeline.

3:48

And we went up early and

3:48

then about a year later.

3:52

So in Valdez, Alaska, he grew He was

3:52

a part of that startup and it was

3:58

just an incredible time to be alive.

4:00

And the world was in a cold war and

4:00

going through a lot of problems.

4:06

And then we had some of the

4:06

greatest days of our lives and

4:10

I was able to live through that. And also, growing up in the church,

4:11

it was a golden age of evangelism

4:18

and teaching and great movements.

4:21

And then coming to Texas to go to college,

4:21

I experienced a desert storm in my life.

4:28

Where things changed and I really

4:28

didn't know how to deal with it.

4:32

And I turned to the Lord and

4:32

he called me to ministry, kind

4:35

of pick me up, brush me off. And eventually after about

4:37

15 years of ministry, my wife

4:41

and I, we moved to Houston. She was a nurse and my mom's a nurse

4:43

and I didn't really know what to do.

4:48

After at youth ministry, you

4:48

kind of either become a pastor.

4:53

Or, you do something else and

4:53

I, and that wasn't for me.

4:57

I was able to get into healthcare,

4:57

doing marketing and administrative

5:00

roles and been in Houston for over 20

5:00

years and just seen a lot of changes,

5:07

some for good some not so good. And so I'm here with the minister's

5:09

heart, wanting to help people

5:13

find resources and solve problems.

5:15

I see a huge need for that. And there's a lot of questions, a lot

5:17

of concerns and a lot of people that

5:22

haven't really thought about it too much.

5:24

And some incidents happened and all

5:24

of a sudden now they need answers.

5:29

And so. that's what I find myself doing.

5:32

Yeah. Yeah. And that's why I'm so glad

5:33

to have you here today. So what brought you into the health?

5:37

Was there a person that pointed you

5:37

in the direction of health care?

5:40

You mentioned your wife and your mom. Was it their nursing background

5:42

or was it something related to

5:45

senior health in particular? Yeah I didn't really know

5:48

what to do after ministry.

5:51

My degree was in applied theology

5:51

and I thought maybe that was

5:55

going to be my whole career. And then it became obvious that

5:57

wasn't where we were headed together.

6:04

I didn't know what to do. I had a couple of little jobs worked

6:05

for visible changes for a year or so.

6:12

And I don't even have hair. So I was like, well, this

6:13

isn't right probably, but

6:16

learn some cool things there. And then was able to apply that

6:19

when one day we went to a Christmas

6:22

dinner with my wife's home health

6:22

company and the administrator is

6:27

like, you should come work for us.

6:29

And she was real sweet. Her name was Maryland and is Maryland.

6:33

And I, the rest is history.

6:35

I learned and I followed some really

6:35

good people and did really well at first.

6:41

And so I thought it was me and my

6:41

wife was the intake coordinator.

6:46

That made a big difference.

6:48

And ever since then, I've just been

6:48

learning the ins and outs of health

6:52

care and there's some real needs. And people in the baby boomers are

6:54

entering 65 or older, about 10, 000 people

7:00

in America a day are turning 65 and older

7:00

and next for the next five, 10 years.

7:06

So it's a big pipeline of

7:06

people and they need healthcare.

7:11

So in the bio that I read, I mentioned

7:11

that you've been in this for 20 years

7:16

and you've seen a lot of changes. Mike, talk a little bit about some

7:18

of the changes you've seen from your

7:21

perspective, which covers a lot, hospice,

7:21

home health, senior memory care, like,

7:27

I can't imagine what you haven't done. You've got insights into the family

7:29

and what they need, but also from the

7:33

inside of the facilities themselves.

7:36

What are some changes that you

7:36

have noticed that you think

7:38

are important to think about? Well, one that is often

7:40

overlooked is family dynamics.

7:43

It used to be when I was a kid and

7:43

before that, the family kind of took

7:48

care of the grandparents and the

7:48

great grandparents, and they imparted

7:52

love and wisdom to the family. And now that we have the husband and the

7:55

wife both working full time jobs and kids.

8:02

There, there's a different dynamic

8:02

and how the elderly age, either at

8:09

home or at a facility or a community

8:09

it, it's changed a little bit.

8:15

So there's less community

8:15

and a little more.

8:20

that we're letting someone else

8:20

do the care, whether it's a

8:24

caregiver or some kind of facility.

8:27

There's, that's one of the changes. Another change happened for

8:29

pretty recently and it was pretty

8:33

dramatic and that was COVID.

8:36

Right. COVID hit, it changed our mindset

8:36

about being around other people and how

8:41

comfortable we are with our loved one.

8:44

Do we put them here where

8:44

they could catch COVID?

8:46

You know, And so it just made us more

8:46

afraid of being in groups of people.

8:51

The government and the

8:51

finance piece of it changed.

8:55

There's really a power grab

8:55

because there's so much money in

8:58

healthcare and the baby boomers

8:58

have by and large a lot of money.

9:03

And so things have been changed,

9:03

like, what's called accountable

9:07

care organizations or ACOs.

9:09

And that's the government and

9:09

Medicare saying, listen, we

9:13

really don't know how to fix this. You as a hospital system, as doctors

9:15

come up with a group of people that you

9:20

do business with, and y'all show us that

9:20

you can save money and cut costs and

9:26

do good care and have good outcomes.

9:28

All of that put together. just makes things more expensive.

9:33

It gives the power and the control to the

9:33

hospitals and to position groups, they

9:39

have the ability to refer to each other

9:39

and get compensation for those referrals.

9:44

Doctors are working twice as hard

9:44

to make half as much as they used

9:48

to, and therefore, they have to

9:48

either become entrepreneurs or find

9:53

another way to to make the money

9:53

that they went to school to make.

9:57

And even though it's not all doctors in

9:57

all hospitals about money quite a big

10:02

part of the way things are designed is

10:02

to make money and to keep money in house.

10:07

For example, the hospital used to just

10:07

do er, acute care, and then send them to

10:13

a, a, Long term, uh, acute care facility

10:13

or a nursing home that now they are

10:20

buying those homes and buying those home

10:20

health and hospice companies and x rays

10:26

and labs and pharmacies so that they

10:26

can have all that money for themselves.

10:30

And so it hurts the little

10:30

guy that's trying to compete

10:34

and it also drives up cost.

10:36

There's been some rules and regulation

10:36

changes for post acute care companies

10:42

that have made it harder to do a good

10:42

job, to pay well, to compete in the

10:47

market, especially the Houston market-

10:47

it's very competitive- but there are

10:52

good people like yourself, Sherri, that

10:52

are out there that say, you know what,

10:56

let's solve some of these problems,

10:56

let's make information easier to get.

11:00

Let's be a resource to people,

11:00

even though I don't do something,

11:04

I know someone who does. . . I belong to a networking group

11:05

called The Net and it's North

11:10

Houston healthcare professionals.

11:12

And we are just a big resource. We refer to one another.

11:15

We someone ask us a question, we

11:15

say, no, maybe I don't do that,

11:19

but I know that a person who does,

11:19

and we give that information away.

11:23

Yeah. And, you know, you mentioned COVID

11:23

19 and how that's impacted things.

11:27

Also, it really emphasized how

11:27

lonely, how much we need people.

11:32

What can we do to allow us to still

11:32

interact, especially our seniors

11:37

and and how much they needed

11:37

that for their own mental health.

11:40

I remember seeing those on the news where

11:40

the kids would be outside the window

11:44

and they would be waving and holding

11:44

up signs or touching the glass, and how

11:48

heartwarming that was and how meaningful

11:48

it was to that person on the other side.

11:52

We learned a lot about mental health

11:52

in through that COVID 19 thing.

11:57

And I think and I think that's certainly

11:57

applied to the senior industry.

12:00

So speaking about mental health,

12:00

when families come to you, it's

12:04

got to take a lot of for them to

12:04

make the decision, okay, I mean,

12:09

you don't just do it on a whim. You don't just go visit a

12:11

memory care community on a whim.

12:14

Right? So something has been

12:15

leading up to this point.

12:17

And now they finally decided. Okay. Today's the day.

12:21

I'm going to go talk to Mike at Proveer.

12:24

What are some of the family's

12:24

concerns when they come to see you?

12:27

What are some questions

12:27

that you hear a lot?

12:30

Well, for memory care in general,

12:30

there's a couple of things.

12:34

1 is usually there's some kind of event

12:34

like a fall or a heart attack or stroke.

12:40

That's happened. And the family members gone from

12:42

being just fine at home or just

12:46

fine as a caregiver for his or

12:46

her spouse to needing to be in a

12:52

secured memory care environment.

12:56

Sometimes, and a lot of times the

12:56

family's just beside themselves,

13:01

not knowing what to do, not have

13:01

thought really much about planning.

13:04

And then there's the person the family

13:04

that has slowly seen changes and has

13:10

prepared themselves somewhat for it.

13:12

And with Proveer at Northgate, we're a

13:12

luxury, private pay, memory care assisted

13:19

living, where we take care of the

13:19

residents full needs, whatever those are.

13:24

And not everybody can afford a

13:24

place like Proveer and there's

13:29

a lot of places like that. So, What usually happens is they

13:30

get on the Internet, the sons

13:33

or the daughters or the spouse. And they're just putting in memory

13:35

care, North Houston, and trying

13:39

to figure out who can they trust

13:39

to walk them through the process.

13:44

You're one of those people and they're

13:44

you're really good at what you do.

13:48

So there are good people out there,

13:48

but it is hard to find sometimes.

13:53

And so, when you have that

13:53

discussion there, you're right.

13:57

There's this old mindset of the old

13:57

convalescent homes that, we're just not

14:02

really well taken care of and almost like

14:02

a psychiatric ward, but that's, things

14:07

have changed, there's more personalized

14:07

care now, whether it's at home or in a

14:12

community like ours, or even long term

14:12

care in a skilled nursing facility,

14:16

there's better care overall people

14:16

are more trained on specific diagnoses

14:22

and how to, how to how to, engage in

14:22

a place for mom or caring dot com.

14:28

These are aggregators that help listen

14:28

to the family, what they can afford and

14:32

what their needs are and give them some

14:32

choices where they can go and shop.

14:37

So that's kind of the world

14:37

that we're living in now.

14:41

Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about the

14:42

activities and the things that you

14:46

offer at Proveer for the residents.

14:49

And that's a big question that

14:49

people want to hear: what are

14:52

they going to be doing here? Do they sit on the couch and watch TV?

14:55

That's a big issue at home. They're all over the place or

14:56

it's just hard to keep them safe.

15:02

we have a philosophy, it's called cherish.

15:05

And it's our owner and CEO he's

15:05

a nurse, also grew up in the

15:10

contracting construction business.

15:13

Put those together. Very caring, good man.

15:16

That has sought to bring some clarity

15:16

in the, into assisted living and memory

15:22

care where you're providing value. With, with memory care, dementia

15:24

residents, there's a certain environment

15:30

that they need to engage their mind.

15:32

Our cherished philosophy includes

15:32

redirecting when there's aggravation

15:37

or some kind of acting out.

15:40

We have to be, we have to teach people how

15:40

to do that, not to take things personal

15:44

but how to redirect when a family comes to

15:44

Proveer, they're given a form, it's called

15:50

a cherished form, and they fill it out. And it tells.

15:53

The life paints a picture of the

15:53

resident and their life story.

15:57

Some good things that there's some

15:57

happy moments they like to talk about.

16:00

A lot of times the old memory is pretty

16:00

good, but the short term memory is not

16:05

so good, so you can bring up people in

16:05

their life or stories, their cousin, their

16:10

brother, the time they went to Galveston.

16:13

These kinds of things trigger

16:13

happy thoughts and you can,

16:16

you have to learn to redirect. So that's part of our chair's program.

16:20

Also engaging is you don't stop living.

16:23

You still need friends. You still need to have your

16:25

personal opinions heard and your

16:29

preferences listened to, and in

16:29

the respect that's there, and we

16:34

do that through a lot of ways. We, we have a lot of activities.

16:38

If you see our activity counter

16:38

or miss Sandra, she does a great

16:41

job of just a variety of things.

16:43

We have our own gymnasium with

16:43

all kinds of games and drums

16:47

and yoga classes and music.

16:50

So we're doing that during the day,

16:50

where arts and crafts are a big deal.

16:55

That's where your mind is, can

16:55

still be creative and expressive.

16:59

And Um, There's. guests that come and bring security

17:00

dogs or just pets that are a lot of fun.

17:06

That we have two wolves that come and

17:06

they're big Husky wolves and there's

17:12

gentle as they can be And, and our

17:12

residents love to pet them and feed

17:16

them little biscuits and stuff. And then we have people who play music.

17:21

We have people, churches

17:21

that come and do services.

17:26

We have sensory areas all over

17:26

the building where they can go

17:29

and rock a baby or play with

17:29

locks or pretend they're at work.

17:34

I mean, there's all kinds of things that

17:34

engage the mind and keep that fresh.

17:40

Plus the friendships that they

17:40

make when they come to the

17:42

building, people like them.

17:45

People that are encouraging them to

17:45

come to meals and to come to activities.

17:50

We have a bus that we go to

17:50

Cracker Barrel or to Mexican food

17:54

or to the museum or the park. We have a beautiful place

17:56

in north central Houston.

17:58

It looks like you're in the country

17:58

here and there's walks that we can take.

18:02

There's a little lake that we can

18:02

walk around, of course, with staff.

18:05

But we do a lot of things and

18:05

family events where the family

18:09

comes and joins us for music and

18:09

wine and cheese or a guest speaker.

18:16

All kinds of things. And that really is our philosophy of care.

18:21

And I know there's other places that

18:21

have similar things, but for Proveer

18:26

that's certainly the remedy for families

18:26

feeling more comfortable about their

18:31

loved ones being in a secured environment.

18:35

I've got to say When I visited one of

18:35

the things, first things that I noticed..

18:38

The first time that I was there

18:38

been several times now, but but

18:41

it's well off of a busy street.

18:44

It's in a quiet secluded place.

18:47

It feels very safe and

18:47

peaceful back there.

18:49

And you look out the windows and it looks

18:49

like you're out in the country somewhere.

18:53

So you have to remind

18:53

yourself that this is Houston.

18:56

It's just where it's located. I think is a really nice place.

19:00

What do you do to help

19:00

the residents adapt?

19:03

You talked about some of the things

19:03

that they can do, but, those 1st, couple

19:06

of days, maybe the 1st week or 2 when

19:06

they might be feeling out of sorts.

19:10

What kind of things do you do? 1st of all, we have these memory sensory

19:12

boxes outside each room and the computer

19:18

screens as families, we encourage them to

19:18

send us photos of the family and things

19:23

that may resonate with them and they'll

19:23

rotate in the screen outside their room.

19:28

So it's a way to help find your room. When you're new and also to remember

19:31

your family there's also a kind

19:35

of a honeymoon period where you're

19:35

getting a little more attention.

19:39

You're getting invited to all the

19:39

activities to the meals where you're

19:44

getting introduced to other people and

19:44

it's a little bit of an overload, but.

19:50

They seem to like the

19:50

attention most people do.

19:54

And it's like, Oh, you know, and then

19:54

the family can relax and they've been

19:58

the focus of some of the aggression

19:58

and the acting out for a while.

20:03

And you, you just think. You know, This person

20:05

just really hates me now.

20:07

No, they don't. They're, you're the one person that

20:08

they can pour the confusion into

20:13

and some of the frustration into.

20:16

But when you come and stay with us

20:16

now, you're a welcome visitor and

20:21

you can go back to being the spouse

20:21

or the dad or the son or whatever

20:25

role you played with that individual.

20:28

And so, we spend time introducing

20:28

and it usually takes about two hours

20:34

on average for a resident to settle

20:34

down and go, okay, this is okay.

20:39

And then about two weeks to really start

20:39

feeling like, okay, this is my home

20:44

and stop asking, Where's my husband

20:44

or where's my stuff and to realize

20:48

that, okay, I'm safe and you see a

20:48

real settling down and an energy level

20:53

increase with all the stimulation,

20:53

all the engaging, all the activities.

20:57

and then we have the family events

20:57

where the family's encouraged to come

21:01

and take your loved one to dinner or to

21:01

take them home for a few hours or a day,

21:05

or you're welcome to do that anytime. You're welcome to come

21:07

and have meals with us.

21:10

You're welcome as the family member. You're welcome to come and

21:12

stay as long as you'd like.

21:15

And just be, you're

21:15

part of the family too.

21:17

So it's one of those environments

21:17

where you just change locations, and

21:22

then the relationship is enhanced with

21:22

the family now that they have a safe

21:26

environment, they're not wandering out

21:26

and getting lost and if you talk to some

21:31

of our families, they had some little

21:31

horror stories, and now that they've

21:34

come in, they're just so appreciative. Yeah.

21:38

Where can you talk about some

21:38

of the things that you do?

21:41

Certainly people come in with all

21:41

sorts of needs and diagnoses and

21:45

dietary restrictions or whatever.

21:47

What do y'all do to kind of coordinate

21:47

all of that and meet everybody's needs?

21:52

That's a good question. We have our own medical

21:53

directors named Dr.

21:55

George Valdez. He's one of the best in the

21:56

business with geriatric patients

22:00

and patients with dementia. He has a team of nurse practitioners

22:02

and they round their hair constantly.

22:07

And we encourage our families to

22:07

come on board with our physician

22:11

because they don't have to go out

22:11

every so often, but they can be

22:15

safely monitored inside the building.

22:18

One of the steps we take for a move

22:18

in is take our nurse health and

22:23

wellness director or our executive

22:23

director, who is an RN, Ms.

22:26

Mary is an RN, and we go to where the

22:26

resident is and we do an assessment.

22:32

And we get the clinicals from the doctor

22:32

in the hospital that the last visits and

22:37

we, keep track of that we do the pharmacy

22:37

piece for them with our caregivers and

22:43

our med techs we monitor things like

22:43

change in condition or aggravation.

22:48

We make sure that. They're drinking lots of water or

22:49

hydrating, so less likely to have a UTI.

22:54

We help, you know, with

22:54

incontinence, we help with

22:57

showering, we do laundry for them.

23:00

And most people, if they're able to

23:00

walk with a walker or wheelchair to

23:05

get around then they qualify to come.

23:09

Can you talk a little bit about

23:09

how memory care communities differ

23:13

from a regular assisted living?

23:16

Sure. Well, assisted living is just basically

23:17

a senior apartment complex and sometimes

23:22

there's younger people as young as 50.

23:25

They just need a little bit of assist. There will be caregivers and

23:27

maybe a nurse director that helps

23:30

make sure they take meds or.. Both memory care and assisted living

23:32

allow outside agencies like home

23:37

health or hospice to come in and be

23:37

that extra hands and feet and eyes for

23:42

the family and to administer things

23:42

like wound care, that kind of stuff.

23:45

But assisted living, you don't have to

23:45

have any particular diagnosis, you know.

23:51

It's almost like an apartment building. And then when you move to memory

23:53

care, there is a diagnosis for some

23:57

kind of dementia, and there is some

23:57

kind of a need to have that resident

24:02

stay in a secure environment so that

24:02

they're not wandering and getting lost

24:07

and getting themselves in danger. Right.

24:09

So that's basically the difference. Right.

24:12

So the security is the bigger

24:12

piece for the memory care.

24:16

That's great. And then and then I think that you guys

24:16

do your real particular, not particular,

24:20

maybe is the wrong word, but your.

24:22

Aware of keeping the memory, the

24:22

brain active and what you can do that.

24:27

But also what is sundown?

24:30

What do you call that? When sundowners syndrome?

24:32

Yes. Yes. So there's certain things that

24:33

might agitate someone with memory

24:37

care that might not be there

24:37

for an assisted living resident.

24:42

That's right. And, you know, really with people

24:43

with dementia, they do better when

24:47

they have some kind of structure in

24:47

their life you know, it just helps

24:50

them stay or feel maybe more secure.

24:55

I think so. Yeah. That's something we try to provide.

24:58

And then when there is agitation

24:58

or when they are getting sick, of

25:02

course we will take them to the

25:02

hospital or have the hospital come

25:06

get them and then bring them back.

25:09

We have psychiatrists that are

25:09

involved in some of our patients and

25:13

some of our patients just really are

25:13

fairly fairly normal in that they.

25:21

Have full conversations and it's just,

25:21

there's certain times where they, their

25:26

neurons are not firing like they should.

25:29

And they just need to be taken

25:29

care of during that time.

25:33

It takes, that takes a lot of

25:33

work and it's hard to do at home,

25:35

especially when you're going to work

25:35

and having other responsibilities.

25:41

It's, it can be very taxing. Yes, and I know some of the adult

25:43

kids that I have talked to and

25:47

spouses they can feel guilty. Like, they should be the responsible

25:49

1 and be able to do this.

25:52

But yet, they still have to go to

25:52

soccer practice and still have to

25:55

attend graduation ceremonies and. That's an important part of life, too.

26:00

But there's this pull between I need

26:00

to take care of mom or my spouse, and

26:05

I need to do this other thing, too.

26:07

And so I can just imagine the relief

26:07

that comes over someone when they

26:11

find a team player that can help

26:11

them with the responsibilities

26:16

that is so important to them. What about families that maybe don't live

26:18

close by or don't have the time to come?

26:24

Is there a way that they can keep

26:24

tabs on their family member or

26:27

stay in communication with you? Yeah, we have the ability to zoom call

26:29

families in or Give them their cell

26:33

phone and help, help them make that

26:33

call or if the family calls in, we

26:38

we have phones that are mobile that

26:38

they could have those conversations.

26:42

Yeah. Can you talk about the facility itself?

26:45

Like, I've been on a tour tell the

26:45

listeners about the facility or

26:50

the rooms, private, semi private

26:50

can spouses come together talk a

26:54

little bit about and the greenhouse.

26:57

That's right. We have a miniature greenhouse.

27:00

It's just a beautiful feature.

27:02

I actually have two of them, where

27:02

residents can come in and work with

27:06

plants and just feel that atmosphere.

27:08

That warm sun that's warmed up the room

27:08

and beautiful plants that are, there's

27:13

just a different atmosphere in that room.

27:15

And so it is one of the sensory features

27:15

that we have and it's a lot of fun.

27:20

Also, we have three courtyards that are

27:20

full of plants and birds that come in and

27:25

the setting areas and stuff that's growing

27:25

out there that we're keeping track of.

27:32

That's another exciting

27:32

thing about our building.

27:35

Our CEO came to this building,

27:35

took it over and replaced it.

27:38

repurposed it for memory care.

27:41

And so everything about the

27:41

building is intentional.

27:44

The carpet the different tiles, the

27:44

colors the patterns, those are all

27:50

things that have been researched and

27:50

proven to help engage the mind and keep

27:56

it soothed, a soothing spirit here.

27:59

And then the music going, always

27:59

have music going, cookies, baking.

28:04

So the smells, the sounds..

28:07

And then our chef she's from, kind of

28:07

from Louisiana, has that, without being

28:13

too spicy, just that country flair,

28:13

fried chicken and mashed potatoes and

28:18

we have all those things come together

28:18

to make a quality of life for someone

28:23

who, you felt like was declining now

28:23

they're maybe not declining so quickly,

28:30

or they've even rebound a little

28:30

bit just because of the environment.

28:34

Right, How do you I keep hearing

28:34

words like dignity and independence.

28:39

How do you promote that? Well, when we ask them for the cherished

28:42

stories, we want to put that in our

28:47

computer so that every staff member

28:47

can look up and learn each resident and

28:52

maybe some of those key topics or word

28:52

pictures to paint for them to remind

28:58

them, Hey, you used to be an engineer.

29:01

Tell me about some of the

29:01

favorite things that you created.

29:04

And we were able to use those

29:04

stories to remind them of their

29:07

lives and their loved ones. And so the memory boxes with the

29:09

pictures and the quality discussions

29:15

that our caregivers have and then, the

29:15

friendships that are made when they go

29:21

on a trip on our bus or a walk around

29:21

the building some are pushing others

29:26

in the wheelchair and they're holding

29:26

hands and it's a just a real sweet time.

29:32

Yeah, there's some maybe loud noises

29:32

that come out sometimes or things

29:37

that are a little concerning, but

29:37

that's somebody with dementia.

29:40

So that's part of it. And we don't get upset.

29:44

We just remind them it's all right.

29:48

And then we redirect and calm and

29:48

make people feel safe to be there.

29:54

Yeah. Can we talk a little bit about the cost?

29:58

I know that you said that

29:58

you guys are private pay.

30:01

What would be included? You don't need to give specific

30:02

costs because that will vary

30:05

with whatever's going on, what's

30:05

available and all of that.

30:09

But regarding the cost of

30:09

care, what's included in that?

30:12

You, You've got the real Everything,

30:12

Sherri, is in one cost at Proveer.

30:17

That way, Proveer even though we're

30:17

one of the nicest luxury environments.

30:22

for memory care in all of

30:22

Houston, not just North Houston.

30:26

Our pricing is on the more affordable

30:26

end and that's just because we

30:31

are growing still and that we're

30:31

still getting the word out.

30:35

We're fairly new. About four years in Houston,

30:36

but there's a lot of people

30:40

that do what we do in this area. And I think, it's really important.

30:44

And I haven't talked about this yet, but

30:44

the vetting process of people that you

30:48

bring onto your team and how you keep

30:48

them encouraged to do the right thing.

30:52

And we do a lot of training. We have a training called everybody's

30:54

a marketer, the power of wow.

30:58

And we tell wild stories and how it feels

30:58

to go to the barber or to to get to a

31:03

restaurant and be wowed and what that

31:03

looks like and what that feels like.

31:09

And we give incentives and we help train

31:09

all of our caregivers at whatever level.

31:16

Even our maintenance guy gets

31:16

in there and cooks his mexican

31:19

dinners and passes them out. And he's quite a guy and our

31:21

executive director, Mary, she's very,

31:26

very personal and she's

31:26

done this a long time.

31:28

She's an RN. And so she makes things fun and she's

31:30

just great to work for and it sets the

31:35

tone for the environment of caring.

31:38

You can be very talented, but if you don't

31:38

care, then you're no good to us here.

31:45

And then we talk about, Hey,

31:45

what's, what does a caregiver do?

31:50

Well, it's in the first

31:50

part of the word we care.

31:54

And so we have to hire people who care. And if they, they do a good

31:56

job interviewing and then they

31:58

don't really follow that up. We make short order of that and maybe

32:00

help them find another job somewhere else.

32:04

But here we can't afford to have

32:04

things fall through the cracks.

32:08

Right. Can you share one of the

32:09

wow stories from Proveer?

32:12

Is there a success story

32:12

that you can tell us about?

32:16

There's one that sticks

32:16

out and I'll be honest.

32:18

I use it a lot because it really

32:18

was spectacular how it all happened.

32:22

There's a young man who came to us over a

32:22

year ago and man, he had this scour on his

32:29

face and his heart was heavy and, tears in

32:29

his eyes at times talking about his mom.

32:34

And we said, you know what? Let's go to do an assessment.

32:37

Let's look at her and let's kind

32:37

of find out if she qualifies

32:41

for this level of care. He said, great.

32:44

She lives at this independent living

32:44

and we went there and we met with her.

32:49

She brought us out some food

32:49

and just was lovely to talk to.

32:53

And she didn't sound like

32:53

she had dementia at all.

32:56

Like the opposite. She'd been walking that day

32:57

and she was cooking for us.

33:00

I mean, she was just as

33:00

sharp as she could be.

33:03

Well, I went back to Dustin. I said, Dustin, I don't know, man.

33:06

I think that I don't

33:06

know if she qualifies.

33:09

She, he goes, Mike, the police found her..

33:13

In the helicopter, the hel wandering

33:13

about three miles that she lives.

33:20

And I'm I said, well, can't her

33:20

husband to kind of help take

33:25

care had talked a lot about her

33:29

Like, my dad's been dead 8 years and so

33:29

you sometimes you don't really know what's

33:34

going on and it could be a subtle change

33:34

or a slight change but puts the person in

33:40

danger to be alone and when it's just kind

33:40

of overwhelming when you figure that out.

33:47

And he was in that place and he

33:47

struggled to bring her and he had

33:53

said, we're going to do it this day. And he's now we're going

33:54

to wait another week. And he kept doing that.

33:57

I said, Dustin, if you really

33:57

feel like this, something needs

34:00

to happen the sooner, the better.

34:03

And I promise you, we're going to take care of her. Well, he decided to bring her in

34:05

and had the whole family come in.

34:09

And it took a good hour for them

34:09

to leave after moving her in.

34:15

And he was just in tears and she

34:15

kind of had thrown a fit when she

34:19

first came in and we redirected her.

34:21

And two hours later, she was laughing

34:21

and having fun and never looked back.

34:27

And he comes and he, I had

34:27

left this company for about

34:31

a year to do another project.

34:33

And they'd invited me to come

34:33

back and I love the building.

34:36

So I said, sure, I want to come back. Well, he didn't know I was back until

34:38

he saw me at a family Thanksgiving

34:42

event a couple of months ago. And he just ran up to me and hugged me.

34:46

And then we had a a tour the other

34:46

day and another lady just really heavy

34:50

hearted and he's coming in and says, if

34:50

you're looking at this building, you.

34:54

This is the place to be

34:54

and he gave me a big hug.

34:57

I'm about almost 300 pounds and

34:57

he picked me up and shook me.

35:01

And it's a feel good story because

35:01

it works and you have to care.

35:07

You have to have a community and an

35:07

environment of caring and of cherishing.

35:13

And that's what we try to create here.

35:15

And I'm really, really thankful for my

35:15

team and our leadership here because

35:20

they, they make that purposeful

35:20

and intentional and it works.

35:23

Yeah, I think it's palatable

35:23

when you're in the place.

35:27

Yeah, you really can.

35:30

If there's someone listening and

35:30

I hope there is, and they're on

35:33

the fence about, is this the time?

35:36

Is this the place? It's what are the next steps?

35:39

I'm feeling a little apprehensive.

35:42

Just from your heart to

35:42

theirs, forget that I'm here,

35:44

just speak directly to them. What would you say to encourage

35:46

them about the next step?

35:49

What might that be for them? Well, it's important to shop.

35:54

It's important to, to research and

35:54

familiarize yourself with what's

36:01

going on in healthcare right

36:01

now and what the options are.

36:05

There's so many options. There's visiting physicians,

36:06

there's visiting. hearing testing, there's

36:09

visiting phlebotomy.

36:13

There's people that are doing everything

36:13

and making it more easy for you to access.

36:17

But when you're talking about memory

36:17

care you're talking about a place

36:21

where you can trust the people that

36:21

are watching over your loved one.

36:25

And I would, Love to have you just

36:25

come and see this place, meet us, meet

36:31

our staff and see what we're doing.

36:33

I'm really feel confident if we can

36:33

get someone to tour here, they're

36:37

going to give us the first shot

36:37

because just the things that I've

36:41

explained and don't be afraid to

36:41

spend a little time at other places.

36:46

And um, just go with your gut.

36:49

The Bible says that if

36:49

any of you lack wisdom,

36:53

let them ask God who promises to give

36:53

all men equally and let him ask with

37:01

faith and believe that God will do it.

37:04

And he promises to give you wisdom. And you might be in a situation

37:06

now where You just really need some

37:09

wisdom and I encourage you to go to

37:09

the source because he loves you and

37:15

he knows the pain that you're in.

37:18

And he wants to help you find a

37:18

solution, whatever that might be.

37:22

And it may not be Proveer but he

37:22

loves you and he will provide.

37:28

And I encourage you to give that important

37:28

person that important decision to him.

37:35

And that's, that's, that's what I'd say. Yeah, I can.

37:39

I'm sure that you're not

37:39

going to strong arm them.

37:41

You're not going to make them sign anything. It doesn't hurt to call and come

37:43

visit and ask some questions.

37:48

And then and then they, take it from

37:48

there, you don't have to go with the

37:52

first one, but take it from there. What would be some good?

37:55

What would be some good questions? Like, how would they know?

37:57

What? What would you advise them to look for

37:58

when they're touring different places?

38:02

What would I would ask? What is your caregiver to resident ratio?

38:09

What are the activities that you do?

38:13

How do you vet your employees?

38:15

What do you look for? Ask how the food is, maybe even come

38:17

in, bring your loved one to test a

38:22

lunch or a, because that's a good idea.

38:26

Yeah, you might ask how

38:26

much it is to do a respite.

38:31

And have a little trial with your

38:31

family member, if that would make you

38:36

feel better just to give us, give it

38:36

a try ask them how often your prices

38:42

will go up, ask what the packages mean

38:42

and the levels of care are with us,

38:49

we all, we don't have any of that. But there are people that on a point

38:51

system will decide how much you pay.

38:57

Those are all important questions. Meet the executive director, meet

38:59

the administrator, find out if

39:03

they're the real deal, if they're

39:03

just getting a paycheck meet the

39:07

health and wellness people, meet the

39:07

activities person and ask the other.

39:14

Asked to call a couple of the families

39:14

that have their loved one in that place.

39:20

And could you just give me somebody

39:20

that you'd like me to, and then call

39:24

them and ask them, Hey, is this, what

39:24

are your, some of your concerns and

39:28

what have been some frustrations? And what do you like about the place and

39:30

go around the marketer, but people like

39:35

me, it's your job to, to sell census and

39:35

get to who's really doing the caregiving.

39:41

And Maybe research, look at Google

39:41

reviews, look at Facebook or

39:47

LinkedIn and some of the social

39:47

media things, go to the website.

39:51

Those are those things that

39:51

will help your gut tell you if

39:55

this is a good place or not. And then trust the Lord for wisdom, right?

40:00

Yes. So you're gathering all this information

40:00

to be able to make that informed decision

40:05

because you don't want to move someone

40:05

twice if you don't have, I mean, if you

40:07

need to, it's very, it's hard on them

40:07

. So it's good to make the right choice.

40:13

The first time if you can. Mike, how can people find you

40:14

and how can they reach you?

40:19

Okay. Well, we're on the internet and

40:19

the name of our company is Proveer

40:23

P R O V E E R at Northgate.

40:28

We are located. Here's my address.

40:32

2930 Cypress Grove, metal

40:32

meadows drive, Cypress Grove

40:38

meadows drive, Houston, Texas. Seven seven oh one four And then

40:41

our phone number is (281) 315-1450

40:52

or my cell is (832) 512-4659.

40:58

Call me directly, text me. Call our community here and

41:00

ask for me, Mike Houston.

41:04

or ask for Mary, our executive

41:04

director, and we'll be glad to show

41:08

you around and listen to your story

41:08

and see what we can do to help.

41:13

If it's not memory care, I have a

41:13

whole bunch of resources of people

41:18

I've met over the last 20 years,

41:18

and chances are we can help you find

41:21

some solutions, including you, Mrs. Sherri.

41:24

Yeah, that's awesome. And so those those numbers and

41:26

addresses will be in the show notes

41:30

for those of you that might be on

41:30

the trail or driving right now.

41:33

Mike, thank you so much. Is there anything that you feel

41:34

like needed to have been said that

41:38

I read, I miss bringing up or you

41:38

didn't think about at the time.

41:41

Is there anything else that you

41:41

feel like is on your heart to say?

41:44

I really feel like I would just be

41:44

talking more and nobody needs that.

41:50

Okay. Well, thank you so much, Mike.

41:53

Thank you so much for joining me today.

41:55

Thank you, sherri. You do a great job. Thank you.

41:58

And for those of you that are

41:58

listening, Mike and I, again, just

42:01

want to underline you're not alone.

42:03

You're not the only 1

42:03

to be in this situation.

42:06

Other people have gone before you and

42:06

Mike and I have prepared ourselves to be

42:10

available to you because we want to help

42:10

be a part of that net that safety net that

42:15

carries you through this difficult season.

42:18

And I believe that you can be even

42:18

better on the other side because of

42:21

the care and community that you feel

42:21

as you're going through this challenge.

42:25

Thank you for joining

42:25

me here on the podcast.

42:28

I hope you'll come back and listen again.

42:30

Hit that subscribe button. So you don't miss an episode and know that

42:32

you matter and we'll see you next time.