Tech that Connects: Game Changing Communication Connecting Families & Communities!

In this episode, we dive into the world of senior care communication with Justen Spirk, CEO of How's Mom. We explore the emotional challenges families face when placing loved ones in senior communities and how improved communication can alleviate concerns and guilt.

Justen and Darleen discuss the importance of bridging the communication gap between senior communities and families. Often, there is a significant disconnect in how information is shared, which can cause stress and result in an unsatisfactory experience for families involved in assisted living. Families need to be informed about their loved ones' medications, including types and dosages, as well as their overall health status, the doctors they are seeing, and their participation in daily activities. Additionally, families need to know if their loved ones are enjoying their meals and thriving. Effective communication ensures families have the necessary information to confirm that mom or dad is well-cared for or to identify when additional assistance may be needed.

Tune in to discover how 'How's Mom' is revolutionizing senior care communication, improving family connections, and potentially shaping the future of healthcare coordination. Whether you're a family member of a senior in care or a professional in the industry, this episode offers valuable insights into the power of effective communication in senior living communities.

SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by Terrabella Senior Living

The background music is written, performed, and produced exclusively by purple-planet.com.

https://www.purple-planet.com/

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Transcript

Darleen Mahoney [0:02 - 0:40]: And today we are joined by Justin Spirk. He is the CEO of How's Mom?, which is a software company that has designed a tool to help senior living facilities and communities to connect directly with their residents families. Thank you so much for joining us today, Justin. And we're going to really talk about the importance of communication between senior communities and the families of those residents because it is an incredible opportunity for families to be able to seamlessly know what's going on with their loved ones. Correct? 

Justin Spirk [0:42 - 1:01]: Absolutely. Yeah. Really what we're looking to do here is kind of bridge that communication gap between the provider and the families. You know, we really see that significant, significant disconnect there in the way that we're communicating a multitude of things and it creates an unsatisfactory experience for both parties. 

Darleen Mahoney [1:02 - 2:19]: Yeah, yeah, I know that. One of the things that I always think about is families are so busy and moving their loved one, their mom, their dad, the grandparent, into a senior living community. It's a hard decision in the first place because they're literally leaving their loved one in the care of total strangers, let's be honest. And to leave them in the care of, they're going to be the one that's going to be making sure that mom's dad gets their medication that on time and the right medication that they're eating properly. Because sometimes when they're living alone and the reason why you're moving them into a community is because maybe they're not eating properly, maybe they're just eating, you know, peanut butter crackers and calling that a meal, or they're not taking their medication or they're taking their improper medication. All the different things that really put on the hearts of a family to think you have to move someone into a senior living community. But once they get in there, you want to make sure that all the things that they're in there for are really being done according to what needs to be done. And it's hard to keep up with that. 

Justin Spirk [2:19 - 3:13]: Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. I think, you know, it's a really significant event for any family member to move their loved one into a community. It's a scary thing to consider. And at the end of the day, you want them in a place to where they're going to be taken care of as. As if they were at your own house. And I think there is that we carry with us just a level of guilt that we aren't able to bring them home and take care of them ourselves. But as you said, we live in a Very busy world. And you need to find the right place for them to get that level and quality of care. And really what you're looking for is, hey, are these individuals going to take care of my loved one the way that I would, as if they were at home? And, you know, that's the biggest thing. 

Darleen Mahoney [3:13 - 3:14]: Yeah, 100%. 

Justin Spirk [3:14 - 3:15]: Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [3:15 - 5:16]: Yeah. I mean, it is, it's so scary and it's one of the hardest decisions you'll ever make as, you know, as a daughter making that decision for a parent. Because you really do strive for the best for your parent. You really want them to be in the best environment. So. And there's all the different things that you consider, you have to consider, you know, is mom going to be comfortable here? Is, are the people that she's going to be interacting with? Because those are going to be her, you know, people that she builds new relationships with. Is she going to be comfortable in her room environment? Is she going to be enjoy the food that they prepare? You know, everybody likes to eat. Let's just be honest, that doesn't change with age. You really still want to have a good meal. I mean, if you think about it, a lot of our conversations are built around food. So you really want to make sure that they have good food. But you, but that care that over that, that care that extends into, onto the healthcare side as well as everything else is just the most important. And I think sometimes when we're looking at senior living communities, we almost, I don't want to say forget about that, but we start looking at all the other like, amenity type of items and things like that. And we don't really think about the communication side of making sure that all the healthcare sides or the healthcare opportunities that we are needing and the reasons why they're actually going into an assisted living community or skilled nursing facility is being done properly and trying to keep up with that with our busy lives. Because a lot of people, when they put their loved one in there, they still have to go to work. They have kids that go to soccer. They have their own things that are going on and they don't want to spend their time when they do visit mom or dad playing catch up on all of those things. 

Justin Spirk [5:17 - 6:40]: Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, that is often a piece that's just assumed or taken for granted. You know, we shouldn't have to really look into that. You know, they're just going to provide high quality care, you know, And I think one of the other things that is often overlooked is, you know, what is that Provider, what is that community's communication strategy? How are they going to communicate with you? How are they going to update you on new diagnoses, new medications, you know, the care that's being provided to your loved one. And, you know, communicating care is a difficult thing in and of itself, but when you're put into that type of environment in senior living at a skilled nursing facility or assisted living facility, you know, what have you, it's a busy place, and there are a lot of things going on. And, you know, oftentimes that communication piece kind of just falls to the. To the wayside, as it's not that important to the overall experience for not only you as a family member, but for the resident. And really, that's getting back to us, trying to fill that gap and create, you know, a more. A more intertwined relationship between the provider, the resident, and the family member. 

Darleen Mahoney [6:41 - 6:51]: Right, right. Because a lot of times the communication is really. Can sometimes fall on the family to be the one reaching out. 

Justin Spirk [6:51 - 6:53]: Yeah. More often than not, they're initiating it. 

Darleen Mahoney [6:53 - 7:03]: Yeah, right. They're calling. If they're lucky, they may have a phone number where they can text. But that's luck of the draw, right? 

Justin Spirk [7:03 - 7:05]: Yeah. Yeah. It's not common. 

Darleen Mahoney [7:05 - 7:31]: Right. So here you are trying to run your life the Monday through Friday, where you're not able to get up to the community to visit with mom, maybe trying to make sure, hey, mom got a new med. She was prescribed something. I just want to make sure that she got it. And you could be delayed in trying to get that answer back, or, you know, you know, who are you even talking to? Who's the one that's administrating it? You may not even know. 

Justin Spirk [7:31 - 8:40]: Yeah, I think you just hit on something. There is, you know, oftentimes the scenario when the family member calls into a provider, you know, it's difficult to get in touch with a person that's actually providing care to your mom or your dad or grandma or grandpa, whoever it may be. So, you know, many times you're talking with someone that has no familiarity with your loved one in the community. It's not up to date on their care. You might have some specific questions, and you get bounced around a phone tree and, you know, hey, we'll give you a call back. And you may not get a call back because that message didn't get relayed. And again, it's not. It's not done intentionally on the side of the provider. But, you know, they may have 100 residents, 125 residents in their building. That all require care. And, you know, when we talk about those things that need to be communicated, that's a significant job for any one of these communities to just make sure that they're, you know, touching base with all the individuals that, you know, have correct authorization, receive information. 

Darleen Mahoney [8:41 - 8:45]: Ooh, I didn't even think about that. The HIPAA part. Yeah, yeah. 

Justin Spirk [8:45 - 8:57]: You know, so we talk to them a lot about, well, we have to notify the POA of CARE of this. And we talk to the POA of CARE and they ask, hey, can you reach out and call my brother and let them know, or call my sister and let them know. 

Darleen Mahoney [8:58 - 9:03]: So the POA would be the power of attorney, which is the person that's authorized to do it through a power of attorney. 

Justin Spirk [9:03 - 9:34]: Gotcha. Yeah, yeah. So while a simple change in medication might be a 30 minute phone call to the PUA of care, now, you know, that PUA is asking, hey, can you call this person and that person? And before you know it, they've spent, you know, an hour, hour and a half on the phone over a simple medication change, when what that's doing is taking them away from being bedside and actually providing that quality of care. That is the expectation. 

Darleen Mahoney [9:35 - 9:36]: Right? 

Justin Spirk [9:36 - 9:37]: Yeah, right. 

Darleen Mahoney [9:38 - 10:19]: And a simple change can even be a vitamin type of change. It may not even be a prescription. It could be something as simple as vitamin changes, because as we age, definitely vitamins are something that doctors want us to be on to take care of those, you know, needs that we're not getting naturally any longer. So, yeah, so that's a big conversation to have with just a vitamin change 30 minutes out of somebody's day. That may not necessarily be ne. That wouldn't be necessary. 

Justin Spirk [10:21 - 10:23]: What, the vitamin change? 

Darleen Mahoney [10:24 - 10:30]: No. To take time out of someone's day to have a conversation about medication when it can be done more seamlessly. 

Justin Spirk [10:30 - 12:27]: Yeah, I mean, yeah. And so that is, you know, that's kind of the wild thing about this industry is because that is how it's operating. Right. Is that, you know, something as simple as mom needs ibuprofen this afternoon, that requires a nurse, they're picking up the phone, they're contacting the PUA of care. Any of the studies that you look at, that's anywhere from, you know, 30 to 40 minutes time on task to make that communication, document it in the chart, because it is a required communication and, you know, it shouldn't be that way. There are platforms and software out there that can automate, you know, a number of different types of things. And that's really what we've brought to the senior care industry is, you know, something as simple as that, medication change. Now, when that's, you know, put into the chart, that triggers our platform to send the message out as a POA of care. You get an alert, text, email, there's a web portal, there's the app, but you're going to get an alert that says, hey, there's been an update to your loved one's medication. Please go to the app and check it out. And then if you do have questions on that, which most people aren't going to have questions on, something like ibuprofen. Okay, Right. You know, you're up to date and there's that level of transparency that provide some trust between the family member and the provider. And it just all in all creates a more satisfactory experience and is helping to meet the needs or meet the expectations of the family. Where. Yeah, you know, today, like, like you talked about earlier, we're busy. We have a job. Kids go to sports and soccer, extracurricular activities and, you know, hey, why am I getting a call at a three o' clock on, on a Wednesday to let me know that mom or dad's getting ibuprofen? Sure, that's fine. 

Darleen Mahoney [12:27 - 12:31]: But yeah, you know, and if you're even getting the call. 

Justin Spirk [12:32 - 12:34]: Right, yeah, correct. Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [12:34 - 12:36]: If you may not even realize it. 

Justin Spirk [12:36 - 12:38]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [12:38 - 12:38]: Until you get there. 

Justin Spirk [12:39 - 13:26]: You know, another thing is when they are communicating, you might not hear anything for a week or two weeks. But when the provider does decide to communicate, more often than not it's negative in nature, there's a new diagnosis, or they're not eating well or they're losing weight or whatever it might be. So you don't hear anything for two weeks and all of a sudden you get a phone call and it's not great. And instantly you're going to, oh, my gosh, they're not taking care of mom or dad. So this just provides again, that more consistent communication. So the families are up to speed, they know what's being provided and they're confident in the care that their loved one is getting. 

Darleen Mahoney [13:27 - 13:35]: I like the fact it's all in one spot. I think, you know, everything that can be in one spot makes life easier anyway. 

Justin Spirk [13:35 - 13:36]: Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [13:36 - 15:06]: And, you know, I think I was sharing with you that even the change, when my dad was in a community, we didn't have, I didn't have an app. It was communicating with that community directly. And he was on Gabapentin and I knew he was on Gabapentin, but I Guess they had changed his dosage or gave him the wrong dosage and he was having some issues with walking and come to realize as I started looking at the dosage because I couldn't figure out why he was having issues, they had over prescribed him or were giving him too much gabapentin. I honestly can't remember which one it was. If they were just giving him too much, but that was an issue. But it had been an ongoing issue for a while, which I didn't catch, but I wasn't. I had to dig into what was going on. But I was the one that discovered it. Not the nurses, not the community, the. They didn't discover it. I discovered it because I had concerns about why he was having like the problems with the walking. So once they cut back on that, there was a vast improvement. But it was concerning to me that I was the one that had to kind of discover it. But if I had had an app that was giving me the updates on his prescriptions, I would have seen that there was a dosage increase and. And I probably would have said, why is this increase? Does he really need this much? Because he was doing fine on the previous dosage. 

Justin Spirk [15:07 - 15:07]: Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [15:07 - 16:13]: And just the overall being able to track everything that was going on would have given me that peace of mind on everything that was happening in his life. He had dementia, so that's even extended because he can't express that to me in a way that not everyone can. So I think it's definitely a game changer. And I think people, when they're looking at senior living communities, kind of like we were talking in the very beginning of the podcast, they look at different options for communities and they're looking at restaurant style dining. They're looking at, does it have all these different things? And they don't think, oh, communication is something I need to maybe put at the top of my wish list for community. How easy is that going to be? And they may not even realize that there is apps available that communities do communicate through apps. So that is something that maybe they should say, hey, listen, how do we communicate? Do you have. I call it One Stop Shop. 

Justin Spirk [16:13 - 16:14]: Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [16:14 - 16:26]: So it's kind of One Stop Shop. How we can communicate through an app? Is that something that you offer? Because that's something that is important to me and my family. So it's something to ask about, right? 

Justin Spirk [16:26 - 18:32]: Yeah. No, I think, Darlene, you're spot on there. I mean, that's the world that we live in today. The way that we communicate has changed significantly just in the past couple of years, let alone 10. And that is really kind of the expectation of the consumer. And I use this analogy all the time, but I think it kind of reduces it to the ridiculous, but also it brings it home a little bit. I can take my dog to a doggy daycare and in 30 minutes I know what its favorite toy is, how many treats it's had, how many times it's gone to the bathroom, which dog it's playing with the most, on and on and on. But in the senior care industry, for the most part, the vast majority of providers are not utilizing any kind of technology for that. Yeah, you know, I think right now we're on the cutting edge and we're transitioning into that. But, you know, from what you said earlier, absolutely, families should be going in there and really understanding how they're going to be communicated with because that is going to be a big part of, you know, building that relationship not only with, you know, the specific caregiver, but with the provider in general. I just, you know, all in all that, that is how we communicate today. We want everything available to us, you know, at our fingertips. And, you know, to have to physically go in somewhere to get the information that you're looking for is a thing of the past. I mean, there's very little in our day to day lives that require us, you know, as sad as it may seem, that require us to pick up a phone and actually have a conversation or go somewhere in person to get what we need. We can essentially pick up our phone and hop on an app and get just about anything we would need, from groceries to technology. It's all right there, available at our fingertips. Except for this one environment. 

Darleen Mahoney [18:33 - 18:38]: Yeah, they always say there's an app for that. There is an app for that. 

Justin Spirk [18:38 - 18:38]: There is. 

Darleen Mahoney [18:38 - 20:20]: So I will say, while you can utilize the app, the upside is if you want to have a conversation, if you see something on the app and you're like, whoa, Bussy or Betty or whatever, this does not look right. You can walk into the community and have that conversation and say, hey, I've seen on the app where XYZ has happened, or mom didn't eat, or we need to fix some of these things. So you can still have that face to face conversation or you can pick up the phone. I'm assuming most communities are going to take phone calls, but you can still have that extended conversation. But you can track everything and can kind of see patterns and know everybody has a cell phone. I mean, let's be honest, everybody has a cell Phone. I mean even kids now have cell phones, which sometimes blows my mind on some of the ages of kids that have cell phones. But, but they all have them. So your lunch break, your TV time, you can check and you can look and you can be updated instantly on exactly what's going on with mom and dad. So a little bit about the app that you provide. So your app is called How's Mom? And you work directly with senior living communities and skilled nursing facilities in order to provide them the software to be able to provide this to their residents and residents families. So what are some things that are on the app? Other than I know we've talked extensively about medication reminders, but what are the things are on that app that would provide information to families? 

Justin Spirk [20:21 - 21:48]: Yeah, you know, essentially, I think when you said the One stop shop, really that's what we can provide. We have full integration into the electronic health record. So that's where the providers are updating all the information. So aside from medications, we have vitals that are pulled in almost instantaneously. So every time we're looking at a new blood pressure or a new blood sugar level or heart rate, et cetera, all that information is available. We have lab reports, new conditions, new diagnoses. You can have the care team on there, so you know what, physicians are seeing your loved one as a POA of care. You can add external care providers to that team. So you know, if you're taking them to see a rheumatologist outside of the provider, you can add that rheumatologist to their care team so they can be updated on what's going on. So really, I mean, anything you could want from a clinical standpoint is going to be available on our platform. And aside from that, you know, you have a calendar of events, the weekly menu, you know, you name it, you can be up to date and understand, you know, what's going on with your loved one. You know, seven days a week, any hour of the day, you have access to that information. 

Darleen Mahoney [21:49 - 22:51]: You know, one of the things I do like about that, just from a conversational standpoint, especially if you have a loved one that has some cognitive issues, which is not uncommon as people age and they're in assisted living communities and skilled, is you can even utilize some of that information to invoke conversation that is about them. So if you see like the menu and you go, oh my gosh, they had banana pudding on the menu that is one of mom's favorites. So when you're visiting that weekend, mom, I saw that you had banana pudding that this weekend. How was it? Was it good? Banana pudding. So it can be certain things that you can utilize or how was your appointment with Dr. So and so, you know, you have a relationship with him, you know how that visits go. So it can be things that you can also utilize to have conversations about what's going on in their world. 

Justin Spirk [22:51 - 22:52]: Absolutely. 

Darleen Mahoney [22:52 - 23:24]: Because you're not there. You're not there. So to be able to get them to come out, have conversations about what's happening in their daily lives. I mean even if it is just talking about the menu or the events or you had a ukulele player that came or hula this week, how was the hula? Did you see some hula dancing? So you can utilize what is going on in that app to connect with them on their level, in their world, in their lives. Because that's still so important. 

Justin Spirk [23:24 - 24:51]: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think going back to your previous point and you know we talked about a little bit about our platform, it's not to eliminate that interpersonal communication or the phone call or the face to face conversation. What it does is it provides a more powerful experience because you are up to date on what's going on with your loved one. So you're not, it's not constantly one sided where you're asking a bunch of questions, trying to figure out what's been happening, you're up to date on the care that's being provided. And then as you just pointed out, there's a different level of connectivity because you know what's going on with mom this week? You know, you know that, hey, she may have won bingo on Thursday night. Like that's something cool to go in there and talk with her about. It's not, oh, hey, how are you doing? What'd you do this week? You know, you're connected to, you know, what her experiences are. You know, you brought up the banana pudding. I called my grandma Nana and that was her favorite, you know, so like something like that, like I would know right away if I see that on the menu. Oh my gosh, when I go in, I'm going to talk to her about it because I know she loves it. And those are just, those are things you can't get really anywhere else unless you're there right next to them while this is going on or you have access to what's happening in their day to day. 

Darleen Mahoney [24:52 - 24:57]: Yeah. Or you're combing the website or checking the board and who has time to like does research. 

Justin Spirk [24:57 - 24:57]: Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [24:57 - 24:58]: That becomes research. 

Justin Spirk [24:58 - 24:59]: Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [25:00 - 25:32]: So I 100% agree with that. I would call that. So when I think about that, as far as being able to communicate with your loved one, being able to communicate with the community in general, the app. The communication app, and then be able to communicate via an app is just another tool in your toolbox. So that's what I think of that as just the ability to just make all of that more turnkey for you in those communication processes, not just with the community, but, in all honesty, with. With your loved one. 

Justin Spirk [25:33 - 25:40]: Yeah. I think, you know, that's the big driving force behind what we're doing, is how can we eliminate that burden. 

Darleen Mahoney [25:41 - 25:42]: Yeah. 

Justin Spirk [25:42 - 27:02]: You know, the truth is no one wants to really have to deal with this situation. Right. So no one wants to put their loved one in a community. How can we eliminate the burden not only on the provider side of everything that they have to communicate so they can go, you know, bedside and provide really high quality of care, but, you know, how can we eliminate some of that burden from the family as well? You know, that's that gap that I'm talking about when we talk. Talk about how the industry is set up and that communication. Void. Communication is a huge piece in any part of our life. And when there's a lack of communication, there's. There's a level of anxiety that we feel when we don't know what's going on. And this provides that connectivity that we need to feel good about. What's going on with our loved one? What's my involvement with my loved one? I mean, if you're out there and you haven't seen your loved one in two or three weeks, because you might be out of state, could be longer than that. Maybe they have some cognitive issues. You're not able to talk on the phone. There's a real level of disconnect there that creates a tough situation for everyone that's involved. 

Darleen Mahoney [27:03 - 27:03]: Yeah. 

Justin Spirk [27:03 - 27:27]: So, again, it's just trying to fill that gap and create a more connected experience and eliminate the burden. As you said, like, as a family member, I'm busy. It's hard to go on and do the research and figure out what's happening, what events that went on, you know, what they're having for lunch, what are the new diagnoses, where are the medications? It takes a lot of time, and this can provide that to you instantly. 

Darleen Mahoney [27:28 - 27:38]: Yeah. And then when you do go to visit them, you don't want to spend 50% of your time trying to get this information because it takes away your time from them. 

Justin Spirk [27:39 - 28:53]: Yeah, exactly. You want to go there to Be with them. Not to go there and talk to, you know, the nurses on the hall or the cnas or the administrator, because you're trying to get updated on something, you know, everything that's going on, and you'll have, like I said, you'll have the knowledge behind it. So you might have, you know, one or two questions that you want to get an answer on, but then the rest of that time that you're there, you're actually spending with your loved one in the community. I mean, that's the real quality time that you're looking for. So, you know, it's. It's interesting that you bring that up, but that's how I see us fitting in. We're eliminating a lot of that burden, the communication on the provider so they can provide high quality care. We're eliminating a lot of that burden from the families to go out and figure out what's actually being provided to my loved one. So when they have an opportunity to go in and visit, they're actually visiting with them, you know, having conversations, talking about memories, all the good things, instead of, look, I went and visited, you know, mom today, and I was there for two hours, and I spent an hour and a half tracking down different clinicians in the building and the administrator and the social services director to get all these things answered. And now with this platform, you don't have to deal with that. 

Darleen Mahoney [28:54 - 29:23]: Yeah, that's excellent. And I love the fact that it's an option and we're sharing with our listeners that it might be something that's important to them, and if it is, then that's something that they need to ask. When they're looking at options in senior living and skilled nursing, which I think is definitely a level of care as well, that is really important to have that information because that is significantly higher level of care. 

Justin Spirk [29:23 - 29:25]: Absolutely. Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [29:25 - 29:35]: Yeah, absolutely. For sure. So. So share with us the website for Houzz Mom. 

Justin Spirk [29:35 - 29:37]: Yeah, it's pretty simple. 

Darleen Mahoney [29:37 - 29:42]: It's houzzmom.net okay, that is simple. 

Justin Spirk [29:42 - 29:48]: H o w s m o m.net okay, perfect. 

Darleen Mahoney [29:49 - 29:56]: And that's a great website for providers to also visit because that's basically who you work directly with. 

Justin Spirk [29:56 - 29:57]: Correct. 

Darleen Mahoney [29:57 - 30:02]: So you don't work with the consumer or the residents directly. You work with the providers. 

Justin Spirk [30:02 - 31:16]: Yeah, yeah, we work direct with providers. You know, if it's something that they see the value in, they have the opportunity to provide that to not only the family members, but the residents alike. Believe it or not, we have quite a few residents that use our platform in the AL and independent living markets. So, yeah, I think, again, we're early on in this transition, but the way that people communicate, we're not going to go backwards where it continued down this path. So, you know, the expectations are changing and we've been around for about 10 years now and really started to resonate well over the past couple of years as providers are starting to understand like this is an expectation of families. Yeah, we can't. We can't continue to operate the way that we are. Not only that, it's providing a significant time savings for their clinicians, who are their most valuable resource, and allowing them to actually go and do the job that they were brought in to do. 

Darleen Mahoney [31:17 - 31:22]: I was just going to say I feel like it would be a time saver for their staff to be able to. 

Justin Spirk [31:22 - 31:23]: That's huge. 

Darleen Mahoney [31:24 - 32:06]: I feel like I've used all these terms today, like turnkey and I feel like I've just thrown some turns out there. But it's like almost. I don't want to say the word plug and play, but it's almost like when you're working with a resident, you can get all their information in and just make. And you're able to do that. So when you're communicating with that family, it's communicated. And then if there are any questions, it's all in one place. So it's really easy to go back and grab that same information so you're not hunting it down if there are additional questions. So the time is significant all the way around? 

Justin Spirk [32:06 - 33:14]: Oh, yeah, yeah, very much so. We're saving them a considerable amount of time. Hundreds of hours on a monthly basis per provider. I think the great thing about it, and not to get too technical, but it doesn't change their workflow at all. So one of the issues with software in this industry is generally it requires, you know, oh, I've got to log into this platform and update that now I've got to log into this platform over here and update this one. I might be updating it, you know, the same thing in two or three different places. Because of our integrations. They go through their daily routine updating the chart and that's where we pull everything in. So that, that, you know, medical record is the source of truth for essentially all the data that we're getting. So, you know, it would be extremely rare for floor staff at a provider to actually log into our platform. It operates in the background. Their standard charting practices allows, you know, our platform to populate. So it's not, it's not another Platform to where they have to manage. 

Darleen Mahoney [33:15 - 33:35]: I would love to see at some point where like all the doctors that you would ever go to all plug into one app because I feel like you see specialists and nobody's talking to each other and your medical records are here and there and you've got to carry them around. And I feel like it's just crazy keeping track of all of that. And they don't communicate. 

Justin Spirk [33:35 - 33:40]: Yeah. Well, you know, there's a lot, there's a big push right now for that interoperability. 

Darleen Mahoney [33:40 - 33:41]: Yeah. 

Justin Spirk [33:41 - 33:47]: Among, you know, pre hospital, hospital, post hospital, you know, that, that, you know, interconnected communication. 

Darleen Mahoney [33:48 - 33:51]: The family doctor, the specialist. You just feel like everybody should be talking. 

Justin Spirk [33:51 - 33:52]: Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [33:52 - 33:57]: And you should not have to carry around file cabinets of records. 

Justin Spirk [33:58 - 34:38]: We have family members that manage their loved ones care through our platform. So I was talking about the care team, you know, tile that's on the app. Like if I'm a pua of care, I can take all of my mom or dad's physicians, put them into the platform and you know, when we're going to a visit, I poked up and say here, here's all the medication, here's, here's the diagnoses. So they're, so they have all the information there to actually, you know, as opposed to going to three or four different doctors and they're not knowing what other medications that they're on. And you know, it can turn into a real, real nightmare in some situations. 

Darleen Mahoney [34:38 - 34:49]: Yeah. You've got someone going to a neurologist who has dementia but also is going to oncologists because they have, you know, cancer. And then you've got. There's no communication happening. 

Justin Spirk [34:49 - 34:50]: No. Yeah. 

Darleen Mahoney [34:50 - 35:48]: It just can get. Yeah. It's just. And then they're on different stuff. It's just, it's, it's crazy. It's just crazy. So. Oh my gracious. Well, I love this. This is such a great conversation. I really appreciate you joining us today. Justin is then a good conversation and I'm hoping that our listeners really gain some additional knowledge and what's important to them when they're looking for an assisted living for mom or dad. Because it is important to stay on top of what's going on in their lives when they move into a community. An assisted living, independent, skilled, whatever the case may be, to really stay on top of their care. Because once they go into that community and it's not guaranteed that the care is going to be exactly your expectation because people are human, mistakes can be made. I think it's important to stay on top and make sure that that care is meeting the expectations of the families. So I appreciate you joining us today, Darlene. 

Justin Spirk [35:48 - 36:01]: It was my pleasure. It's been a fantastic conversation, really enjoyed it and I hope that at the end of the day we're able to help some of those families out there that are going through this process right now and provide a little bit of relief. 

Darleen Mahoney [36:02 - 36:35]: Yeah, absolutely. And we'll include the link in the description housemom.net which is super easy, but we'll still include it in the description. Again, thank you so much for joining us today, Justin. And if you enjoyed this podcast, we have over 100 podcasts recorded. Please check out our different episodes. You might find something additional that you enjoy. But please like Share Stream. We're available anywhere you listen to podcasts such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GoodPods, all kinds of different places. Check us out. Thanks for listening.