Simon Guérard
Simon Guérard shares his love for ultrarunning, the inspiration behind his YouTube Channel, and where he hopes to see the sport’s future.
More Than Our Story
Lance A. Slatton
Lance A. Slatton is a dedicated author, influencer, thought leader, and healthcare professional who works tirelessly and passionately to empower families, caregivers, and their loved ones to navigate the complexities of long-term care. He uses his platform to share vital information, resources, and support, making sure no one feels alone on their journey. He hosts the award-winning YouTube show, All Home Care Matters, and provides home care services through his company, Enriched Life Home Care Services.
Highlights
My gift or my talent, my meant-to-be in my life, was to help others.
My mother was a nurse for many, many years. She worked for an old country doctor... He also had a very profound impact on me. I just saw the appreciation and gratitude, and profound impact that he had on people.
I was pursuing medical school, and this is where my story really changed dramatically… I was head of the medical fraternity. I was everything but a medical student at that point; a lot of us were getting prepared to take the MCATs… I was a newlywed at the time. We got a phone call late one night that my father needed help.
He ended up having a major surgery, and I didn't know any of this had happened. My wife and I get the call a week or two later when he's back in his home, and the nurse who was visiting him for wound care and wound check said, ‘You know, I'm really concerned about your dad. He's not able to properly clean this bandage and monitor it,’ and she said, ‘You know, what I'd like to see is either he go into rehab for a couple of weeks, or he come stay with your wife and you.’
Unbeknownst to that nurse, myself, my wife, or my father, he ended up having seven more major invasive surgeries... That couple of weeks ended up being two-and-a-half years.
I told my wife one day, ‘You know, I have this great idea. We should start a company that will help people like you and I, where we can send people into a home to help people like us.’ I thought I invented the wheel… Well, unbeknownst to me, because no surgeon, no physician, no occupational therapist, no nurse, no one ever told us [about respite care]... No one ever gave us resources.
We started researching it, discovered there's a whole $20 billion industry out there, and these services are all readily available, but they're only readily available if you're made aware of them.
I changed career paths very quickly, and we started Enriched Life Home Care Services… and the last five years, we've been the number one home care company in Michigan.
When I look at it now, I feel like we're having a greater impact on people and we're providing greater support than what you're getting in [a] 15 to 20-minute doctor visit.
‘Diagnosis and adios.’ That's really the best way of summing it up. You get that diagnosis, and that's all you really get at that point. These families are left with this life-changing event, but they're also left with nothing to help support that life-changing event. So they're going on the internet, they're going on shows, on YouTube, and saying, ‘Where can I get help?’
[When COVID started approaching] … I heard a podcast one night, and I said, ‘You know what? Maybe this is what we should do for a couple of weeks.’ Not realizing it was going to turn into a few years. So, we started All Home Care Matters, and the rest has been history since then.
I treat every single family like I wanted to be treated; during those two and a half years, my father lived with us. I can relate to it firsthand. It's not just a business. It's not just an income. It's not just a revenue generator. It's really a mission, a ministry for us.
I wrote The Official Family Caregivers' Guide because I know somebody is going to have that book, and it's going to be exactly what they need, when they need it. I wrote it from the lens of this is what I needed, and what I wished I’d had during those two-and-a-half years.
When we do an intake, it's not just about your medical history and your medications. It's also about what makes you you, what do [you] love? What gets [you] excited? What's your passion? What's your joy? And we incorporate that into the care we provide.
Having lived it and gone through it, I can relate to [home care] in a way that a lot of other people can't.
We facilitate like 5 or 6 caregiver support groups. It's not licensed therapy, but it's very therapeutic for the caregivers. These support groups are free to attend… the support isn't so much from us… [it] comes from the other people that are attending it.
I will do this until I can't do it anymore or I can't for any reason. I just love doing it. You know, I have my regular day job running our company. This is something I really enjoy doing. It's my little flag going up the hill because I want people to feel supported, and I want them to, at all possible, avoid having to go through what I went through.
The sad thing is, all those years ago, it's not that dissimilar today. There's so much work to be done, and just helping to support these 64+ million unpaid family caregivers.
What makes it different than any other job is that it's very personal… It's personal because it's your loved one. It's emotional because it's your loved one. It's mental, it's psychological. It's everything all-in-one position, and unless your loved one’s paying you, you're also doing it for free, on top of if you have children you're still raising or helping with, if you have a job, you're still taking care of.
Most often… [the] family caregivers’ health is going to suffer more and quicker than the person they're helping, you know, because they're neglecting all of their needs, because they're taking care of their loved one’s needs.
It's one of those things that I don't think people can really appreciate the level of intensity and requirement and commitment and dedication, until you've actually been in that situation.
Find out what your loved ones’ wishes are, so if they need heroic interventions, if they need life-sustaining, artificial life-sustaining support, a ventilator, or tube feeding… If you know what your loved one wants, a lot of the other stuff does become a little easier.
It's a wonderful career; it’s a career, though, where the reward isn't all monetary.
Do I get tired? Of course, we all do. As long as I feel like people need help, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.
Lance A. Slatton
The Senior Care Influencer
From wellness tips to heartfelt stories, Lance A. Slatton is a trusted source for senior care tips, insights, and encouragement.
All Home Care Matters
The Nation’s Leading Voice For Long-Term Care Issues
All Home Care Matters is a podcast and YouTube show dedicated to helping provide resources to families as they face long-term care questions and issues for themselves and loved ones. We will be featuring in-depth discussions on important age-related topics and offering valuable insights and information for families and those caring for loved ones.
The Official Family Caregivers' Guide
Navigating the Realities of Caregiving: The Official Family Caregivers’ Guide
At the heart of every family is the profound bond shared with our aging parents, a bond that becomes both clearer and more delicate as the sunset of their lives approaches. “The All Home Care Matters Official Family Caregivers’ Guide” is a beacon of wisdom, meant to guide you through the complexities and emotional tides of becoming a caregiver. This pivotal guide is your ally, from witnessing the early signs of your parents needing assistance to managing the crescendo of their medical and emotional needs.
Enriched Life Home Care Services
Let Us Enrich Your Life Today!
At Enriched Life Home Care Services, we know that your loved ones mean the world to you and you want them to be treated with the same care and compassion that you give them! The foundation of our company is providing a personalized service that will not only fulfill our client’s needs but enrich their lives as well.
Daniel
Daniel is an extremely curious person, a wealth of random knowledge and facts. Extremely passionate about a vast array of interests ranging from health to history, science to athletics, everything culinary and the list goes on. Trust us, you would want to be on his team for Trivial Pursuit.
Daniel is also years into his battle with brain cancer. He experienced a seizure while on a Zoom call at work in late 2020 and quite literally, his life changed within minutes. After his operation he started to talk about his story but had always known it was more than just him. From then, More Than Our Story became a PROJECT that has evolved into the starting point it is today.
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